The argument about whethersolid state drives (SSD) will usurp hard disc drives
(HDD)has been rumbling on for some time. Those in the
pro-solid state camp point out that SDDs are extremely stable and
durable under rugged conditions whereas the moving parts of HDDs
increase the probability of mechanical failure,writes
Ariel Perez.
Evaluations of HDDs and SDDs, carried out by Kingston Technology
in real-world notebook performance categories such as multimedia,
gaming and digital content creation, reveal an increase in
performance of up to 581% using SSDs. Although the cost of SDDs
will inevitably be a factor, the performance advantages,
durability, reliability and power savings could justify the
investment.
In back office server environments the benefits of SDDs can also
be significant for database scratch partitions, e-mail, website
hosting, e-commerce/banking transactions, video on-demand and cloud
computing.
For example, financial institutions may rely on a RAID/rack
comprising thousands of HDDs to satisfy quick response times for
daily transactions. In this situation multiple drives are
implemented, but not for storage space. In some cases, these drives
are "short stroked" using only a small percent of their capacity,
forcing data to the outer ring of addresses which in turn leads to
a high-performing transaction rate.
Kingston has illustrated that by utilising SSDs in this
scenario, rather than HDDs, significant savings could be made. For
example, in a worst case scenario, five times TCO savings could be
achieved; in a best case situation, 32 times TCO savings are
achievable. These would accrue in the areas of floor space, power
and cooling while delivering higher performance and in some cases
increasing capacity.
Another less obvious benefit springs from SSD use in this
situation. Due to savings in floor space and power consumption,
there is a corresponding increase in a datacentre's ability to
utilise more processing power. As many large datacentres have
reached the limits of their power supplies, SSD implementations
could potentially decrease storage power by at least five times,
resulting in more processing racks and a lifting of
constraints.
Looking ahead
Resistance to change is an inherent facet of human psychology
which applies across all areas of activity, including the sphere of
technology. Given that HDDs have been with us for 50 years and have
helped us gain startling achievements in the computing industry,
many might say "let's stick with what we know".
But that is not a feature of this industry; if anything, it has
been characterised by a willingness to embrace new ideas and
technologies and apply them to many areas of life, from business to
medicine, science and space. Storage is just one component in this
evolving story, but today's SSD technology represents another
landmark for the industry: it signals the beginning of a shift
towards a more reliable and cost-effective means of storage.
Ariel Perez is SSD business manager atKingston
Technology