Solid-State Memory Will Kill HHDs

SSD (solid-state drive) storage will ultimately kill HHD (hybrid hard drive) disk storage. Not everyone will agree. It could take years, perhaps even a full generation, but spinning disk storage will give way to the simpler, more efficient solid-state form factor. Here’s why SSD storage will kill HHD storage.

1. High Reliability, Improved LongevitySpansion, which with partner Virident is now producing EcoRAM, described as “flash on steroids” by industry insiders, has come up with a next-generation type of solid-state memory that has run rings around the conventional product in primary and beta testing. More of this kind of development is happening and will be coming to the fore during the next few years.

2. Faster Random Data AccessNAND flash has been proven to feature 30 to 40 times faster random access times than spinning disks.

3. Lower LatencyThanks to faster random access, the keyboard-to-data-on-screen times are very fast; no waiting for some other process to clear first before moving on to a second task.

4. No Moving Parts That Can Break or Freeze UpIt stands to reason that this is an advantage.

5. Capacities Quickly ImprovingAbout every six months, new capacity levels in NAND flash are reported by vendors. Toshiba and Dell recently announced 128GB flash laptops; it won’t be long until those are up to twice that capacity.

6. Lower Power RequirementsNo moving parts equals less power needed. “We expect Spansion EcoRAM can help slash energy consumption by up to 75 percent in Internet data center servers and offer four times the memory capacity of traditional DRAM-only servers for the same energy consumption,” Spansion President and CEO Bertrand Cambou said.

7. Smaller Carbon FootprintNo spinning disks, much less heat expended-

8. Much Less Cooling NecessaryParts that don’t move don’t see friction. NAND flash gets hot, but not nearly as hot as HHDs.

9. Cost Is Coming DownAs competing fabrication processors start producing the new 34-millimeter form factors (Intel and Micron were first to market with this), costs will be coming down. NAND flash is still relatively expensive at this point, at about $2.50 per gigabyte.

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