Comments on: To SSD Or Not To SSD http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/ Bring your PC back to life Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:05:08 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: james braselton http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-4400 james braselton Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:20:22 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-4400 HI THERE I NOTICE THE SYESTEMS SAY YOU USE GATE WAY COMPUTERS WHEN WILL GATE WAY HAVE A SOLID STATE DRIVE FOR THE BRAND NEW GATE WAY ONE. HI THERE I NOTICE THE SYESTEMS SAY YOU USE GATE WAY COMPUTERS WHEN WILL GATE WAY HAVE A SOLID STATE DRIVE FOR THE BRAND NEW GATE WAY ONE.

]]> By: Mr Keith Gaze, B. E. (Elect.) http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3995 Mr Keith Gaze, B. E. (Elect.) Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:30:42 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3995 Thanks for promulgating some available details on SSD's, which have been 'mooted' for some time, and may, as yet, be too costly for the storage so far - nevertheless, history clearly shows that reliability in electronics increases once a certain threshold of development, and market 'take-up' occurs - do we still worry that transistor radios do not produce that 'good tone', that valve wirelesses were so famous for ? (NO, I do not think so). Market take-up and manufacture cost will mean that eventually, current mass storage devices will be overtaken and superseded, but - not yet (and existing hard drives are both well built, and fairly efficient )! Has anyone any further details of less expensive SSD's on the market ? Thanks for promulgating some available details on SSD's, which have been 'mooted' for some time, and may, as yet, be
too costly for the storage so far – nevertheless, history clearly shows that reliability in electronics increases once a certain threshold of development, and market 'take-up' occurs – do we still worry that transistor radios do not produce that 'good tone', that valve wirelesses were so famous for ? (NO, I do not think so). Market take-up and manufacture cost will mean that eventually, current mass storage devices will be overtaken and superseded, but – not yet (and existing hard drives are both well built, and fairly efficient )! Has anyone any further details of less expensive SSD's on the market ?

]]> By: D http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3982 D Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:37:13 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3982 What seems like good experimental procedure below is actually biased in favor of Vista / XP / etc. that are optimized for mechanical hard drives. No wonder your results are so skewed. See the OCZ discussion. e.g. Why in the world would a SSD care about Prefetch --- which is a technique used to gather up scattered bits of files on a mechanical drive and writing them in a buffer so that it can be fetched faster.... the only problem is it generates lots of excess, and totally unnecessary drive activity that cause SSDs to come in well below their actual performance. "To be a valid comparison the settings for the hardware and Operating system on the two drives had to be identical. To guarantee that the drives were exactly the same, I used Acronis True Image Home and cloned the OS setup to the drives. This removes any chance of settings variations affecting the outcome." What seems like good experimental procedure below is actually biased in favor of Vista / XP / etc. that are optimized for mechanical hard drives.

No wonder your results are so skewed.

See the OCZ discussion.

e.g. Why in the world would a SSD care about Prefetch — which is a technique used to gather up scattered bits of files on a mechanical drive and writing them in a buffer so that it can be fetched faster…. the only problem is it generates lots of excess, and totally unnecessary drive activity that cause SSDs to come in well below their actual performance.

"To be a valid comparison the settings for the hardware and Operating system on the two drives had to be identical. To guarantee that the drives were exactly the same, I used Acronis True Image Home and cloned the OS setup to the drives. This removes any chance of settings variations affecting the outcome."

]]> By: D http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3981 D Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:32:22 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3981 Take a look at this discussion of what it takes to optimize software for a SSD. If you don't do all this, stock XP / Office / Outlook are all tweaked to optimize for hard drives, and the things they do like prefetch, journaling, etc. all contribute to slowing down a SSD far beyond the design specs. It is like hitching a team of 4 horses to your pickup truck and complaining about the slowness relative to the factory V-8. http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42487 Take a look at this discussion of what it takes to optimize software for a SSD.

If you don't do all this, stock XP / Office / Outlook are all tweaked to optimize for hard drives, and the things they do like prefetch, journaling, etc. all contribute to slowing down a SSD far beyond the design specs.

It is like hitching a team of 4 horses to your pickup truck and complaining about the slowness relative to the factory V-8.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42487

]]> By: Jon Deom http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3891 Jon Deom Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:59:51 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3891 would linux distributions work better than windows or mac with ssds would linux distributions work better than windows or mac with ssds

]]> By: alur http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3512 alur Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:27:16 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3512 mmm In my experience, when the price drops to fire-sale pricing for electronics, there is change in the near future. Atm, I have seen 320GB WD hard drives for as little as $50 (Newegg) and regular bargains on 250 - 750 hard drives at under $100. If flash drives aren't the future, hard drives will be $10 if they continue to be the dominant storage component in the next 5 years. mmm In my experience, when the price drops to fire-sale pricing for electronics, there is change in the near future. Atm, I have seen 320GB WD hard drives for as little as $50 (Newegg) and regular bargains on 250 – 750 hard drives at under $100. If flash drives aren't the future, hard drives will be $10 if they continue to be the dominant storage component in the next 5 years.

]]> By: Steve Hogan http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3129 Steve Hogan Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:19:54 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3129 Great points William Thomas. "Good point about the need for operating system to be on SSD. I believe laptops are converging with PDA's and phones. The vogue for small laptops has returned. I suspect we will see operating systems supplied on chips, like bios - and the SSD is a chip." That's exactly what's taking place. Shouldn't be too long either Bruce I'll have to do some more checking but what you are saying is a direct contradiction of everything I've read. I'll check further and see what I can find. Great points William Thomas.

"Good point about the need for operating system to be on SSD. I believe laptops are converging with PDA's and phones. The vogue for small laptops has returned. I suspect we will see operating systems supplied on chips, like bios – and the SSD is a chip."

That's exactly what's taking place. Shouldn't be too long either

Bruce I'll have to do some more checking but what you are saying is a direct contradiction of everything I've read. I'll check further and see what I can find.

]]> By: Nicholas Yoritate http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3102 Nicholas Yoritate Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:11:50 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3102 I'm not sure if this is a fair comparison since you utilizing the same type of SSD from the same company on differnt machines. Let's get down to true comparison's and break it down. Let's get into the true technology and kick the tires to see who and what does what. Otherwise i'm a totally fan. I'm not sure if this is a fair comparison since you utilizing the same type of SSD from the same company on differnt machines. Let's get down to true comparison's and break it down. Let's get into the true technology and kick the tires to see who and what does what. Otherwise i'm a totally fan.

]]> By: Bruce Cadieux http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3087 Bruce Cadieux Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:27:08 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3087 I have read much about SSD drives and the many new laptops that are shipping with them. Life span seems to be the main issue with them, not long life, but "short life" So much of an issue, that they don't recommend using a swap partition because the added increase in read writes to the disk can dramatically reduce the life of the disk, the same effect that defragmenting would have on it. They are very nice, but I think people would have to change the way they did things to make the best use of them. Or the manufacturers are going to have to find a way to increase their life span when they are used as a drive is intended, to read and write a lot of data over and over. I have read much about SSD drives and the many new laptops that are shipping with them.

Life span seems to be the main issue with them, not long life, but "short life"

So much of an issue, that they don't recommend using a swap partition because the added increase in read writes to the disk can dramatically reduce the life of the disk, the same effect that defragmenting would have on it.

They are very nice, but I think people would have to change the way they did things to make the best use of them. Or the manufacturers are going to have to find a way to increase their life span when they are used as a drive is intended, to read and write a lot of data over and over.

]]> By: radostsguy http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/08/05/to-ssd-or-not-to-ssd/#comment-3077 radostsguy Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:23:25 +0000 http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/?p=1868#comment-3077 Holy Toledo! You mean my 5.25 hinch Diskettes are obslolete? :( Seriously, in the Other World, the one that uses centimeters, etc, many people have to become mafiosi just to afford an old junker! So to us furriners, price is all important. ANYTHING that cost more than say $100 is not even on the horizon. Mind you, the slide of the US formerly Mighty Greenback is a big help, but what's "Made in the USA" anymore except weapons? I've been here in Bulgaria now for 8 years, and in that whole time, I've seen ONE US built car! Prepare yourselves for SSD's with Chinese Characters on them! They will likely be cheap too - too cheap! Holy Toledo! You mean my 5.25 hinch Diskettes are obslolete? :(

Seriously, in the Other World, the one that uses centimeters, etc, many people have to become mafiosi just to afford an old junker! So to us furriners, price is all important. ANYTHING that cost more than say $100 is not even on the horizon. Mind you, the slide of the US formerly Mighty Greenback is a big help, but what's "Made in the USA" anymore except weapons? I've been here in Bulgaria now for 8 years, and in that whole time, I've seen ONE US built car! Prepare yourselves for SSD's with Chinese Characters on them! They will likely be cheap too – too cheap!

]]>