40 Best Solid State Drive to Get More Done
May 28, 2020
We live in a world of information and as the adage goes “Knowledge is power”, knowledge or more precisely, information can be a headache as well. Due to this overwhelming information that greets us at every corner, making informed choices has become a lot harder than before.
SSD Ideas You Should Know
This guide takes on a journey for the prospective buyer of what things to consider before buying Solid State Drive, solid state drive types, solid state drive benefits, where to buy affordable solid-state drive, and plenty more. At the end of the day, you will be nearer to possessing the latest in SSD technology that is suitable for your needs.
For decades, data is being stored with hard disk drives. This traditional usage of the volatile hard drive storage is being replaced by the use of nonvolatile solid state drive or SSD storage. But first, what is a solid state drive or SSD? It is basically a new generation drives that store the persistent data on solid-state flash memory. They are made up of two main key elements make up an SSD: a flash controller and NAND flash memory chips. These drives are significantly faster and cheaper to use when compared to old storage technologies. Just like thumb drives, solid state drives are often much smaller than HDDs and therefore offer manufacturers more flexibility in designing a PC or laptop. Thus when it comes down to Solid state drive vs hard drive, no doubt SSDs are far better and advanced.
When it comes to the selection of the perfect drive, a lot of companies offer different drives with different features compatible with your device type. Some of the best drives in the market at present time are as follow:
These solid state drive gives you excellent performance with the speed of 3000/3500 Mbps and the random of 300K/240K read and writes IPOS. You can also customize your drive by programming RGB lighting effects! You can set up your control on patterns, pulse speed, lighting intensity, and modes. Its capacity ranges from 256 Gb to 2 Tb and comes with a warranty of 5 years.
- Crucial P5– If you are looking for the most favorable cost and performance drive in the PCI Express SSD, then this is for you. Crucial P5 is the new internal PCIe M.2 Solid state drive from the memory maker micron technology. The crucial drive can go up to the maximum sequential-read speed of 3,400MBps across all capacities. They have single-sided cell layout, which means these solid state drives can be used in the upgraded laptop system.
- Seagate Fire Cuba 510– This solid state drive is fast working drive delivering the speed of 5000 Mbps. It is one durable storage drive specially designed for gamers and creative professionals. This drive uses the advance Seagate’s sea tools software, it makes it more feature-rich. They are enough to handle several jobs that an average user might throw away, like health checkups and drive partitioning tasks. More options, including Secure Erase, firmware updates, and master boot record deletion/reconstruction tools, can also be accessed via the software’s advanced tab.
- Samsung Solid state drive 870 QVO– If you want to stop your search on a drive which gives you value and performance for the money, then these solid state drives are the best option for you. Samsung is a rock star of the solid state world and this is their best-delivered product. Samsung made this drive to hit the maximum sequential write speed of 530MBps, and 560MBps on sequential reads. It is a high performance delivering drive at low costs.
- Adata XPG SX8200 Pro- It is a highly competitive drive that can be traded with Samsung’s finest. Its high-performance Solid state drives which achieve the speed of up to 3-3.5 Gbps of reading and write. It shows class-leading power efficiency and has a cool heat spreader which makes it even more attractive to buyers. Adata’s XPG SX8200 Pro is designed for gamers, overlockers, and video content producers. It comes with different storages and 5 years of warranty.
- SK Hynix Gold P31 – SK Hynix’s Gold P31 SSD is very well suited for those who are looking up to their laptop storage to not only gain capacity but to gain battery life, too. It is a top tier solid state drive offers tremendous value in terms of power and design and will not cost you much. This is the first retail M.2 NVMe SSD from the company as well as the first one that hit the market leveraging the company’s sixth-generation 128-Layer ‘4D’ TLC NAND flash.
- Intel Optane SSD 905P- When we look for the best and money is not an obstacle between our searches, then this solid state drive is the best. This SSD features Intel’s latest 3D XPoint memory, it breaks free from many of the drawbacks of NAND and offers the best responsiveness out of any storage device we have. It has LEDs but does not give GUI LED control to the user. The Optane SSD 905P is the fastest consumer SSD ever made, but it’s also the most expensive.
- Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0- It is an all-rounder; it is fast, efficient, enduring plus looks great and is of course cost-effective. One thing about Sabrent’s warranty policy is that it will cover the Rocket NVMe 4.0 for up to 1 year if you do not register the SSD within 90 days of purchase. But, if you do so, they will receive a longer 5-year warranty instead. You get a free OEM copy of Acronis True Image. It also comes with a Sabrent’s Sector Size Converter (SSC). Additionally, this SSD provides a Control Panel application, an SSD Toolbox which can be used to monitor the device and upgrade the firmware if an update is ever released.
- Samsung 970 PRO- The best became better in terms of performance but grew on prices too. It is incomparable to any other product in the market but is a little too expensive to afford. Samsung has continued MLC flash development for consumer SSDs after every other NAND manufacturer abandoned it in favor of denser TLC flash. The 970 models are the first Samsung consumer SSDs to ship with the new NVMe 1.3 specification. It also comes up with 5 years of warranty.
- Silicon Power P34A80 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 NVMe SSD– It is one of the latest launches Solid State drive with the fairly generic moniker of PCIe Gen3x4. Silicon Power’s P34A80 features Phison’s E12 NVMe controller paired with Toshiba’s BiCS3 64L TLC NAND flash. Along with this it also boats the features like S.M.A.R.T. data reporting, TRIM, and supports NVM /secure erase commands, but does not support OPAL or Windows BitLocker.
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- Team Group T-Force Cardea Zero Z340– This solid state drive is not expensive when compared to the others in its niche but comes up with the latest mainstream. It’s a great choice of the drive for gamers looking to stretch their budgets for something more consistent and reliable. It comes up with 5 years of warranty and has a grapheme and copper spreader.
- Sabrent Rocket Q – Sabrent’s new Rocket Q series offers a great mix of value and performance, and also offers the first 8TB SSD for normal folks in the M.2 form factor. It comes with the high-performance Phison E12S NVMe controller and Micron’s Latest 96L QLC NAND flash. The device also supports Trim; securely erase and S.M.A.R.T. data reporting like most SSDs. It also has multiple power states to help save power in mobile devices.
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus- Samsung’s 970 EVO plus has replaced the ever-popular 970 EVO as its mainstream NVMe SSD for tech enthusiasts, hardcore gamers, and professionals. This drive is equipped with V5 flash, which provides a nice bump in performance up to 3.5 GB/s of sequential read throughput. The drive also boasts hardware encryption support, a five-year warranty, and up to 1,200 TBW of endurance. Overall, the 970 EVO Plus is one of the fastest SSDs we’ve tested, so it easily gains our recommendation.
- WD Blue SN550 1tb solid state drive- It a solid state drive that is slim and compact for any M.2 2280 application. It pairs nicely with an external NVMe adaptor due to its low average well-regulated maximum power consumption. The SN550 delivers a responsive experience and is also a quality SSD that comes backed by thousands of validation tests. With a 5-year warranty and plenty of endurance, the Blue SN550 is well worth considering, even if low cost isn’t your main priority.
- Patriot Viper VPR100– It is a high-performance solid state drive compatible for PC. It comes with Phison E12 Series Controller; 2280 M.2 PCIe Gen3 x 4 and NVMe 1.3. It is featured with the external thermal sensor, vicious heatshield design, and RGB APP sync up. It is the first RGB drive from Viper Gaming, Patriot’s gaming brand; the Viper VPR100 is a speedy little M.2 NVMe SSD with an included heatsink and some attractive RGB lighting.
- Samsung 860 EVO- Samsung solid state drive is powered with V-NAND technology. It is a high-performance drive that protects your data by the usage of various adjustable settings. It is compatible with Windows 7/8, windows server 2003, Vista, XP, MAC OSX, and Linux. Samsung managed to uplift its performance standard over 850 EVO but could not control the cost of the drive, thus it is a bit expensive to purchase. Its reliability and endurance make it fit to buy.
- Crucial MX500 – It is one of the best SSD with the combination of both value and performance. The MX500 became Crucial’s first consumer SSD to come armed with Micron’s newest NAND, and it has the 850 EVO squarely in its sights. Today, we’ll see if Crucial hit the target with a true Samsung 850 EVO competitor. It gives high performance and endurance along with the protection from host power failure.
- Intel Optane SSD 900P- This solid state drive is high in performance and is designed for content developers, web developers, gamer, and creative professionals. It uses 3D Xpoint technology. Optane SSD 900P would come away as the fastest consumer SSD ever. The desktop Optane SSD 900P matches or exceeds the DC P4800X’s performance specifications, so it promises explosive performance.
- Western digital black SN750 1tb solid sate drive- It has storage one can rely upon. It is one kind of solid state drive which gives excellent performance with a focus on gaming, thus it is most suitable for gamers. The combination of price and performance has already won the WD Black SN750 a lot of fans. It comes with five years of warranty.
- AADLINK S70- It is designed for hardcore gamers, tech enthusiasts, 3D animation, rendering, video and photo elicitors, and other intense applications. It supports desktops and notebooks with the latest Intel and AMD platforms. Its Sequential Read Speed is up to 3400 MB/s; Write Speed is up to 3000 MB/s and its Performance varies based on the system’s hardware and configurations. This SSD supports SMART and TRIM commands. They are engineered with a RAID engine and LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) coding to keep your data secure.
- Intel SSD 665P –With the 600 series of storage products, Intel has brought the latest QLC (quad-level cells) flash storage to the masses, which means reliable and an affordable SSD solution for those who are looking to build their system. This SSD 665P is compact, affordable, and speedy, so you might not need to look anywhere else. It suits both desktop and laptop configurations. Intel is also collaborating to form solid state drive laptop for a better future.
- Crucial P1- It is an amazing solid state drive for daily use. It is highly reliable and stable and affordable. It gives sequential read speeds of 2,000MB/s which make it an amazing choice for the buyers. They are the cheapest drives that can be sequenced in the PC. It uses Micron 3D NAND advancing the world’s memory and storage technology for 40 years.
- Inland Professional QLC– This solid-state drive is super easy to install and is ideal to upgrade the computer with faster boot-ups, full storage, application loading, file transfer, and shutdown. It is a high-performance drive with high storage capacities and low cost. It is best suited for gamers. Internal SSD drive performance may vary based on system hardware and configuration, OS, and applications.
- Kingston SSD A400– Kingston is one of the several companies which offer Solid-state drive to the market at the lowest price possible. It is a basic SATA drive but gives excellent performance and speed and is cost-effective. It uses a planar TLC flash. It gives a sequential read and writes speeds of 555.9Mbps and 507.2Mbps respectively while using a queue depth of 32, which saturates the SSD’s controller to get the most efficiency out of it.
- SanDisk Ultra II SSD- SanDisk is the first non-Samsung consumer to use TLC NAND in Ultra II SSD. It’s a mid range product that maintains consistent performance. It is more compatible with desktops. It gives a read and writes speed of 530Mbps and 440Mbps respectively. It is a durable and reliable device with 3 years of warranty.
- TEAMGROUP T- Force Vulcan SATA III- It uses 3D NAND technology with a huge capacity for game and data storage. This drive supports S.M.A.R.T Technology and monitors hard drive status efficiently. It also supports TRIM and brings out the best performance in the operating system. It comes with a warranty of 3 years. It is best suited for gamers.
- Netac SSD –SATA III- It gives an amazing performance with the read speed of 530Mbps. It uses 3D NAND flash technology. Netac internal SSD supports shock-resistant solid state core and makes Netac’s solid state drive resistant to shock and vibration. These SSDs are fully optimized in the Garbage collecting process. It also supports TRIM, S.M.A.R.TZ, and DevSleep.
- SanDisk SSD Plus- It is one of the most reliable devices which shows the perfect balance of performance. This Solid state drive is easy to upgrade to give a faster boot-ups, application load, responses, and shutdown. It is shock-resistant and thus very durable to use. SanDisk SSD Plus comes with the 3 years of the warranty period.
- SanDisk X600 – This Solid state drive gives high performance and high capacity for computing and IoT embedded applications. It is based on the Western Digital 64-layer 3D NAND technology and thus gives high endurance. It consumes 25% of less power as compared to the previous generation. X600 is compatible with laptops, desktops, notepads, and tables.
- Samsung T5 portable External Solid state drive 1tb- It is an external portable drive that delivers remarkable performance. It is compact, lightweight, and stylish to carry. These drives are also shock resistant. Just like other Samsung’s internal SSD, this is also based on the V NAND flash technology. It gives a speed of 540Mbps.
- VectoTech Rapid External Solid state drive USB-C Portable Solid State Drive- It is again a portable drive with 3D NAND technology and gives a read and writes speed of 350Mbps. They are highly compatible with the PC and MAC with C type USB port. It is super stylish and made up of highly durable aluminum 1050 grade. This drive is shock resistant and has 3 years of the warranty period.
- G-DRIVE mobile Pro SSD External storage drive- It is an external solid state drive that provids you with a speed of 2.8Gbps. It uses the latest G technology to make it more efficient to us. This SSD is usually used and proffered by the professionals because of the use of Thunderbolt 3. The drive is super stylish and easy to carry, but it is expensive to buy.
- HyperX Savage Exo External storage drive- This drive looks sleek and is both easy to carry as well as easy on your pocket. It is capable of both the A and C USB type. This SSD was designed to attract gamers. As compared to the other external Solid state drive it shows average performance but not that bad. Still, it’s equally useful for both PC backups and console-game supplemental storage.
- Transcend SSD 370- It gives high performance at a low cost. This solid state drive gives an amazing performance and has a lot of features that will surprise the user. It is highly durable and made up of aluminum and thus is shock-resistant too. Just like some of the other drives it also comes with 3 years of the warranty period.
- Corsair CSSD-F480GBMP510 Force Series MP510- The drive is flat-out fast as it gives a speed 3,480/3,000MB/s of reading/write throughput. The corsair force MP510 offers more value than its predecessors along with a good endurance rating. It comes up with 5 years of the warranty period. It is affordable and provides good power efficiency.
- VANSUNY’s portable external Solid state drive – This drive delivers the read and writes speed of 550 Mbps and 500Mbps respectively. The SSD features ultra-fast, stable, and secure data transfer with remarkable performance. It is waterproof, shockproof, and wear-resistant. This drive is perfect for photographers, gamers, video editors, and music producers. The external SSD is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Android systems, and supports all kinds of PC with USB port, laptop and smartphones with Type-C port.
- Mushkin Reactor Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) – It is an internal solid-state drive that is compatible with PC, Mac, Xbox, and Linux. It gives a Max Read speed of 555MB/s and Max Write speed of 270MB/s. this drive is highly preferred by gamers. The Reactor LT SSD provides the extreme performance benefits of a solid-state drive while enabling the big data capacity of mechanical hard drives. The Reactor LT SSD also features the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller.
- PNY CS900- This drive provides faster boot-up and quick application response. It gives an exceptional performance by offering a read speed up to 535MBps and a write speed of 500MBps. The power consumption of the drive is ultra-low. It gives superior performance when compared to traditional hard drives. Highly affordable drive with a great warranty period.
- KEXIN Portable External Solid state drive – This is an external device that is compatible with Mac- OS, Windows, laptop, X-Box, PS4. It is supported by USB-C and USB 3.1 Gen 2 interfaces. KEXIN’s ideal read and write speed can reach up to 500Mbps. Wrapped in the metal case, this drive is only the size of a USB flash drive. It is highly durable and reliable thus you don’t have to worry about your data loss.
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- Shell Thunder SSD- It is the first external drive with whisper-quiet active cooling. Thunder easily achieves 2,700 MB/s Read and 2,000 MB/s Write, helping you create and transfer photos, videos, and data, or boost your gaming experience, all the blink of an eye. It is only compatible with M.2 PCIe NVMe 2260 and 2280 Drives and not Apple OEM SSDs or Fledging Feather SSDs. Your SSD will run faster and live longer inside a Thunder, thus it gives an amazing performance.
Keep your system’s performance updated by using best Solid State drive suitable for your device. Get your device updated today by getting a new solid state drive.
What You Need to Know About Solid State Drive (SSD)?
Solid State Drives are usually in a 2.5-inch form factor. Their way of communicating with the PCs is through the same SATA ports which are used by mainstream hard drives.
But one of the stark differences between the two is that, on the very forefront of NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives, there are tiny “gum stick” SSDs that fit in M.2 connections on the modern-day motherboards, SSDs that sit on a PCIe adapter and slot into your motherboards like a graphics card or sound card, futuristic 3D Xpoint drives, and more. Storage types of SSD include single, multi and triple-level cells.
What Is Solid State Drive SSD Storage?
Solid State Drive is the recent development in the realm of storage devices used in computers. This new generation of storage devices has proved to significantly increase the previously slow speed of the computers.
These Solid State Drives have replaced the mainstream mechanical hard disks by using a faster technology known as flash-based memory. Previous generations of hard-disk technologies have a low running speed, which ultimately makes the computer run slower too. Solid State Drives are known to significantly speed up computers as their read-access time is low and so they generate fast throughputs.
Mechanical hard drives have been in use for decades. People all over the globe have used these for storing and retrieving data. These older hard drives are usually based on moving parts, i.e. a read/write head that moves back and forth to gather data.
Due to this, HDDs are considered to be the likeliest component of computer hardware to fail. Storage types of SSD differ in the amount of data they can hold for processing.
Things You Need To Consider Before Buying SSD
- The first and foremost thing to consider before buying SSD is the kind of technology used to connect the Solid-State Drive to your PC. Making a wise purchase for an SSD is imperative as the simplest way to affect the working of a computer system with a fast CPU is to connect it with a slow SSD.
- The processor is capable of handling billions of cycles per second, but often it takes quite some time waiting for your drive to provide it with the crucial data to process.
- Other important factors to consider are the capacity and price, along with a warranty that is long enough to lessen any fear of an early data death.
- Many of the SSD manufacturers offer a 3-year warranty, while others have a guarantee of a good 5 years. However, unlike the older versions of SSDs, the latest drives don’t wear out with normal consumer usage.
Benefits Of Having A Solid-State drive
Solid-state drives are the best upgrade anyone can make to their system. It doesn’t matter which Solid-State Drive types you use or whether it is a high end one, all SSDs improve your PC’s performance. Here are some of the solid-state drive benefits:
- Higher read/write speeds compared to optical storage devices. Even the least costly SSD is 3 times as fast as an optical drive, while the high-end devices have speeds of more than 10 times as compared to these old devices.
- These read/write speeds ensure faster boot time for operating systems.
- Programs load must faster and you can enjoy gaming without any hitches.
- Users can perform multitasking without any visible decrease in performance.
- The rate of file transfer is much quicker.
- There is no observable sound compared to the whizzing of the optical disk drives.
- They have a sleek design with no mechanical parts susceptible to breaking.
Types Of Solid State Drive (SSD)
M.2 comes in the shape of a gum stick and serves as a form factor for SSDs. These are relatively faster, smaller in size, and come in a variety of storages and sizes to suit your computer system
Best Of The Best SDD In Market
What Are The Storage Types Of SDD?
There are 3 storage types of SSD; single-cell, multi-cell, and triple-level cells. These cells hold data in the form of bits, in the form of a one or zero. The fastest and most durable amongst these are the single-level cells (SLC) which happen to be the most expensive as well. Multi-level cells (MLC) pack more data physically but their write speeds are lower than SLC. The least durable amongst the three is the Triple-level cells (TLC) which can hold three bits of data in a cell. This makes it vulnerable to ‘bit rot’ and considerably lower speeds.
Where To Buy Affordable Solid-State Drive?
Solid State Drives since their inception have been thought of as premium material. This tag is believable given a 20 megabits of Solid State Drive was sold for a staggering 1000USD in 1991.
Technological advancements and improved production techniques have considerably brought these prices down. SSD’s are still considered quite expensive compared to the more run of the mill optical drives. However, with an increased demand for better boot times and overall performance, SSD’s have gained a lot of momentum on their counterparts.
Despite the more high-end products, there are also many affordable options on the market.
How To Buy The Right SSD?
Things to consider before buying SSD include form factor, BUS type, and interface type among others. These three factors are a good starting point to check your technical requirements in the things to consider before buying SSDs. These factors will help you narrow down the right solid state drive types for your needs.
The form factor is the shape of the different SSDs available on the market. The varieties include the PCI express card that directly slots into the motherboard, the 2.5-inch drive that is similar to a laptop hard drive, and thirdly the M.2 drive forms. The M.2 drive form is a blend of the other two varieties and can be installed in desktops as well as laptops.
The next thing to consider before buying SSD is the interface of the solid-state drive and the BUS type. Interface type can be of three types, the PCI Express interface, the Serial ATA or SATA interface, and the M.2 drive interface with the single-bladed connector on the end. BUS type is the data pathway from the SSD to the system; it can be either classified as PCI-express or SATA.
It is also important for the prospective buyer to consider the capacity of the solid-state drive as well as the cost per gigabyte. Also, the warranty periods may vary which translated to premium quality in the higher warranty solid-state drive.
Things to consider before buying SSD can become a hassle for a newbie as the variety of products can easily confuse anyone. The above text explains briefly what factors you need to consider before setting your eye on the perfect SSD for you.
How To Install Your SSD?
Installing the solid-state drive on a PC is pretty straightforward. Your personal computer contains a few dedicated slots where you can house your hardware. The solid-state drive is no exception, it usually comes as a 2.5-inch drive whereas the PC slots are designed for 3.5-inch drives.
The 2.5-inch drives usually come with mounting brackets that help slot the SSD in the drive bay with ease. Regardless of the brackets, the tightened screws will hold the drive in its place. There are two cables to be attached to the SSD, the SATA cable and a connector from the power supply.
Securing these two cables and connecting the SATA cable to your motherboard will make the SSD ready to be used. It is important to keep the drive in the lowest-numbered SATA port for it to become the priority booting device. This will ensure maximum performance levels and improved boot times.
Installing a solid-state drive on a laptop may be a bit tricky but it’s still quite easy if you know your way around the hardware. Opening the laptop, you can easily swap the SSD with your optical drive. Moreover, the optical-dive to SSD kits allow for the removal of DVD or CD drives in place of SSD.
Ways To Optimize Your SSD For Best Performance
Most advice on the internet regarding the optimization of SSD revolves around tweaking some Windows functionalities. These measures aim to limit the number of writes to the SSD. A solid-state device has a finite number of writes before it can’t be written upon. However, the number of writes that these tweaks save by sacrificing important Windows functions such as hibernation is inconsequential.
The TRIM feature in modern Windows system (7 and beyond), is responsible for the automatic deletion of files from the solid-state drive once you delete the file in your operating system. This is one of the main differences between a solid-state drive and an optical drive, where bits and pieces of deleted data remain on the drive.
Another important optimizing process for optical drives, defragmentation, is useless when trying to optimize solid-state drives. Windows 10, in particular, knows about this and won’t let you defrag SSD by turning off this feature. Hence, the best bet for an optimized SSD is basically to install a modern version of Windows, for example, 8 and 10.
Windows 10 will also disable the SuperFetch service for the solid-state device even if its remains turned on in the settings. It automatically enables this feature for the slower mechanical drives. Windows will also automatically update the hardware drivers, thereby making regular checks for driver updates redundant.
As the solid-state drive depends on using empty blocks for writing, over-writing or filling the solid-state drive will result in a lowering of performance. To avoid this, SSD manufacturers often set aside a fixed amount of flash storage that is unavailable to the user. It is known as overprovisioning and helps maintain the SSD’s performance by keeping empty blocks to be written whenever required.
To summarize, Windows 10 will optimize your SSD for you automatically. The best of the best SSD with enough overprovisioned resources will never run out of empty blocks to be written thus enhancing performance even if the drive is near to full. SSDs can last for a decade or two with ease given their write/re-write capacities.
What Are The Dos And Don’ts In Using SSD?
If you want to keep enjoying solid state drive benefits, here’s a list of ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ that you need to adhere to. You will see they are similar to the actions taken to optimize the SSD. They are:
Dos:
- Make sure there is some space on your SSD. This ensures that the SSD writes to these empty blocks instead of looking for partially filled blocks, which in turn decreases performance.
- Upgrade your SSD’s firmware before installation to your system. This will remove any compatibility issues with the old drives.
- Enable TRIM functionality that is available on all modern Windows systems. It helps increase the life of your SSD by removing clean the blocks that are not used by your system.
- Storing large files on your hard-drive storage instead of the solid-state drive will greatly increase the performance of the SSD. You will able to reap true solid state drive benefits if large files that are seldom deleted, not stored on it.
- Similarly, the temporary files of your system are written continually. This process will increase the number of write and re-writes to your solid-state drive. Hence, they must be assigned a storage location on hard-drive storage if possible.
- Make sure to disable the auto-defrag option if you are using older versions of an operating system. Modern operating systems don’t allow SSD’s to be defragmented.
Don’ts:
- Don’t defrag SSD. Solid-state drives do not need to be defragmented as a fragmented SSD is quicker.
- Do not wipe clean your solid-state drive as this functionality is already provided by the TRIM feature in modern operating systems.
- A major don’t when using SSD is to run an older version of operating systems. They do not support TRIM functionality as well as other optimized processes regarding SSD performance.
- Continuous writing operations will minimize the life of the solid-state drive, as the SSD has a finite number of write cycles.
- Do not write large files that you will only use sparingly. These include media files that do not require the fast functionality of an SSD.
- Do not fill your SSD to the brim, leave enough space for the SSD to maintain its peak performance.
Data Storage You Should Try
Frequently Asked Questions About Solid State Drive
1. What storage capacity (GB) should I get for my SSD?
Storage capacity is a subjective assessment/analysis of need. The solid state drive types vary from 128 GB to 4TB with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB variants in between. If you are a beginner and not willing to break the bank, the 128GB variant may be suitable for you.
It is recommended to get a higher capacity as it promises better performance. To use heavy software, the 2TB variant must be employed at least. To this date, the 4TB variant is the most costly and only used by professionals and enthusiasts.
2. Is it okay to defrag the SSD?
It is not okay to defrag SSD. The foremost reason to defrag your device is to optimize a storage device and remove inconsistencies and consolidate clusters. However, the solid-state devices work on a different principle and hence don’t need to be defragmented.
3. Is it enough to have SSD for gaming purposes?
Gaming purposes for SSD isn’t enough on its own. SSD does not help to enhance frame rates, which is the role of GPU. Even the CPU is pivotal in some gaming parameters. Most gaming companies have streamlined their gaming requirements and hence most do not require the fast speeds of SSDs.
4. Why aren’t all SSDs used by all PCs?
Every PC is configured uniquely with the motherboard, the interface and BUS types. There usually arises an issue regarding the compatibility of BUS type and the interface.
Most SSDs use the Serial ATA (SATA) interface but to ensure better performance it should be compatible with SATA III. The physical space of your motherboard and the solid-state drive must be compatible with each other. This is the reason that all SSDs cannot be configured on all PCs.
5. What is the best SSD for your desktop?
Most desktops can only support the SATA 2.5-inch drives. This makes them the best choice for your desktop. If you have an up-to-date motherboard and CPU architecture, it can benefit from the speeds that the M.2 drives can provide.
For normal functioning and from the point affordability, the SATA SSDs are the best. This ensures you don’t need a high-end device to host the SSD and enjoy the solid-state drive benefits. Depending on the cost per GB, capacity, and compatibility with the desktop, the best SSD could vary but having the SATA 2.5-inch drive is the best and most reliable bet.
6. Is it worth to buy SSD external hard drive?
Even if you could work out the cost of storage in terms of cost per GB, the differential is minimal between SSDs and optical drives. The speed of SSDs alone is all the differential you need to buy it.
This speed translates to faster boot-up times, faster loading of programs, no stuttering during games, and ease of opening large files. SSDs promise data transfer speeds between 300mb/s – 40gb/s which is a phenomenal upgrade from your existing storage devices.
7. Which are the 3 Best SSD for gaming PCs?
Here are the best of the best SSDs in gaming:
Premium CHOICE
Value Buy
TOP Pick
8. What difference does a 4tb SSD make?
Gaming storage capacity for SSD varies with the nature of the game being played. Some games require extreme graphics and hence high-end configuration of the PC for them to work properly.
Having a 4 TB SSD drive can help your system reach the most high-end requirements of any game. Gaming storage capacity for SSD is not the only function that requires a 4TB storage, other uses of this ultra-storage device include that of using high-end software. These software require large storage capacities as well as high CPU requirements.
9. Fastest SSD brands the market can provide you?
- Intel for affordable U.2 SSD and boot SSDs,
- Samsung for NVMe SSD, SATA 3 SSD, and External SSD,
- Toshiba for PCIe SSD
- Adata for M.2 SSD,
- HP as the best endurance SSD.
10. Which are the top applications where you can run a SSD speed test?
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark lets you measure your SSD drive’s performance by conducting several tests. These include the sequential or random read/write performance test without using the cache. It also reads/writes a 1 GByte file as well as randomly chosen 4K blocks.
jDiskMark
The features of this application include the testing of disk IO read/write performance, Java cross-platform solution, single or multiple file option, sequential or random option, and measuring adjustable block size.
Parkdale
The Parkdale application lets you monitor write speed from your hard disks, CD-ROM devices and network servers in Kilobyte, Megabyte or even Gigabyte per Second. The test shows you the sequential read & write access speed and the random access speed using 4KB blocks and 32 concurrent threads.
11. Why do you need SSD for laptop?
Laptops like desktops also need a fast storage system for optimum performance. The read and write speeds of an optical drive are not enough to provide this level of performance.
The solid-state drive is the recommended option in this scenario. It enhances the read and write speeds, makes the laptop boot-up quickly and makes lesser noise. Laptops are usually more fragile than desktops, and having an optical drive with moving parts has the added risk of getting more wear and tear than a solid-state device.
We hope this guide helps you make a more informed purchasing decision when buying your solid-state drive.
