Introduction
Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Device is a storage device whose memory of storing data is made of integrated circuit assemblies; it does not have a physical a physical disk. This device can use the form factors of hard drives such as SATA and SAS which end up simplifying the invention on the computer (Hsieh, Lin, & Yang 2014). The software has undergone a lot of developments in the recent past including the introduction of new form factors like M.2 and NVM Express to address some specific requirements in the device. One of the main differences between the Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices and other conventional electromechanical drives is the fact that this new drive does not contain any moving mechanical components. MA, FENG, and LI (2014) explain that this drive is more resistant to physical shock as compared to other storage drives like the electromechanical drives. Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices run silently have quicker access time and exhibits lower latency as compared to other storage drives that carry out the same function (Sungmin, Hyeyoung, & Sungroh 2016). It should be noted that even though the Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices are characterized with a lot of advantages over other storage drives, the drive remains expensive while the prices of other competitors keep reducing with time.
Advantages of Solid-state drive
- It is Faster
Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices do not have mechanical components, and this reason makes them faster as compared to other storage devices such as hard drive disks (Yang, Jin, Yue, & Yang 2016). The absence of mechanical parts makes fragmentation of data in Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices negligible not like in hard drive disks making the entire process faster and efficient. This level of efficiency results into faster boot time enhanced bandwidth used in enterprise computing and faster files transfer from one device to another. Analysts argue that Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices are 25 to 100 times quicker and efficient as compared to other storage drives like hard disk drives
- Low power consumption:
It should be noted that other storage drives like the hard disk drive contain and rely on some moving mechanical components like magnet-coated metal platter used in reading and writing data. Some of these mechanical parts move and rotate in the process hence increased power consumption.
On the other hand, Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices have no mechanical components that have to move for the drives to work hence low power consumption. The low power consumption by Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices makes them more advantageous as compared to hard disk drives (MA, FENG, & LI 2014). This reason makes Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices useful in computers and consumer electronic devices where the amount of energy used is a concern. Additionally, the low power consumption makes devices that use Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices less vulnerable to breakage due to overheating.
From the earlier illustrations, it is clear that other storage drives such as the hard disk drives contain some mechanical components that make them heavy hence make them susceptible to break down due to the device dropping and shudders (Sungmin, Hyeyoung, & Sungroh 2016). These events lead to data loss therefore reduced lifetime. Additionally, the moving components may lead to the device breakdown due to overheating, therefore, less durable. On the contrary, Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices do not contain mechanical components; the devices using them are therefore less bulky as compared to devices using the hard disk drives. The devices are less vulnerable to falling, shudders, and overheating that may lead to breakage hence data loss. This advantage favors Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices especially when it comes to mobile computing.
- Silent while in operation:
The absence of mechanical components that may be rotating during the use of the drive makes Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices utterly silent during operation (Nanavati, Schwarzkopf, Wires, & Warfield 2016). Contrarily, other drives such as hard disk drives are not able to achieve a complete silence due to the movement and rotation of the platter used in storage of data and the back and forth movement of the read arm. However, organizations intending to use Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices should be prepared to face some challenges associated with the drive.
Disadvantages of Solid-State Drive
- Expensive
One of the primary drawbacks of Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices is the fact that the drive is more costly regarding dollar per megabyte as compared to the hard disk drive. According to Gouk, Zhang, and Jung (2018), users argue that Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices with similar storage capacity may cost twice that of the hard disk drive. This fact means that computers and other devices containing Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices are more expensive than devices with hard disk drive even if they are of the same storage capacity.
- Limited storage capacity:
Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices are characterized by limited storage capacity. It is argued that the Solid-Slate Devices currently available in the market go up to 128 gigabytes even though there are improved versions that can contain up to 4 terabytes (ATHANASSOULIS et al. 2015). The primary challenge with these improved versions is that they are rear and costly for most eligible users. On the other hand, hard disk drives are relatively cheaper and readily available in most electronic vending shops.
- Shorter lifespan
Even though Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices do not have moving mechanical components that make the device vulnerable to breakage, the drive itself has a limited write cycle. The solid-state drive contains flash memories that are usable for a given number of writes after which they are rendered useless.
SSD for Computer Forensics
Organizations like Delaware Health and Social Services and Disabled American Veterans should apply the use of Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices. This recommendation is since the benefits of the drive outweigh the possible challenges associated with the drive. The drives are not as tricky for computer forensics as people perceive (Egger, Gustafsson, Jo, & Son 2015). Due to the improvement in technology, the problems related to Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices are improved gradually. Institutions planning to use Solid-State Drive (SSD) Storage Devices should not consider the difficulty for forensic as this challenge is overrated in the market.
References
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Gouk, D., Zhang, J., & Jung, M. (2018). Enabling Realistic Logical Device Interface and Driver for NVM Express Enabled Full System Simulations. International Journal of Parallel Programming, 46(4), 710–721. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10766-017-0530-1
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MA, D., FENG, J., & LI, G. (2014). A Survey of Address Translation Technologies for Flash Memories. ACM Computing Surveys, 46(3), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1145/2512961
Nanavati, M., Schwarzkopf, M., Wires, J., & Warfield, A. (2016). Non-Volatile Storage. Communications of the ACM, 59(1), 56–63. https://doi.org/10.1145/2814342
Sungmin Lee, Hyeyoung Min, & Sungroh Yoon. (2016). Will solid-state drives accelerate your bioinformatics? In-depth profiling, performance analysis and beyond. Briefings in Bioinformatics, 17(4), 713–727. https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbv073
Yang, C., Jin, P., Yue, L., & Yang, P. (2016). Efficient Buffer Management for Tree Indexes on Solid State Drives. International Journal of Parallel Programming, 44(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10766-014-0340-7
