Durability of solid state memory

[haven]

Flash memory has a distinct advantage over rotating memory (a hard drive) in one area: durability.

Rotating memory is certainly able to withstand daily use. Consider that the original iPod design uses a small hard drive, and millions are surviving the daily bumps and knocks. But to assure survival in extreme environments, like bouncing around in the glovebox of an off road vehicle, you need flash memory. This is especially true if you need to operate the equipment while your vehicle is moving.

Here's a story that points out how durable solid state memory can be. A commercial fisherman trawling in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain found a digital camera in his nets. The flash memory card in the camera was removed, and found to hold five photos.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8509619.stm

After some detective work, it was determined that the people in the photos are a couple from South Africa. They lost the camera overboard as they travelled across the Atlantic on the cruise ship QM2 in 2008! The memory card survived 24 months immersed in salt water.

So think about replacing your hard drive with one based on flash memory. Prices have come down recently, but it's still expensive. I think it's money well spent to protect your data and photos.

 

[opie]

Haven....

In regards to the processor being able to grab the data... Does SS memory slow that down any or is it just as quick?

Say I open up my Delorme software on my net book.... Will the speed in which it opens be the same for both systems?

 

[redbeard]

I've been thinking about a ssd.

If you go to newegg.com, find their SSDs for sale, and read the reviews of the intel/ocz(?) drives. General consensus is people are blown away by how fast they are. Pricey? Yeah. But windows 7 installing in 10 minutes, mac's and windows booting in 15 seconds (could be an exageration, but youtube seems to have evidence), apps/programs starting instantly...seems quite nice. I think the mean time to failure (some test/stats thing) is like 367 years.

 

[PhulesAU]

2 other things to consider. the power savings and ( I'VE HEARD) you don't need / have to run defrag programs to keep the drive clean. I'm looking at switching to SSD in a Acer netbook used for Nav. in the Jeep.But since my Geek rating is so low, I'd end up over at Micro Center to do the swap.

 

[lwg]

2 other things to consider. the power savings and ( I'VE HEARD) you don't need / have to run defrag programs to keep the drive clean. I'm looking at switching to SSD in a Acer netbook used for Nav. in the Jeep.But since my Geek rating is so low, I'd end up over at Micro Center to do the swap.

Yes, I sell them in my dayjob to Enterprise customers. Speed, Durability followed by power savings are the real selling points. If costs wasn't a factor I don't think there would be any standard hard drives left in the world, however today cost is still a factor. But changes are coming...

 

[PhulesAU]

yeah, they are a bit pricey. BUT it's kind of a safety factor for me as well. kinda like Aw ******** protection. Besides with the main use being A GPS, I think a 64G will be plenty for me.

 

[off-roader]

It's the reason I bought a solid state Acer One for navigation. Currently I have 32G for storage and run both MS Streets & Trips as well as Nat Geo Topo maps (California) with a USB GPS.

 

[762X39]

2 other things to consider. the power savings and ( I'VE HEARD) you don't need / have to run defrag programs to keep the drive clean.

I thought ssd is the same as an electromechanical drive in terms of needing to get defragged (I defrag my sticks along with my laptop drive all the time) but the one thing not being mentioned is that ssd's have a finite lifespan in terms of read/write cycles.I was comtemplating the installation of one in my Panasonic Toughbook to extend the already long battery life (8 or 9 hours) but the computer geek at the store where I deal warned my they have the same disadvantages as a usb memory key (10,000 r/w cycles per cell) in that you eventually cannot read or write to and from them. For that reason, I cannot justify the extra expense.My Toughbook is already rugged enough and truthfully, both my prevoius laptops survived my truck, constructions sites and general abuse from being used in mobile applications.

 

[chrismc]

I thought ssd is the same as an electromechanical drive in terms of needing to get defragged (I defrag my sticks along with my laptop drive all the time) but the one thing not being mentioned is that ssd's have a finite lifespan in terms of read/write cycles.I was comtemplating the installation of one in my Panasonic Toughbook to extend the already long battery life (8 or 9 hours) but the computer geek at the store where I deal warned my they have the same disadvantages as a usb memory key (10,000 r/w cycles per cell) in that you eventually cannot read or write to and from them. For that reason, I cannot justify the extra expense.My Toughbook is already rugged enough and truthfully, both my prevoius laptops survived my truck, constructions sites and general abuse from being used in mobile applications.

The r/w cycle myth for SSD's has not been valid for nearly a decade (http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html). Today's SSDs have a lifespan of over 50 years of normal use. You need to find a store with a different (better) geek. :sombrero:

 

[ThomD]

I thought ssd is the same as an electromechanical drive in terms of needing to get defragged (I defrag my sticks along with my laptop drive all the time) but the one thing not being mentioned is that ssd's have a finite lifespan in terms of read/write cycles.I was comtemplating the installation of one in my Panasonic Toughbook to extend the already long battery life (8 or 9 hours) but the computer geek at the store where I deal warned my they have the same disadvantages as a usb memory key (10,000 r/w cycles per cell) in that you eventually cannot read or write to and from them. For that reason, I cannot justify the extra expense.My Toughbook is already rugged enough and truthfully, both my prevoius laptops survived my truck, constructions sites and general abuse from being used in mobile applications.

SSDs don't like (or need) to be defragged in the traditional way.

I did some extensive tests at work comparing SSD and traditional drives under Windows XP SP2. The SSD was significantly (2-3x IIRC) faster for for boot up times and general data reads, but the write times were similar.

 

[opie]

Is swapping the drives something anyone can do? Is it as simple as doing so on a desktop?

 

[off-roader]

Is swapping the drives something anyone can do? Is it as simple as doing so on a desktop?

Yes with my HP & Sony laptop's (17" & 16.5" screen size respectively) because the HDD's are contained in a sub-assembly that can be removed very easily without opening the case.

On netbook models, this may not be the case.

 

[ThomD]

Is swapping the drives something anyone can do? Is it as simple as doing so on a desktop?

It depends on if want to preserve the data on the drive you want to swap. If you don't care about the current setup, drives only come in a couple of physical sizes, so it should be plug and play (ish).

 

[ThomD]

Here are some of the numbers from my work testing

Application Load Times (seconds)
Application	SSD	RHD
Remedy		2	5
Custom App.	2	11
Excel		2	9
Word		4	15
PowerPoint	3	11
Access		2	8

My next laptop will be SSD.

 

[off-roader]

If costs wasn't a factor I don't think there would be any standard hard drives left in the world, however today cost is still a factor. But changes are coming...

Agreed. If they could only bring the cost/GB down to close to being in-line with hdd's, then I'd be running SSD's on everything.