Hardware Secrets
Home | Camera | Case | CE | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
Editorial
First Look
Gabriel’s Blog
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Awarded Products
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Facebook
Forums
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Twitter
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search



Recommended
Upgrading and Repairing PCs (19th Edition)
Upgrading and Repairing PCs (19th Edition), by Scott Mueller (Que), starting at $13.00
Home » Storage
Anatomy of SSD Units
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: Tutorials Last Updated: January 22, 2010
Page: 1 of 2
Real-time pricing for Intel SSDSA2CW300G310.
Intel 320 Series 300 GB SATA 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive Brown Box SSDSA2CW300G310 ST-SSDSA2CW300G310 Electronics Used and New Dr
Amazon: $499.99 TigerDirect: $517.57
Newegg: $499.99 Buy.com: $500.99

Introduction

SSD (Solid State Drive) units are storage devices that store files and programs just like hard disk drives, but use flash memory chips to store data, instead of storing data on a magnetic disk. Because data is stored electronically rather than magnetically, SSDs are way faster than hard disk drives for two reasons. First, no conversion between magnetic information into electronic information is needed. And second, there are no mechanical parts, so data is readily available, while on hard disk drives you need to wait until the heads move to the area where data is stored, which takes some time. In this short tutorial we will show you how SSD units look like inside and what are their main components.

By the way. Since data is stored inside memory chips, SSD is not a disk, therefore the term “SSD disk” is wrong: prefer the term “SSD unit.”

Let’s first start talking about the external format. SSD’s can be found on several different form factor, i.e., physical sizes. The most common are 2.5” and 1.8,” because these are the same sizes used by hard disk drives targeted to laptops. It is important to know that the first market segment that SSD manufacturers targeted was the mobile market, not the desktop market, for two main reasons: SSD’s consume less power than hard disk drives (this difference may be negligible on a single desktop computer, but for a user running a laptop on batteries, every little difference counts to extend battery life) and are immune to impact (i.e., you can shake, throw and drop SSD’s and your data will still be intact; if you try the same with a hard disk drive you can damage the drive and end up losing all your data).

SSD’s can be also found with several different interfaces, but the SATA interface is the most common.

In Figure 1 we have an example of a 2.5” SSD based on the SATA interface, being the most popular format for SSD units.

SSD
click to enlarge
Figure 1: 2.5” SSD.

Now let’s see how the inside of an SSD unit looks like.

Page 1 of 2  | Next »
Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark Article | Comments (6)

Related Content
  • Everything You Need to Know About Serial ATA
  • CE-ATA Standard
  • USB Drive Roundup
  • 64 GB Solid State Drive Round-Up
  • Patriot Wildfire 120 GB SSD Review

  • Recommended Deal.
    Seagate ST31500341ASSeagate ST31500341AS

    1.5TB 7200RPM 32MB BUFFER SERIAL ATA II/300 3.5I at ST31500341AS Seagate Buy the a super low price. is your one source for best computer and electronics deals anywhere anytime Your TigerDirect.com Shopping Cart

    TigerDirect: $142.99

    RSSLatest News
    Intel Intros New Intel Xeon Processors
    May 15, 2012 - 5:04 PM PST
    Transcend Launches mSATA SSD Drives
    May 11, 2012 - 8:56 AM PST
    NVIDIA Launches GeForce GTX 670
    May 10, 2012 - 7:44 AM PST
    Corsair Adds PC Fans to Product Line
    May 4, 2012 - 9:05 AM PST
    iBUYPOWER Facebook Giveaway
    May 4, 2012 - 8:58 AM PST
    .:: More News ::.




    © 2004-12, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)