Solid State Devices
- 1. SSD DEVICES ABSTRACT A look into the history, development, cost and types of SSD devices available Jordan Hyman 20109461 Computer System Fundamentals
- 2. JORDAN HYMAN 20109461 9/22/15 SSD DEVICES Table of Contents What is a Solid State Device?....................................................................................................... 1 Historical background of the development of the SSD from the inception until present day ................ 1 Provide a list of SSD’s available – Type and capacity ....................................................................... 2 Complete a survey of the price range of SSD devices from 2010 to 2015 (£ per GB)............................ 2 Hard Drive ............................................................................................................................. 2 RAM ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Compile a list of the major manufactures of SSD ............................................................................ 3 List the advantages of using SSD .................................................................................................. 4 List the disadvantages of using SSD .............................................................................................. 4
- 3. JORDAN HYMAN 20109461 9/22/15 SSD DEVICES 1 What is a Solid State Device? A Solid State Device refers to electronic components, devices and systems based entirely on the semiconductor. RAM or Random Access Memory and ROM or Read Only Memory are forms of SSDs. RAM comes in 2 formats Static and Dynamic or SRAM and DRAM. Static RAM is made of 6 CMOS transistors and arethe fastest type of memory on earth with each memory cell able to store 1-bit of data. Dynamic RAMlines up one transistor with a capacitor to create an ultra-compact memory cell, however unlike SRAM the capacitor needs to be refreshed after a period to keep it charged which results in the introduction of latency in memory access. RAMis volatile meaning as soon as the power is removed their stateis lost or reset however ROM is non-volatile meaning that the stateis not lost or reset when the power is removed. ROM stores data by either permanently enabling or disabling selected transistors so that the memory cannot be altered. There are writable versions of ROM such as EEPROM which led to the development of the flash memory. Flash memory was developed from EEPROM and are based on the NAND and NOR logic gates however unlike EEPROM devices they areflash memory with higher block sizes giving them a significant speed advantage over non-flash EEPROM devices . NAND devices can be written and read from and make up the majority of flash memory sticks, memory cards and SSD hard drives whereas NOR devices only allow a single byte to be written or read. Solid StateDrives use electrical charges to read and write the data from memory chips that are soldered onto an electric circuit board and are a form of non-volatile memory. In NAND devices the cells are connected in series which consume less space than NOR devices and also reduces the cost of manufacturing compared to NOR devices. Historical background of the development of the SSD from the inception until present day The first Solid StateDevice was a transistor created by Bell Labs that first came into commercial use in the 1940’s and flash memory was first introduced by Toshiba in 1987.
- 4. JORDAN HYMAN 20109461 9/22/15 SSD DEVICES 2 RAM was patented by Robert Dennard in 1968 and is the main form of memory used in modern computers. Single Data RateSDRAM was widely used in computer systems in the 1990’s until the introduction of Intel Pentium III it is now consider as obsolete by the computer industry. Double Data RateSDRAM was to the direct successor to SDR SDRAM and improved on it by providing double the data during one clock cycle, it was subsequently improved to address high-performance memory needs resulting in DDR2SDRAM which was standard on most chipsets running Pentium 4 Prescott and later included Intel Core and AMD Athlon 64. The next chapter in the development of DDR SDRAM was DDR3 SDRAM whose specifications were finalised in 2007 and primarily increased the clock rates possible whilst reducing the voltages however latencies also increased significantly giving DDR3only 2-5% performance gains over DDR2. The first SSD Hard Drive was marketed by NEC in the 1990s and was a 5.25” SCSI drive that utilised internal batterybacked RAM and in 2006 Samsung launched the first high volume Windows XP notebook utilising SSD Hard Drives. Provide a list of SSD’s available – Type and capacity Type Capacity Flash Memory Current Maximum 1TB Hard Drive Current Maximum 4TB Memory Cards SD Standard – up to 32GB SDHC Standard – up to 128GB SDXC Standard – up to 1TB RAM 24 GB Complete a survey of the price range of SSD devices from 2010 to 2015 (£ per GB) Hard Drive 2010 – 0.58P 2013 – 0.32P 2014 - 0.19P RAM 2010 - £8.01 2013 - £3.56 (All prices converted from USD to GBP) The reduction in price is correlated to Moore’s Law which is “the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years” (Moore, 1965)
- 5. JORDAN HYMAN 20109461 9/22/15 SSD DEVICES 3 Compile a list of the major manufactures of SSD The current major manufacturers of SSD’s are: Hard Drives: 1. Corsair Memory 2. Crucial Technology 3. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies owned by Western Digital 4. Intel 5. Kingston Technology 6. Lite-On 7. OCZ Technology 8. Patriot Memory 9. Samsung Electronics 10. SanDisk 11. SeagateTechnology 12. Toshiba 13. Transcend Information 14. Western Digital 15. Zalman Flash Memory Sticks: 1. Corsair Memory 2. Crucial Technology 3. HP 4. Kingston Technology 5. Lexar 6. OCZ 7. PNY 8. Samsung 9. SanDisk 10. Seagate 11. Toshiba 12. Transcend Memory Cards: 1. Sony 2. Sandisk RAM: 1. Corsair Memory 2. G.Skill 3. Kingston Technology 4. Crucial
- 6. JORDAN HYMAN 20109461 9/22/15 SSD DEVICES 4 List the advantages of using SSD In this section I will examine the advantages of an SSD Hard Drive compared to a traditional hard drive which are as follows: Access Time – SSD Hard Drives have access speeds of 35 to 100 microseconds which is nearly 100 times faster than a traditional HDD Reliability – The SSD has no moving parts and uses flash memory to store the data. Power – The SSD uses less power than a traditional HDD as there areno moving parts which means an increase in batterylife for laptop users Noise – The SSD has no moving parts therefore is silent Size – The SSD is available in more form factors (2.5” 1.8” and 1.0”) increasing the space available inside the computer Heat – As the SSD has no moving parts and because it is flash memory it generates less heat which helps to increase the lifespan and reliability Magnetism – SSD’s are not affected by magnetism List the disadvantages of using SSD In this section I will examine the disadvantages of an SSD Hard Drive compared to a traditional hard drive which are as follows: Price – Cost of SSD Hard Drive are more than a traditional Hard Drive Capacity – SSD Hard Drives have a maximum capacity of 4TB however they arerare and expensive compared to a traditional HardDrive with the cheaper options in SSD Hard Drives only coming in with 128GB and 256GB drives. Availability – More model numbers available for traditional hard drives than SSD hard drives from the major hard drive manufacturers Longevity – SSD Hard drives will wear out over time as each cell in a flash memory bank has a limited number of times it can be written and erased.