SSD Explained: How to Choose, Use and Maintain

SSD, or Solid State Drive, has become a viable alternative as the primary drive for operating systems. It exceeds HDD in both speed and reliability. But how do you choose? What are the disadvantages? We will walk you through these questions to help you make your own decision.

HDD vs. SSD

HDD is an electromechanical device that stores and retrieves digital data by a magnetic head and one or more rigidly spinning disks (platters) with magnetic coating. The head hovers above and moves around the platter to access data stored on the magnetic surface.

SSD, on the other hand, has no mechanical parts. It is mainly comprised of a controller, flash memory, and cache or buffer. An SSD functions like a portable USB flash device we often use. But it contains multiple integrated flash memory chips and is far more powerful and durable than USB flash.

What are the advantages of an SSD?

There are many advantages solid state drives have over traditional mechanical hard disk drives. The main feature of an SSD is that it employs flash memory chips instead of spinning platter, which provides faster data access rate, higher reliability, and lower power consumption.

Faster Access Speed An SSD has access speed of 35 to 100 microseconds, almost 100 times faster than traditional mechanical HDD. This means increased read/write rate, faster loading of applications and decreased booting time.

Reliability Because SSD doesn't have and moving parts, it can endure impact or vibration that is fatal to HDD. (Read more about how delicate and vulnerable HDD is.) 

Power Consumption HDD needs more power because it has to power up the spindle motor to spin the platter. This could make a significant difference when using portable devices powered by a battery.

How to choose Between HDD and SSD?

Capacity and Price Large capacity SSDs are rare and expensive at the time being while you can easily purchase a multi-terabyte HDD with a fairly reasonable price. This is a major disadvantage of SSD and is probably the reason why HDD is still being made by manufacturers. 

If you need large spaces to store your data, or you have a fairly small budget, then HDD may still be your primary choice. But if it is speed and power efficiency you need, SSD is more suitable for you. Moreover, you can always combine HDD and SSD to achieve balance - SSD as the primary drive for OS and other applications and HDD as storage drives to store large files.

SSD Size and Port SSDs often follow the same form factors as HDDs (2.5-inch or 1.8-inch). Choose the right size and port before you make your purchase.

How to use and maintain SSD

SATA Ports Installing SSD is a relatively simple task. You just need to connect the SATA power and SATA data cable to your SSD and motherboard. An SATA3 port is preferred for better performance if available. If you wish to make your SSD the default boot device, plug it into the lowest-numbered SATA port.

Maybe a Bracket is in order If your SSD is too small to fit in the PC bay, screw it into a mounting bracket first. 

Enabling AHCI Mode AHCI stand for Advance Host Controller Interface. Before you install your operating system on SSD, check that AHCI mode is enabled. Also, make sure the partitions are properly aligned to boost the SSD performance.

Make sure that TRIM is enabled TRIM is a command that allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.However, with Windows 7 and higher, TRIM is default on if detecting SSD.

No defrag for SSDs SSDs do not need defragmentation at all. Never try to defrag an SSD and remember to turn off the defragmentation schedule. In Win10, go to “Defragment and Optimize your drives” and make sure that your SSD is categorized as an SSD.

Don’t Fill SSD in Full Capacity SSDs may suffer performance issue especially in writing speed when the drive reaches full capacity.

Above are some of the tips about how to choose the right storage medium and some knowledge about SSD. Hope you find it useful!