In the world of computer electronics, speed and performance are synonymous. It does not matter how attractive the computer looks or the quality of its parts – if the computer cannot process at an imperceptibly fast speed, the computer appears to not be “performing” at its best.

Many computers, especially servers with a great deal of access, require processing speeds that the computers themselves simply cannot handle.

The result is a great deal of lag as the server tries to catch up to the memory that is being used, and performance suffers.

Solid State Disks as a Solution

• Solid State Drives, also known as “SSD” are an alternative to the standard hard drive. Rather than using the rotating disk that hard drives uses (which have many physical speed restraints), SSD use high speed circuits that use memory chips like flash drives for reading and writing data. The result is a processing speed that is over 250 times that of the standard hard drive, and a far more efficient processor use.

• You may have heard of some Solid State Drives in the past. Flash disks are a form of SSD that utilizes the instantaneous memory of flash formats to ensure that no data is lost and that all of it is being used at its peak efficiency. These Flash drives use no moving parts, so they are not affected by the speed with which the machine is able to turn a disk. Thus they are able to save information at a lightning fast speed because they are not constrained by the physical properties of the standard hard disk.

Additional Benefits

• In addition to the increase in speed, Solid State Storage is completely silent because there are no moving parts. With the exception of a cooling fan, SSD create no sound whatsoever. There are also no delays as the drive ages, so unlike the older laptops whose memory tends to fizzle out as time passes, Solid State Memory continues to work over the lifespan of the disk.

Cons of SSD

• One of the few cons of SSD is it's price. It is currently more expensive than standard hard drive memory and laptops that use SSD cost considerably more. However, as more SSD technology is being creative, the price is slowly dropping, and it is expected that within less than 5 years the price of the two memory types will be roughly equivalent. They also come in smaller data sizes than Hard Drive Memory, but that is expected to improve as well over the coming years.

With businesses using their servers on a daily basis, the more efficient the server is able to run the better it is for the company. With its quick speeds and wiring, SSD are likely to continue to grow as a viable alternative to standard hard drive memory in the near future.