The proper care and feeding of SSD storage

Posted: May 13, 2013

[caption id="attachment_11323" align="alignright"]Image from pcworld.com[/caption]Everything changes. This is especially true of computer components. Think back to the days of the punchcard, which evolved to the 5.25-inch floppy disc, which evolved to the 3.5-inch floppy disc. Then came hard drives with megabytes of storage, and it was an exciting time. Now, we're at gigabyte and terabyte storage options, and we think "What could possibly come next?" Hold on to your hat - because now there are solid-state drives. This has to be the best thing yet....or is it?

Your solid-state drive sits there in silence. It’s sleek. Elegant. More than a little mysterious. The hard drive it replaced was easy to understand: A soft hum assured you that its platters were spinning. A quiet mechanical click informed you of its read/write operations. You’d groom it with the occasional defrag. Times were good.

Now? Everything seems peaceful. But you keep hearing stories: An SSD’s performance deteriorates over time. They have disturbingly short life spans. If it fails, your precious data will be consigned to oblivion. Facts? Or fever-brained fiction?

A high-end SSD is the pinnacle of computer storage today. Ditching your hard drive for one of the latest SSD models is like dumping your go-kart and hopping into a Formula One car. I’m not exaggerating: SSDs can produce a four- or fivefold jump in speed. They have no mechanical parts to break, and they emit zero noise. SSDs are the perfect storage medium—until things go pear-shaped. Or until you seek hard information about the technologies involved.

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