Storage solutions have come a long way in recent years, and SSDs now set the benchmark in terms of durability and performance, but each SSD has its own area of expertise.
Let's face it, SSDs are now the default storage solution in the PC world, at least for operating system hosting. With prices dropping drastically in recent years and performance on the rise, SSDs are becoming virtually mandatory for OS storage, whether you're running Windows, Linux, macOS...
For mass storage, the traditional HDD (hard disk drive) remains the preferred choice, as its price per GB is much more attractive than the SSD, to the detriment of slower transfer rates.
What are the advantages of SSD disks?
Unlike traditional HDDs, SSDs have no mechanical or moving parts, making them more resistant and faster at accessing data (latency of 100 µs vs. 10 to 20 ms for a conventional hard disk). It tends to consume less energy and makes no noise during operation.
Less prone to failure, data loss is also less frequent. And as for durability: while early studies suggested a shorter lifespan than an HDD, in reality the opposite is true, and lifespan often exceeds 2-3 times that claimed by manufacturers.
Some SSDs, especially PCIe ones, boast exceptional transfer speeds: up to 14,500 MB/s for Gen5s.
What are the different types of SSD?
There are two main families of SSDs:
- SATA SSDs in the traditional 2.5-inch format. In essence, they take the form of HDD disks for notebook PCs. They're slim and lightweight, so they're a natural replacement for 2.5" HDDs without any prior modification.
- The NVme SSD: this is the more modern, higher-performance version, in the form of a small card with components on 1 or 2 sides, and plugged into a PCIe slot. They come in 3 different sizes, and are compatible with different generations of PCIe, so beware of compatibility (especially in terms of size). These are also the highest-performance models.
In addition, these two families are sometimes available in portable versions with USB connectivity.
There are now also mSATA SSDs, which are thinner than standard SATA, and suitable for ultra-thin laptops.
Flash memory for every SSD
Within SSDs themselves, there are several types of flash memory, which alone define the orientation of the drives' uses, and that's where all the difference lies.
There are 4 types of flash memory modules:
- SLC (1 bit) for professional use
- MLC (2 bit) for everyday use and gaming
- TLC (3 bit) for everyday use
- QLC (4 bit) dedicated to high-capacity storage
Which uses?
SSD storage reduces data access times, and speeds up loading, transfer and management of files.
Naturally, it's when running heavy applications that SSDs really come into their own, but more generally, they improve loading times, enabling faster system start-up and virtually instantaneous application launch.
Gamers will appreciate reduced loading times, but there's no need to bet on SSD M2 in PCIe Gen5 to gain in FPS, as the SSD has no impact in this respect. The fact remains, however, that faster loading times will make for smoother gameplay in open worlds and texture loading in densely-packed environments. For the most demanding games, we recommend the use of an SSD for the best gaming conditions.
The fastest, highest-performance SSDs should be targeted for heavier use, such as 3D or video design. In video processing and rendering, save times can be divided by 3, depending on the scenario.
Finally, unless you want to run a data center, there's no need to invest in high-capacity SSDs, as their main benefit is data access speed.
In any case, replacing a traditional HDD with an SSD gives a new lease of life to a laptop or desktop PC, with a much smoother, more enjoyable user experience.
