Comments on: SSDs: The Next Big Thing?

By: DVDGuy

DVDGuy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:37:18 +0000

I've updated the article a bit upon reading some more recent real world results for SSDs. Read and write speeds vary quite a bit between the different SSD models, and some are very pedestrian, while others are better than even the best HDDs. The current best choice in terms of read/write speed, and cost, seems to be the 120 GB MLC drive from OCZ, at $3 per GB it isn't cheap, but you can expect write speeds in excess of 110 MB/s and read speeds of up to 160 MB/s, compared to say 80-something and 100 MB/s write/read for the fastest HDDs.

By: DVDGuy

DVDGuy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:29:11 +0000

Yeah, the price and also capacity (which is related to the price) are the major turn offs for SSD at the moment. The lower write speed of MLC drives will be a concern to some, but the massive improvements in seek time and read speed should help in most basic tasks (which tends to involve numerous small file reads and writes).

By: hfa1

hfa1 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:51:43 +0000

Thanks for the info. The X25-E has certainly overcome the sluggish write performance that is typical of flash memory. The X25-M is a good example of typical sluggish write performance. The only downside for now is the high cost. That should change in time.

By: DVDGuy

DVDGuy — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:09:10 +0000

MLC SSDs have around the same write speed as HDDs (note that SSD read/write speeds are more consistent, whereas HDD transfer speeds are dependent on a lot of factors). SLC SSDs (for example, the Intel X25-E) have more than double the write speed of MLC drives - these have *specified* sequential write speeds of up to 170 MB/s. Real world speeds are of course slower than specification, and real world tests are available in this review, which shows that SLC SSDs are about twice as fast as the fastest HDDs.

By: hfa1

hfa1 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:58:46 +0000

What SSD drive has a 160MB/s WRITE speed????? That is much faster than any drive I have seen on the market so far. Write speeds I have seen are typically worse than HD’s.

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