The Gear Guide

So if you've been in the market for technology recently, advertisers have been throwing around the term "solid state" a lot, pushing cameras, netbooks, and mp3 players with like the future depends on it. The problem is that many consumers haven't a clue what the term even means or how the technology works. Basically, it means products that store your information without any moving parts as opposed to devices using tapes, spinning hard drive platters, or even your friend with a mechanical pencil. In personal computers, they come in the form of a Solid State Disk or SSD.SSD's have increasingly become an option when building or upgrading computers. By using a bundle of flash memory chips similar to those found in your portable thumb drive or compact flash card and then packing them into the same case as a normal laptop or desktop hard disk, they make easy replacements for those wishing to upgrade from the disk's mechanical counterparts. Compared to a traditional hard drive these SSD's use less power, produce less heat, can withstand a lot more bumps and g-forces, and are virtually noiseless, making them perfect for laptops and other mobile device. Because there are no moving parts, no metal disk spinning at 7200rpm, you aren't going to turn on your computer one day and hear the dreaded "click of death" hard drives make when they are about to eat your data, die, and ruin your day. In other words, because there are no mechanical moving parts, the drives are much less prone to failure (measured in mean time between failures or MTBF for those looking to do your own comparison homework). One of the coolest things about SSD's is that they are currently capable of two to four times the speed of modern hard disks, so booting your computer and launching your browser of choice can happen in the amount of time it takes you to sip your coffee rather than making the entire pot.

If these drives are so amazing, then why do we even use such archaic technology as a mechanical hard disk? Well, most of all is the cost. A SSD costs considerably more than your standard hard drive, and you'll get a fraction of the storage space in return. A low to mid priced SSD has between 32 and 128GB of space, which may seem like a lot, but if you want to run windows, store a music and video library, and keep 15% free space to make sure the drive performs at its best, 64gb probably won't be worth it when a Terabyte hard disk (or 500gb for a laptop) can be had for next to nothing. Also, one needs to do some research on a specific SSD before purchasing since some can even be economy drives that perform slower than a regular hard disk. In addition to the small sizes and staggering prices, if the drive does fail, it's not likely you'll be able to recover the data that was lost, which means SSD's are no exception to the golden rule of backup I mentioned in a previous blog.

So who needs an SSD? Well, flash based storage is cost effective and the benefits are perfect for small, mobile devices needing less than 32GB like netbooks or the new iPad tablet. For enthusiasts (read: geeks and visual professionals), lightening fast SSDs work great as a boot drive to run your programs from, while storing the rest of your files and work on another external or internal high capacity hard drive. Gamers who think an SSD might benefit their FPS might see shorter level loading times, but would be better off going for a more substantial graphics card, since that has the most impact for gaming, followed by memory and processing speed. For everyone else looking to buy a new computer right now, I'd recommend holding off on the salesman's pricey SSD upgrade and go with a good old fashioned hard disk, saving money for other components and software. As always, let me know if you have a specific geek-related topic or question you'd like to see in the Gear Guide, and you may see it here!