Solid-State Storage Disks Are Rapidly Replacing HDDs: 10 Reasons Why

Solid-State Storage Disks Are Rapidly Replacing HDDs: 10 Reasons Why

by Chris Preimesberger

No Moving Parts

Nothing moves, so nothing can break, which is a big advantage in any computing device.

Way Faster Read/Write Times

Because the data on the SSD is all available at any given time and doesn’t need anything to spin up to deliver it, this is the second key reason why solid-state represents the future.

Drives Can Take More Punishment

By their very nature, SSD drives can take a much higher impact than an HDD and be able to work another day.

SSDs Are Embedded More Efficiently

Since they come in various sizes and don’t have machinery to take up valuable room within the drive compartment, SSDs can be wedged into places HDDs can’t to handle jobs such as digital sensors.

Storage Densities Continue to Rise

Improvements in NAND flash capacities are announced regularly, as often as once or twice per year. And there’s no end in immediate sight.

Lower Power Requirements

No moving parts means less electricity needed to run the drive. Ultra-low-power SSDs are starting to become more common in the product stream.

Much Less Cooling Required

HDDs require their own fans in laptops, desktops and servers. SSDs get warm, too, but most often do not need fans.

Reliability Has Improved

Enterprise NAND flash’s durability and load-balancing properties (so that often-used sectors don’t wear out before the disk itself is done) have improved in quantum leaps in only the last few years, thanks to R&D from the industry as a whole along with improved fabrication methods.

Smaller Carbon Footprint

The less mechanical action, the less heat and CO2 go into the atmosphere.

Prices Are Coming Down

There is a slow, but sure downward trend in the overall market, and this will become as important as anything else in the continued adoption of SSD in IT systems.