I'm new to the SSD arena so I have a few uestions

[mohab]

Do SSDs have frequencies or data transfer rates that one has to consider before buying?



Please tell me if this is write or wrong and why:
SSD are essentially flash drives, we have had flash drives for some time now and they are not that fast because of their USBB interface which is a bottleneck but SSDs will have a SATA interfaces which are a lot faster.

 

[AddRAM]

Of course you have to look at the read write specs of a ssd before you make a purchase.

#2 is right and you explained it yourself, it`s not a usb interface it`s a sata interface.

I don`t know why you think flash drives aren`t fast, I run Zorin, Ubuntu, and Linux off them and they fly

And if you install Windows off a flash drive it blazes.

SSD 850 EVO 2.5" SATA III 250GB | Samsung Solid State Drives

SSD 850 EVO 2.5" SATA III 120GB | Samsung Solid State Drives

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes ate AddRam is on the money they are "flash memory" but come in very different build types than sticks do for example they have controller chips whereas sticks are just the chips - in a very basic way.

SSD's also have many other features such as self cleaning features and usually software from the manufacturer that you can use to Optimise and test the drive with. As for speed again as AddRam says my sticks are just lightning the 3.0 ones being slightly faster but not as much as is claimed.

The fact that SSD's again as explained are SATA connected and compared to USB faster and in my experience have it all over spinners even the so called SSHD ones (hybrids) which in my experience are not as good as claimed they are.

 

[Layback Bear]

I use two brands of SSD's.
Intel and Samsung because they both have a great reputation.
Their are several test one can do or articles online comparing speeds of each. Doesn't really mean much in everyday usage.

For sure SSD's will run circles around hard drives of any kind.
Because I have only tried two brands I can only speak of those which have worked great.
I know of no slow SSD; some are just faster than others but you won't be able to see the difference. The difference you will see is between a SSD and a hard drive and you will be amazed.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I agree Layback there is no slow SSD even the Samsung 830 was not slouch. I have got Samsung (830 / 840 Pro / the 850 Pro and 850 EVO's , Crucial M4 , and perhaps the small 120GB SanDisk Extreme (one I overfilled) seemed to me to be the fastest though out here hard to find at a reasonable price.

So I have stuck mainly to the Samsung's and all the stuff that has been posted re speeds etc personally I think tends to detract away form the basically marvelous technology we now enjoy after all those years of putting up with those old clunkers though we still have to use them for the large capacities. The best thing about them are the rare earth magnets you can extract from them for keeping tools magnetized on the small racks I made out of them - for example - instead of having them stuffed away in drawers (the tools).

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do SSDs have frequencies or data transfer rates that one has to consider before buying?

They do and one can, but I'd place more consideration on (in no particular order):

Included tools or toolboxes and their usefullness or issues.

Difficulty of returning to the seller if faulty.

Difficulty of returning to manufacturer if it comes to that.

Price

Warranty terms

Effectiveness and reliability of any included software, particularly migration software.

Apparent reliability of that brand and model, including design and firmware issues and how they were resolved by the manufacturer.

Form factor (if that matters to you and your motherboard supports multiple form factors).

Combined, I'd certainly place more emphasis on those named issues than I would on any speed benchmarks.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep I've been using mx100 series of crucial and they're pretty good,
Price wise are reasonable too

 

[whs]

For the OS, the data transfer rate is of a lesser importance. It is the access time that counts.

The fantastic transfer rates that you see in the SSD specifications do not really apply for the OS operations. The OS deals with 4K records and the R/W times for those are a lot slower than for the large record sizes that are referred to in the specs.

The access time for most SSDs is in the 0.1ms +/- range and that is what gives you the performance boost. You can best check transfer rates and access time with HD Tune.

HD Tune website

I own SSDs from OCZ, Intel, Crucial and Mushkin. The oldest are from 2008. They all work well to that date. My preferred make is Mushkin because I know they stand behind their products even several years after purchase.

 

[Boozad]

Intel and Samsung because they both have a great reputation.

Indeed. I have an Intel 520 Series and a Samsung 850 Evo. Great drives.

 

[AddRAM]

Samsung
Intel
OCZ
Crucial (would not be my 1st choice)
Mushkin
PNY
Kingston
Corsair

As everyone has mentioned, a Solid State Drive will smoke a hard drive.

But you want one that is reliable and 100% healthy out of the box.

 

[mohab]

Thank you all for this wealth of info, I wasn't expecting to get so much info!
AddRAM, my flah drives are all USB2 but I do have one USB3 flash drive and it rocks
Folks, what is Form factor? and why does it matter?

ICIT2LOL what is self cleaning? Isn't an SSD like a hard disk as in it will keep files as they where written to it?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No mate it is TRIM software see this Trim (computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) you can check to see if it is set by using the command prompt see this on how to see if it has been set.
Make Sure TRIM Is Enabled for Your Solid State Drive in Windows 7 for Better Performance

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Folks, what is Form factor? and why does it matter?

Form factor is a reference to size and how the SSD connects to the computer and to where it is mounted.

Look at the link below for a list of ALL SSDs available at Newegg. This includes ALL form factors. You can specify which form factor you are interested in in the left hand margin.

There are 2 general mount locations: in a drive bay like a standard hard drive or in a slot like a video card. There are subdivisions of each of those, so you have a dozen or more form factors.

By far the most common is 2.5 inch and those will fit in most PCs in a standard drive bay like a regular hard drive.

The "slot" type SSDs require a motherboard with a compatible slot into which the drive fits, like any other slot device such as a video card. This is newer technology, so there are fewer choices and many motherboards don't have the compatible slots.

The various form factors can differ in performance, but all are significantly faster than hard drives.

Computer Hardware, Hard Drives, SSDs, Internal SSDs, Newegg - Newegg.com

 

[mohab]

Layback Bear, if I understood you correctly; the slowest SSDs will be faster than a HD and I won't notice the difference in speed between a fast SSD and a slow SSD?

ICIT2LOL, Trim turned out to be an added complication because an SSD cannot be treated as a HD. Does Windows 7 automatically TRIM an SSD every now and then?

 

[whs]

1. What do you mean by "slow SSD". If you refer to read/write times that you find in the specifications, then there are differences. But those times do not really matter because a) the OS uses mostly 4K blocks and not the large blocks to which the specifications refer and b) the OS performance stems from the very fast access time of 0.1ms on average - and that is 150 times faster than a HDD.

2. If you install Windows 7 or later on a SSD, Trim is automatic and defrag is disabled. Here is how you can check Trim:

TRIM Support for SSD - Check and Enable or Disable

 

[Layback Bear]

This is exactly what I mean.
From my post #4

I know of no slow SSD; some are just faster than others but you won't be able to see the difference

whs put it in a more exact fashion in his post #15.

b) the OS performance stems from the very fast access time of 0.1ms on average - and that is 150 times faster than a HDD.

Anything that is 150 times faster than what we use to use (hard drives) is a speed demon.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Layback Bear, if I understood you correctly; the slowest SSDs will be faster than a HD and I won't notice the difference in speed between a fast SSD and a slow SSD?

ICIT2LOL, Trim turned out to be an added complication because an SSD cannot be treated as a HD. Does Windows 7 automatically TRIM an SSD every now and then?

No mate it isn't a complication it is a feature if it needs describing see what WHS and Layback Bear say and anyway it beats the hell out of defragging some slow old spinner. You just need to make sure the TRIM is "on" using that command prompt it will look after itself and does it during periods of idle.

 

[mohab]

I use Macrium Reflect a lot to image my HD and restore it. Sometimes I use it as an uninstaller ( I image before installing software and if I don't like the software I restore) to prevent unremoved files from piling up and slowing the PC down.

Will I be able to use Macriu on a SSD or will I use to many r/w cycles?

 

[mohab]

I've read that with SSDs there is a limit or R/W cycles? Does that mean that an SSD can fail suddenly without warning ?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I've read that with SSDs there is a limit or R/W cycles? Does that mean that an SSD can fail suddenly without warning ?

Look anything can fail at any time and I think I am right in stating that even high R/W cycles would take a very long time to degrade the drive to being useless. Far more likely to have a mechanical drive fail because of the mechanisms (moving) inside the darn things, not to mention the electrical controller.
If you have ever opened up an old spinner you would know what I mean.

For my money they are only of any use to me for the rare earth magnets they contain - great for holding tools to benches or shelves and also magnetizing screwdrivers