What are solid state HDDs?

[fps justin]

Can someone give me a bit of explanation as to what a solid state HDD is?
DailyTech - Adtron Announces 160GB Solid-state Drive
There is this little article about solid state drives and I'd like to know if these are better than perp drives?

[Tyreal]

A solid state drive is a storage device that uses non-volatile memory. Flash memory, and SDRAM are examples of Solid State drives. Unlike hard drives, they don't utilizes platters or actuator arms to read/write data.

Flash based SSDs have several unique advantages:

• Faster startup - Since no spin-up required.
• Faster read time – In some cases, twice or more than that of the fastest hard drives.
• Low read and write latency (seek) time, hundreds of times faster than a mechanical disk.
• Faster boot and application launch time - Result of the faster read and especially seek time. But only if application already resides in flash and is more dependant on read speed than other issues, eg. OS bootup that detects devices will not be significantly sped up even with faster seeks & reads.
• Lower power consumption and heat production - no mechanical parts result in less power consumption.
• No noise - Lack of mechanical parts makes the SSD completely silent.
• Better mechanical reliability - Lack of mechanical parts result in less wear and tear. High level of ability to endure extreme shock, vibration and temperatures, which apply to laptops and other mobile devices, or when transported.
• Lower but improving read-write lifetime - In the past, flash based SSDs were limited in the number of read/write cycles, but modern flash technology and error correction allow Flash SSDs to operate several years without fail (some manufacturers claim as many as 10 years).[1]
• Security - allowing a very quick "wipe" of all data stored.
• Deterministic performance - unlike mechanical hard drives, performance of SSDs is constant and deterministic across the entire storage. "Seek" time is constant, and performance does not deteriorate as the media fills up (See: Fragmentation).
• Lower weight and (depending upon type) size
• Faster than conventional disks on random I/O

Flash based SSDs also have several disadvantages:

• Price - As of late 2006 flash memory prices are still considerably higher per gigabyte than those of comparable conventional hard drives - around $25 per GB compared to about $0.25 for mechanical drives.
• Slower write time - Flash has a slower write time than high-end hard drives (around 18 MB/s compared to over 50 MB/s for hard drives), though this varies considerably based on the make and model.
• Shorter reliable lifetime - Flash based SSDs have relatively limited read/write cycles compared to hard drives which can last over a decade without mechanical malfunction. This is significant since in many systems, certain hard drive locations may regularly be accessed tens of thousands of times within even short periods. However, there are file systems develeped especially for such purposes.
• Lower recoverability - After mechanical failure the data is completely lost as the cell is destroyed, while if normal HDD suffers mechanical failure the data is often recoverable using expert help.
• Vulnerability against certain types of effects, including abrupt powerloss (especially DRAM based SSDs), magnetic fields and electric/static charges compared to normal HDDs (which store the data inside a Faraday cage).
• Slower than conventional disks on sequential I/O

[Lead Head]

Only $25 per GB!? The largest 160GB SSD weighs in at $13,000. nearly $90 per GB!!

[Zambini]

Originally Posted by Lead Head

Only $25 per GB!? The largest 160GB SSD weighs in at $13,000. nearly $90 per GB!!

yea, but if you think about it, 10 years ago, it was $200+ per gb.

In 10 years, its probably gonna get to $1/TB

[[Dr. V]]

Originally Posted by Zambini

n 10 years, its probably gonna get to $1/TB

A: ewww u only have a 50TB hard drive? mine's 150TB!
B: i don't care, i still have 49.9TB free on my hard drive!
A: i only have 10TB free, meaning im better!
C: i still have 2x500GB in RAID...im the coolest!
A: that was sooooooo 10 years ago!
B: i agree

yea sorry i get on the "creative" side...

$1/TB...woowww!

[Zambini]

Originally Posted by ST!X

A: ewww u only have a 50TB hard drive? mine's 150TB!
B: i don't care, i still have 49.9TB free on my hard drive!
A: i only have 10TB free, meaning im better!
C: i still have 2x500GB in RAID...im the coolest!
A: that was sooooooo 10 years ago!
B: i agree

yea sorry i get on the "creative" side...

$1/TB...woowww!

lol what the heck?

[[Dr. V]]

Originally Posted by Zambini

lol what the heck?

after reading it this morning i cant find an explanation either.

i promise and guarantee u i wasnt intoxicated or under the influence in ANY way. i was simply dead tired from being sick, in pain, and having little sleep in a past (mostly because of the previous 2 mentions).

not sure what that's meant to be, but if it can make ppl laugh from uncertainty, pointlessness, and maybe a tiny bit of both, then i guess i made someone laugh. and that makes me happy