EmergingandTraditional:SolidStateDrivevsHardDiskDrive

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Intro Thesecondhalfofthetwentiethcenturymarkedthebeginningwhatcanbeseenasthegolden ageofcomputertechnology,withfurthercomputingadvancementbeinginventedfrequently.This technologicalboomcanbeattributedtothedevelopmentoftheharddrivedisk(orHDD)in1956 which,withacountlessmoreimprovements,allowedforlargequantitiesofdigitaldatatobestored efficientlyandreliably.Harddrivediskshaveremainedunchallengedbyanyotherstoragedeviceuntil recentyears,whichhaveseenoverwhelmingprogressinthedevelopmentoftheSolidstatedrive(or SSD).Thepurposeofthispaperistocomparethedifferencesbetweenthetraditionalharddrivedisks andemergingsolidstatedisks,aswellasdiscussingthehistory,effects,andpotentialimpactsthisnew technologycanpresent. HistoryandBackground Solidstatedrivesarentacompletelynewtechnology,asThomasM.Rentfrom Storagereview.comstatesTheSSDwasborninthe1950'sasengineerswereworkingtoadvance storagesystems.Twotechnologies,ChargedCapacitorReadOnlyStore(CCROS)andCorememory, weredevelopedaroundthesametimeandservedasthefoundationfortheSSDsthatweknowtoday. TheseearlySSDsweremostlyignoredfrompotentialmarketsastheywereextremelyexpensiveand difficulttoobtain.Evenwhentheharddrivediskwasreleased,itwasunusedbythegeneralpublic mostlyduetothefactthatitwasaboutthesizeoftworefrigerators,andonlyhad3.75megabytes (whichisaboutasingle3minutemp3song)Instead,SSD,statedbyZsoltKerekes,editorfor StorageSearch.com,remainedanopensecretmainlyusedinembeddedsystemsinmilitary applications,orinhighperformancecomputerresearchlabs.Duringthelate1980s,whilethedata storageofaHDDwasincreasing,thecostandphysicalsizedecreasedsomuchthatithadbecome

economicallyprofitabletodevelopharddrivestobeusedinpersonalcomputers.Computer manufacturersrushedtocreatedlargerandfasterdrives,noonewasconcernedwithSSDtechnology asitcouldntevenguaranteeatenyearlifespanandasZsoltKerekes,statesfielduseshowedthatthe extrapolateddatalifeof10yearswouldn'tbeachievedinpractiseFewcompanieswouldtryand releasevariationsofSSD,noneofwhichbecamecommercialsuccesses.In1995,MSystems introducedflashbasedsolidstatedrives.WhiletheFlashdriveswereconvenientastheydidnotrequire batteries,theywerestillveryunstable.Withmanyimprovementstheflashdrivehadbecomethethumb storagedrivethatmanyknowtodaytostorepicturesanddocuments.Ekker,N.E.,Coughlin,T.C.,& Handy,J.HclaimsthatHDDstoragecapacitieshaveincreasedover200,000timessincethe1950s withcontinuousdeclinesinharddiskdrivepricesoverthattimebutwithdiminishingreturns,because althoughtheHDDsarebecominglargerandcheaper,theyarenotbecominganyfaster.Theharddrive needstosortthroughgrowingamountsofdata,withoutbecominganyfaster,sosimpleoperationsare becomingharderandhardertopreform.Thishascreatedaneedforcompaniestosearchforfaster alternatives.ThisfinallyputthespotlightontheSSD.SSDremainedobscureuntil2003whenthefirst terabyteclassSSDwasreleased,sincethentheSSDhasbeencompetingtocatchuptomassive storagespacesoftheHDD,atacosttomatch. Operation Pierce,A.statesinTheemergenceofthesolidstatedrivethatInsideanHDD,youhavea stackofroundmetaloxideplatters.Theseplattersspinextremelyfastasread/writeheadsmoveacross theirsurfaceanduseelectromagnetismtoreadandwritedigitalinformation.Thisisverymuchdifferent tohowSSDoperates,asitdoesnothavinganymovingparts.TechDirectionsexplainsthatTheSSD readsandwritesdigitalinformationontosemiconductorchipsthataremountedontoacircuitboard.

Thus,havingnomovingparts. ComparisonandBenefits Today,aconsumersandcompaniesalikearepresentedwiththedifficultchoiceondeciding whichstoragedrivetheyshouldpurchase:Theharddrivedisk,thesolidstatedrive,orahybridofthe two,eachwiththeirownadvantages.Harddriveshavetheadvantageofbeingsospacious.Harddrives canholdmuchmoredata,andaregenerallycheaperwithcomparingpricepergigabyte.However,hard drivesaremuchslower,astheycanonlyrunataveryfinitespeed,evenasthestoragecapacity increases.Harddrivesaremuchmorelikelytocrashandruinallthedataonit,becauseanyimpacton thedrivecanruinthedisksintheharddrive,orthepinthatreadsthedata.SolidstateDriveshavethe advantagewhenitcomestoperformance,astheyrunitcanpotentiallyrun100to1000timesfaster thanmechanicaldrives.bothstatedbyEkker,N.E.,Coughlin,T.C.,&Handy,J.H.Theygoonto saythatSSDcanalsouselesspowerAddingSSStothestoragemixcancutstoragesystempower andcoolingrequirementssignificantly.Ekker,N.E.,Coughlin,T.C.,&Handy,J.H.thenlistedabout twodozenotherreasonswhySSDaremoreusefulforbusinessesincludingImprovedServer Efficiency:Whenslow,conventionalstorageholdsbackthepotentialofexpensiveprocessorsand servers,efficiencyisreducedandmoneyiswasted.Conversely,introducingfastSSSenablesthose serverstobefullyutilized,resultinginmaximizedROI.andFasterResponseTimes:SSSreadspeeds aresignificantlyfasterthanHDDstorage.Writespeedscanalsobefasterwithgreaterparallelpathsto Flashmemoryforwritedata.HybridDrivesareanevennewertechnologythathasbeenputonthe marketinthelastfewyears.Whilelargelyuntested,theyclaimtoprovidealotofthespeedofpure SSD,whilestillbeingabletoholdthemassivequantitiesofdatathatharddrivescan.Whenchoosing betweenSSDandHDDforbusinesses,mostpeopleagreethatHDDshouldbeusedwhenlarge

amountsofdatastorageisneedandwhenperformanceisneeded.Forthebasichomeuser,itdepends onwhattheyplanondoingwithit,andwhattheycanafford.MostPCstodayuseHDDtechnology, becausewhileitisntasfast,itperformsacceptably.Manymanufacturesofmidrangeorbudget computerstypicallyputHDDasstandardincomputerstolowertheoverallpriceofthecomputer.Very fewcomputerstodaycomestandardwithSSD,exceptforsomeoftheAppleproducts,inorderto makethembeincrediblythin,andrunfast.InordertouseaSSDonawindowsPCoraLinux,itis usuallyrequiredfortheusertoinstalltheSSDthemselves,orbeabletobuildthewholecomputer themselves,whichthemajorityofcustomerscannotaccomplish.Thishasleadtoalowerpopularityfor SSD. PotentialSecurityIssue SSDsdoprovideanissueforcybersecurity,becausesincethesecomputersarebecomingmuch faster,theyhavethepotentialtobeusedforhacking.Ifacomputercangothroughalgorithmsmuch faster,ithasahigherchanceofbreakingthroughasecuritynetwork.Thishascreatedaneedforcyber securityteamstoupdatetheirprotocol,andincreasethepoweroftheirowncomputerstorunsecurity measuresfaster. PotentialLegalIssues Alegalissuethatmightarisefromthismightbeclassificationconfusion.Shouldthesolidstate drivebetaxedthesameastheharddriveorshouldthebetaxedasdifferenttypesofproducts?Should solidstatedrivesbeheldunderthesamequalitystandardasharddrives,orshouldtheyfallunder differentregulations?

FuturePossibilities

Inthefuture,itispredictedthatSSDswillbecomejustascheapasHDD,andhaveasmuch space.WhentheSSDfinallycatchesup,somebelievethattheHDDwillgraduallybecomeobsolete, andgothewayofdialupandbecomeonlyamemorytomost.OthersbelievethatHDDwillnever becomeobsolete,becauseitwillalwaysimproveatthesameastheSSD,andtherestbelievethatSSD isonlyafadthatwillquicklypass.Allthreelikelyhavedifferentissuesassociatedwiththem,for example,ifeitherofthedrivesbecomesobsolete,thenagainmonopoliescanariseinthestoragedrive market.However,ifthisracetobecomethemostpowerfuldrivecontinues,thenwecouldendupwith somethingunimaginablepowerfulmachinesbeinginvented,suchaspersonalquantumcomputerinthe nearfuture.

Conclusion Whilethesolidstatedriveisstillalongwayfrombeingthesuccessortothetraditionalharddiskdrive, thepotentialalonemakesitsomethingtoinvestattentioninto.WhiletheSSDismoreexpensiveand smallerinspace,itmakesupforitwithperformanceandreliability.Somaybeonedayitcanbethe dominatesecondarystoragedrive,andyouwillbeabletofindaSSDineveryhomeinthefreeworld, butuntilthen,theSSDwillkeeponimproving.

Citations Whitney,Lance."Samsungmassproducingspeediersolidstatedrives."CNETNews17June

2013.CBSInteractive.02Oct.2013 <http://news.cnet.com/83011001_35758956792/samsungmassproducingspeediersolidstatedrives/>. (NewsarticlediscussingnewSolidStatedrives) Ekker,N.E.,Coughlin,T.C.,&Handy,J.H.(n.d.).Tues.1Oct2013Retrievedfrom https://www.snia.org/sites/default/files/SSS%20101%20Wht%20Paper%20Final.pdf (WrotebyamemberofTexasMemorySystemsthatdevelopsbothSSDandHDD) STEC.Ssdpowersavingsrendersignificantreductiontotco.Tues.1Oct2013Retrievedfrom http://www.stecinc.com/downloads/whitepapers/Performance_Power_Advantages.pdf (WrotebySTEC,acompanythatspecializesinmakingenergysavingSolidStateDrives) Joo,Y.,Ryu,J.,Park,S.,&Shin,K.G.(2012).Tues.1Oct2013Improvingapplicationlaunch performanceonsolidstatedrives.JournalofComputerScienceandTechnology,27(4),727743. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s1139001212593 (WrotebypeoplerepresentingtheIEEE,agroupdedicatedtoprovidingreliabletechnical informationtostudents) Kerekes,Z..N.p..Web.2Oct2013. <http://www.storagesearch.com/chartingtheriseofssds.html>. (AsitededicatedtolearningaboutSSDtechnologysince1996.claimstobecurrentlytalkingtomorethan 400makersofSSDsandanother100orsocompanieswhicharecloselyenmeshedaroundtheSSD ecosphere.) Rent,T.M.R..N.p..Web.2Oct2013.<http://www.storagereview.com/origin_solid_state_drives>. (Ansitethathasbeenprovidingunbiasedreviewandinformationontechnologysince1998) TechDirections,69(8),1213.Tues.1Oct2013Retrievedfrom http://search.proquest.com/docview/218519784?accountid=14541 (AscholarlyarticlefromProquest) Micheloni, Rino, A. Marelli, and Kam Eshghi. Inside Solid State Drives (SSDs). (A book on understanding solid state drives, good for knowing mechanical operations)