How to choose an SSD drive for a laptop: Basic rules. Choosing an affordable SSD drive for a gaming PC and laptop

One way to improve laptop performance is to replace the mechanical hard drive with a solid state drive (SSD). Let's try to figure out how to do it right choice such a storage device.

• A high degree of reliability, in particular, shock resistance and a wide operating temperature range. This is especially true for laptops, where cooling conditions leave much to be desired;
• Low power consumption;
• High level of productivity.

Features of choice

First, you need to decide on the purpose of the SSD, whether it will be used as only a system one or whether large files, modern games of 40-50 GB each, will also be stored on it. If in the first case a volume of 120 GB will be enough, then in the second you need to pay attention to models with a larger capacity. The best choice here may be disks with a size of 240-256 GB.

• Installation instead of an optical drive. To do this, you will need a special adapter, when choosing which you need to know the height (usually 12.7 mm). In some cases, you can find a device with 9.5 mm;
• Replacing the main HDD.

After this, you can already make a choice according to the remaining parameters, which are worth considering further.

Memory type

First of all, when choosing, you need to pay attention to the type of memory used. Three types are known: SLC, MLC and TLC, and all the rest are their derivatives. The difference is that in SLC one bit of information is written to one cell, while in MLC and TLC two and three bits are written, respectively.

From here the disk resource is calculated, which depends on the volume of overwritten memory cells. The operating time of TLC memory is the lowest, but it still depends on the type of controller. At the same time, disks on such chips show best results reading speed.

Form factor, interface

The most common SSD form factor is 2.5 inches. mSATA (mini-SATA), PCIe and M.2 are also known, which are used in compact laptops and ultrabooks. The main interface through which data reception/transmission operations are carried out is SATA III, where speeds can reach up to 6 Gbit/s. In turn, in M.2, information can be exchanged using both standard SATA and the PCI-Express bus. Moreover, in the second case, the modern NVMe protocol is used, developed specifically for SSDs, which provides speeds of up to 32 Gbit/s. Disks of mSATA, PCIe and M.2 form factors are expansion cards and take up little space.

Based on this, we can say that before purchasing, you need to read the technical documentation for the laptop on the manufacturer’s website and check the availability of the above connectors. For example, if a laptop has an M.2 connector with support for the NVMe protocol, it is recommended to purchase an appropriate drive, since its data transfer speed will be higher than what a SATA controller can provide.

Controller

Parameters such as read/write speed and disk resource depend on the control chip. Manufacturers include Marvell, Samsung, Toshiba OCZ (Indilinx), Silicon Motion, Phison. Moreover, the first two from the list produce controllers with a high level of performance and reliability, so they are mainly used in solutions for the medium and business segment of consumers. Samsung also has a hardware encryption feature.

Silicone Motion and Fison controllers have a good combination of price and performance, but products based on them have disadvantages such as low random write/read performance and a drop in overall operating speed when the disk is full. They are intended mainly for the budget and mid-range segments.

There may also be SSDs on the once very popular SandForce and JMicron chips. In general, they show good results, but drives based on them have a relatively low resource and are presented mainly in the budget segment of the market.

Disc rating

The main drive manufacturers are Intel, Patriot, Samsung, Plextor, Corsair, SanDisk, Toshiba OCZ, AMD. Let's look at a few drives that are the best in their category. And as a selection criterion, we will highlight volume.

Note: The list below is based on average prices at the time of writing: March 2018.

Drives up to 128 GB

Samsung 850 120GB presented in 2.5″/M.2/mSATA form factors. The average price for a disc is 4,090 rubles. It features best-in-class performance and a 5-year warranty.

Parameters:
Sequential reading: 540 MB/s
Sequential recording: 520 MB/s
Wear resistance: 75 TBW
Memory type: Samsung 64L TLC

ADATA Ultimate SU650 120GB has the best price in the class, 2,870 rubles to be exact. It contains a unique SLC caching algorithm, for which all available space is allocated to the firmware. This ensures good average performance. Models are available for all major form factors.

Parameters:
Sequential reading: 520 MB/s
Sequential recording: 320 MB/s
Wear resistance: 70 TBW
Memory type: TLC 3D NAND

Drives from 128 to 240-256 GB

Samsung 860 EVO (250GB) is the latest model from the company of the same name for 2.5″/M.2/mSATA. At the start of sales it costs 6,000 rubles. According to the tests carried out, the disc has best-in-class wear resistance, the value of which increases with increasing volume.

Parameters:
Sequential reading: 550 MB/s
Sequential recording: 520 MB/s
Wear resistance: 150 TBW
Memory type: Samsung 64L TLC

SanDisk Ultra II 240 GB— despite the fact that the manufacturing company was acquired by Western Digital, models under this brand are often found on sale. This is the SanDisk Ultra II, which uses a controller from Marvell, now selling for about 4,600 rubles.

Parameters:
Sequential reading: 550 MB/s
Sequential recording: 500 MB/s
Wear resistance: 288 TBW
Memory type: TLC ToggleNAND

Drives with a capacity of 480 GB or more

Intel SSD 760p 512GB is a representative of the new line of SSDs from Intel. Available only in the M.2 form factor, it has high speeds. The price is traditionally quite high - 16,845 rubles.

Parameters:
Sequential reading: 3200 MB/s
Sequential recording: 1670 MB/s
Wear resistance: 288 TBW
Memory type: Intel 64L 3D TLC

Price for SSD Crucial MX500 1TB is 15,200 rubles, which makes it the most affordable disc in this category. Currently available only in the SATA 2.5″ form factor, but the manufacturer has already announced models for M.2.

Parameters:
Sequential reading: 560 MB/s
Sequential recording: 510 MB/s
Wear resistance: 288 TBW
Memory type: 3D TCL NAND

Conclusion

Thus, we looked at the criteria for choosing an SSD for a laptop and got acquainted with several models that are on the market today. In general, installing a system on an SSD has a good effect on its performance and reliability. The fastest drives are the M.2 form factor, but you need to pay attention to whether the laptop has such a connector. Despite the fact that almost all new models are built on TLC chips, it is recommended to also consider models with MLC memory, which have a significantly higher resource. This is especially true when choosing a system drive.

Today, the PC component market offers a huge variety of SSD drives, which are becoming increasingly popular. Considering the parameters, they are much better than the HDD drives we are used to, which is why they have earned their reputation. And in this article, we will talk about how to choose an SSD drive for a laptop or computer? After all, there are a huge variety of them from a variety of manufacturers! This is exactly what we will talk about in our article.

First of all, you need to decide why you need an SSD drive? For what purposes? And how do you know which SSD is right for your computer? And, based on this, start choosing.

1. Select several options and make a comparison. Rely not only on price, but also on characteristics and functionality. Choose from the latest models - they are the most modern.
2. The price depends entirely on its volume. Moreover, the larger it is, the faster it works. For example, if you do not have the opportunity to purchase an expensive device, it is recommended to give preference to a drive with a capacity of up to 120-240 GB. Such disks are not only affordable, but also provide high speed and provide a sufficient amount of free space.
3. When choosing a solid-state drive for an Asus, Lenovo or some other laptop, you need to take into account the characteristics of the motherboard, because the operation of the drive depends on its technical parameters. That is, if you purchase an SSD that supports the SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) interface, and the laptop motherboard only supports SATA 2 (3 Gb/s), then your SSD will only operate at half the speed. And in this case there is no point in overpaying for expensive SSD, of course, if you are not going to change the board in the near future.
4. In certain situations, it is advisable to buy 2 SSD drives with small volumes. By installing programs and saving data on different drives, we will simplify our work. For example, one for games, the second for other programs. In addition, the risk of instantly losing existing data will be reduced if the device fails and there is no way to restore it.
5. When choosing an SSD for a laptop, base it on its capacity, and always keep one feature in mind. The performance of some of these components is significantly reduced after less than 25% of free space remains.

Important parameters to pay attention to

Please note that there is a built-in function self-removal"garbage", i.e. unnecessary information. Choose a drive that supports TRIM. Of course, the manufacturing company is of great importance. You should not chase savings; you should give preference exclusively to proven brands. Today these include:

• Samsung– devices produced by this company are the fastest.
• Intel- reliable devices, but the most expensive.
• Kingston– popular and budget disks.
• Plextor– high quality and speed of work.
• Crucial– a good and at the same time budget option from Marvell.

However, there are other companies, such as KingFast, KingSpec, KingDian and others. They all come from China, but despite this, they have an excellent rating. And if you have a limited budget and have never used solid-state drives, then you can think about choosing one of them, after reading reviews for each model.

Also, when choosing, you must rely on:

1. Controller– give preference to drives with controllers from Intel, SandForce, MDX, Marvell.
2. Frome factor– when buying a solid-state drive for a laptop, choose 2.5” models, in some cases M2, and PCIe, 2.5″ and 3.5″ inch are suitable for a computer.
3. IOPS– affects the speed of work. The higher the indicator, the better and more expensive it is.
4. Energy consumption– when choosing an SSD for a laptop, be sure to take this parameter into account and choose a device with the lowest performance to save battery power.
5. Memory type– there are only 3 types: TLC, MLC, SLC. The latter is much more expensive than the other two, but its service life will be more than 10 times longer. Separately, I would like to say that on average an SSD with TLC memory type lasts for 4-6 years, while MLC lasts for 10-12 years. The service life depends on how much information you are going to write to it every day.

Let's summarize:

So which SSD is better to choose? If you have a limited budget, the motherboard only supports SATA II and at the same time you want to purchase an SSD drive of sufficient capacity (from 120 gigabytes), feel free to choose one of the Chinese manufacturers KingFast, KingSpec and KingDian, regarding price/quality, they have earned the trust of many users .

If you are an advanced user, you want to be sure of the quality and the computer board works with SATA III, then it is better to choose from leading manufacturers with the MLC memory type. Such drives will have even better performance, speed and long service life.

Review of KingFast SSD drive

Hello GT! A high-quality SSD unlocks the potential of any laptop. It’s good if it’s installed right away, but what if not? We look at different options for solid-state drives and determine which one is best suited for upgrading a mobile computer.

The widespread use of solid-state drives in laptops began when Intel introduced the Ultrabook concept. Even small ultrabooks equipped with SSDs were much faster devices from HDD. And this has become the best motivation for laptop users to upgrade since removable processors and graphics accelerators in mobile computers disappeared as a class.

There are many reasons for choosing an SSD today - immunity to vibration and shock, performance, and low power consumption. Until recently, the main obstacle to switching to solid-state drives was the high price, but today it has dropped significantly, and the failure rate of memory cells has become so low that SSDs can be used for everyday work without worrying about your data at all.

Still, you shouldn’t buy the first SSD you come across: the drive should be selected wisely and take into account the system’s features. There are many products on the market in different price categories, and it is possible that a drive for 5 thousand rubles will give you the same result as its equivalent for 15. So is it worth spending the extra money? To better understand this issue, consider different types SSD.

M.2, PCIe, mSATA and SATA

Data transfer speed via SATA 3 is up to 6 Gbit/s. This means that you can use a fairly modern SSD with it. In recent years, solid-state drives have developed like startups and have jumped over their heads more than once, as a result of which they have hit the limit bandwidth SATA 3 interface

Some laptops also have an mSATA interface. It allows you to install a solid-state drive without a housing - a flat board with chips soldered to it. This is practically the same SATA 3, only with a new banana flavor in a different form factor, so it is also suitable for installing an SSD in a laptop. Some laptops already have an mSATA interface, but it is either not used, or an outdated SSD is installed in it. Also, the system may often have a mini-PCI interface, which is intended for installing expansion cards (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth modules, 3G modems, and so on). It is very similar to mSATA, but they should not be confused. In any case, installing a new drive will qualitatively increase the speed of the system, and which port to use for this can be found out from the laptop manufacturer or by using the configurator on our website.

The most promising option is the M.2 connector. If you are using a modern laptop, then M.2 will allow the system to operate at maximum speed. M.2 is the bright future that was expected from mSATA. The new standard spread in laptops before mSATA gained popularity, and due to lower prices for drives, it was promoted almost immediately, and mSATA turned into an unpopular “legacy-storage”, for which manufacturers today produce one or two drive models - for example, just in case. In practice, M.2 is a bus output option PCI Express 3.0 with support for 4 lines at once. Thus, M.2 allows you to achieve data transfer speeds of up to 4 GB/s, which is much faster than any version of SATA.

But don’t get too excited ahead of time - even if the drive is installed in an M.2 connector, it can still use the SATA interface, which means it can operate at the same speed as with older connectors. However, there will still be an advantage, since the carrier will be able to reveal its full speed potential.

AHCI or NVMe?

True, drives that use an NVMe controller consume 2-3 times more electricity than their AHCI-based brothers. Therefore, if we are talking about a mobile laptop with a long battery life, using a drive with an AHCI controller may be preferable, despite the more high performance NVMe. In this case, disks with any of these controllers can be installed in the M.2 interface.

However, if you decide to purchase an NVMe drive, you need to check whether this specification is supported by the laptop manufacturer. If not, then you will not be able to install the operating system and boot from such a disk.

Installation details

But, if you want to install a solid-state drive in your laptop, you must first make sure that the board has a connector for installing it. This information can be found from the manufacturer, found in video reviews with inspection of the internals, using the configurator on our website, or ask about the possibility of an upgrade from Kingston technical support specialists. You can also open the laptop yourself to check the required dimensions of the mounting holes. There is usually a marking next to the M.2 interface that indicates the presence of mounting holes. For example, 2260 means that media 22 mm wide and 60 long are supported, 2280 means 22 wide and 80 long, and so on.

The M.2 interface is universal, but so that life doesn’t seem like honey, it has several varieties with different keys for installing expansion cards. Key B connector is distinguished by the missing pins 12 to 19 and is called M.2 Socket 2. It can work with SATA, USB 3.0, PCIe ×2, PCM, IUM, SSIC and I2C interfaces. When installing an M key with missing pins 59 to 66, the connector is called M.2 Socket 3 in the documentation. This version only supports PCIe x4 and SATA.

At the same time, there are different SSDs on sale - intended for installation in M.2 Socket 2, M.2 Socket 3 and universal ones, which have contacts for both keys. If you are not sure which M.2 connector your laptop has, it is best to purchase a universal drive. In particular, in the Kingston line, M.2 SATA models contain two keys at once and can be installed in any laptop with M.2 support.

Software level

Leading manufacturers also have utilities for configuring optimal SSD performance, which you can use after starting the system on the new drive. For example, Kingston SSD Manager helps you monitor drive health, run self-diagnosis technologies, and update drive firmware.

Which drive should you choose?

Preamble

The article is updated every year, so check back here from time to time. Some information that was relevant in 2014 is no longer relevant in 2019. Pay attention to the notes in the text of the article and read the updating sections at the end of the article.

I keep repeating - in order to make a good choice of technology, it is necessary, at least in general terms, to understand subject area. Know what characteristics the equipment you choose has. Know how these characteristics affect the operation of equipment.

Buying an SSD drive is much more complicated than it seems to the uninitiated. There is a lot that is not obvious, hidden under the surface. This article will list important characteristics SSD drives. It will be explained how the parameters of an SSD drive affect its consumer quality. The material is large in volume, since the topic is quite complex.

There are a lot of letters here, but if you have the patience to read everything to the end, then it will be easier for you to decide which SSD drive is better to buy. But if you don't like to read a lot then wait for the truncated version of this article.

Introduction

SSDs are no longer a luxury and are becoming a means of storing data. Over the past couple of years, especially during 2013 and early 2014, prices for SSD drives have dropped so much that it is already possible to purchase such a drive at a very reasonable price. regular computer. At the same time, the speed of modern SSD drives is such that their use provides the greatest increase in performance in terms of money spent.

For $120 - $150 spent on a good SSD drive, you can get more real performance gains than the same money spent on a processor or RAM.

Even the crisis of 2015-2016 did not affect the availability of SSD drives. During these years, SSD drives cost at the level of a 2.5" HDD, although adjusted for capacity by a factor of 4 (128 Gb SSD cost at the level of 500 Gb HDD). In 2017, SSD drives became a little more expensive relative to HDDs.

Characteristics of SSD drives

This part of the article will describe the most significant characteristics of SSD drives. Technical parameters that improve or worsen consumer SSD quality disks.

Main characteristics of SSD

These are the SSD parameters that most affect the consumer quality of the drives.

Manufacturer

SSD drives are made by many companies. Even more companies sell them under their own labels without manufacturing them (OEM production). But there are only a few companies whose discs are safe and secure to buy.

• Intel. The company, together with Micron, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. It is no coincidence that they provide a 5-year warranty on their discs.
• Micron(trademark Crucial). The company, together with Intel, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. The difference from Intel is that Micron (Crucial) focuses on the budget segment of the market. Lower price, shorter warranty period. But the disks are good, although they don’t shine with speed.
• Samsung. One of the leaders in the SSD market. And not only in terms of sales volume, but also technologically. The company produces its own flash memory and its own controllers. The disks are 100% proprietary - both memory and controllers, everything is our own. Although in the budget EVO 850 series, some models may have foreign controllers (Phison or Silicon Motion).
• Plextor. A Japanese company famous for its laser drives. In fact, the SSD is not made by itself - Lite-On makes them for it. But the discs are very good. On Marvell controllers. Plextor is not only about quality, but also about speed.
• Corsair. An American company known for the high quality of various products - RAM, power supplies. The company's products are aimed at so-called "enthusiasts", people willing to pay more for higher quality and speed. However, their budget models can be very average in speed.
• SanDisk. An American company, one of the leaders in the production of flash drives and SSD drives. Partner of Toshiba in the production of flash memory chips. Thus, disks are made from its own flash memory.
• Toshiba. The Japanese company is, among other things, a manufacturer of flash memory chips. Thus, the disks are made from its own flash memory.

SSD disk capacity

SSD drive manufacturers indicate this difference in the specifications of their drive models. Therefore, before buying a fast drive, carefully read its specifications; perhaps the size you have your eye on is not as fast as you expect.

That's when size matters.

There is one more feature related to the capacity of SSD drives. There are groups of models based on capacity, but not all models in this group have the same capacity. Example. Group with a capacity of 120/128 GB. Some models in this group have a capacity of 120 GB, while others have a capacity of 128 GB. What is this connected with?

The fact is that in fact all disks in this group have a capacity of 128 GB, but on some models 8 GB is reserved both to level out the wear of flash memory cells and to replace failed cells.

Some manufacturers may not be entirely sure of the quality and lifespan of the flash memory used in their model and therefore make such a reserve. Some people make such a reserve simply for greater reliability. For example, the quality of flash memory in Intel drives is very high, however, the company is playing it safe by making a reserve of cells.

Controller used in the disk

The best controllers are considered Marvell And Samsung MDX. More details about controllers later in this article.

Write speed degradation (garbage collection)

Reduced writing speed on an SSD disk after it is completely full and data will be deleted after filling. That is, writing to reusable memory blocks. Read more about this in the section.

Minor SSD Features

Hardware encryption with support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 standards. This makes it possible to use hardware encryption but manage it from the OS. For example, it will be possible to unload CPU when using Windows BitLocker.

Power Loss Protection. Some SSD drive models have protection against sudden power failure. Usually these are just capacitors, the charge of which is enough for the disk to complete the necessary write operations to the memory cells.

Interfaces

SATA

Today (2014) all SSD drives are available with a SATA 3 interface. However, there are still many computers with SATA 2 (SATA 300) and even SATA 1 (SATA 150) controllers installed on their motherboards. Is it possible to install a new SSD drive in such a computer?

Of course you can. However, you need to understand that in this case the new SSD drive will produce real speed significantly below their passport specifications.

Modern SSD drives can typically perform read operations at speeds of over 500 MB per second. And recording at a speed of more than 400 MB per second. This speed can be fully realized on computers with a SATA 3 (SATA 600) controller, for which the practical data transfer speed limit is approximately 570 MB per second.

But for SATA 2 controllers, practical speed is limited to approximately 270 MB per second. Accordingly, for SATA 1 controllers it is even lower - less than 150 MB per second. So if you put a new SSD drive in old computer, then it will work slower than it can at all.

So for a new SSD drive you need to buy a new computer? No.

There are other options to get full speed on your old computer. You can install a SATA 3 controller made on a PCI or PCI-express board. And then connect the SSD drive through this controller.

PCI-express

In addition, there are now models of SSD drives that are made in the form of a PCI-express card, for example Plextor M6e. So you don’t need to buy anything else, just insert the disk card into the PCI-e slot and that’s it. You can also install an M.2 form factor SSD into the PCI-e slot, but through an adapter card from M.2 to PCI-e.

M.2 (Next Generation Form Factor, NGFF)

Also, a new, faster interface for peripheral devices has now been approved - M.2. You can buy an M.2 adapter made on PCI-e board xpress and then put an SSD drive with an M.2 interface there. The disk mentioned above Plextor M6e, just such an option is a PCI-express card with an M.2 adapter, on which a disk with an M.2 interface is installed.

The new M.2 interface (Next Generation Form Factor, NGFF) is essentially a PCI-express bus, only the connector has been changed - it is adapted not for expansion cards, but for small devices. SSD drives in the M.2 form factor are already on sale. This interface should provide data transfer speeds higher than the practical limit for SATA 3 - 570 MB per second. The M.2 interface specification assumes the use of 4 PCI-express lines. For SSD drives in the M.2 form factor, 2 PCI-express lanes are used so that theoretically the exchange speed with the drive can reach 2 GB per second.

Memory

There are two types of flash memory (flash-memory) - NAND and NOR.

The difference between NAND memory and NOR is that the cells are combined into blocks and processed in blocks. While in NOR, each cell is processed individually. NAND memory has longer access times to memory cells, but is significantly cheaper to manufacture.

In the production of SSD drives, NAND type flash memory is used.

NAND flash memory manufacturers

Memory for SSD drives is manufactured by only a few companies - Intel and Micron (general production), Toshiba and SanDisk (general production), Samsung, Hynix.

The first such memory was created by Toshiba in the late 80s of the last century. Thus, it is the oldest NAND flash manufacturer.

Based on the type of pin layout in the chip package and subsequent access from the controller, NAND flash is divided into two types:

• Synchronous and asynchronous ONFI. It is manufactured by Intel and Micron, Hynix
• Asynchronous Toggle Mode. It is made by Samsung, Toshiba and SanDisk.

Types of NAND Flash Memory Cells

Today (in 2014) SSD drives use NAND flash memory with three types of cells:

• NAND SLC(single-level cell) - flash memory in one physical cell which stores one bit of information.
• NAND MLC(multi-level cell) - flash memory in one physical cell which stores two bits of information.
• NAND TLC(triple level cell) - flash memory in one physical cell which stores three bits of information.

The difference between these types is that as the number of bits stored in one cell increases, the cost of memory in terms of its capacity decreases. That is, relatively speaking, 128 GB of MLC memory is cheaper than the same 128 GB, but of the SLC type.

However, you have to pay for everything. As the number of bits per cell increases, the number of write cycles that cell can withstand decreases. For example, SLC type memory can withstand up to 5000 - 10,000 rewrite cycles. And the writing limit for MLC memory is up to 3000 cycles. For TLC type memory this limit is even lower - 1000 write cycles.

That is, as the number of bits per cell increases, the lifespan of this cell decreases. But at the same time, the recording speed increases.

In 2017, we can talk about the victorious procession of TLC memory. Probably more than half of all SSD drives are made on this memory.

Basic parameters of flash memory for SSD

The main characteristics of flash memory for SSD drives are:

1. The number of write cycles that a single cell of this memory can withstand. This parameter determines the lifespan and reliability of flash memory.
2. The technical process by which the flash memory crystal is manufactured.
3. Type of flash memory cells.

The second and third flash memory parameters directly affect the first parameter. The dependency is as follows:

• Reducing the process technology reduces the lifespan of flash memory.
• Increasing the number of bits per cell reduces the lifetime of flash memory.

That is, MLC type memory will have a shorter lifespan than SLC type memory. Memory manufactured using a 25-nanometer process will have a longer lifespan than one manufactured using a 19-nanometer process.

Memory capacity (size)

Indicated in gigabytes. The peculiarity of SSDs is that larger capacity disks provide faster data exchange speeds, especially when recording. The difference in write speed between a 120/128 GB disk and a 480/512 GB disk can be up to two or three times.

For example, a disk with a capacity of 120/128 GB can give a maximum recording speed of less than 200 MB per second, and a disk of the same model, but with a capacity of 480/512 GB will give a writing speed of more than 400 MB per second.

This difference is due to the fact that the SSD disk controller works with all memory crystals simultaneously (in parallel). And one disk model uses the same memory crystals. Accordingly, the difference in capacity is the difference in the number of crystals. Fewer memory crystals means less parallelization of operations and lower speed.

There is no need to confuse memory crystals and memory chips. One chip can have from one to four memory crystals. That is, in disks of different capacities the number of microcircuits may be the same - 8, but the number of crystals will be different.

Manufacturers of SSD drives indicate this difference in write speed in the specifications of their drive models. Therefore, before buying a fast drive, carefully read its specifications; perhaps the size you have your eye on is not as fast as you expect.

It happens that a person reads a test review on the Internet, which says that the XX disk gives a write speed of 450 MB per second. And buys this disk model. Installs and is surprised to discover that the write speed is only 200 MB per second. The thing is that he read about a model with a capacity of 512 GB, but bought a model with a capacity of 128 GB.

This difference increases as new 128-bit memory crystals enter the market, instead of 64-bit ones. Simply put, if an SSD is assembled on 64-bit memory chips, then the full speed of read/write operations is possible on disks with a capacity of 240/256 GB. And if the disk is assembled on 128-bit memory chips, then the full speed of read/write operations is only possible on 480/512 GB disks.

For example SSD drive Crucial M500 assembled on 128-bit memory chips. There are 4 models in this line:

• 120 GB - write speed 130 MB per second.
• 240 GB - write speed 250 MB per second.
• 480 GB and 960 GB - write speed 400 MB per second.

As you can see, the difference in recording speed between the younger and older models is more than three times. Although these are the same discs in all respects. Except for the number of memory crystals. By the way, Crucial in its 2014 model M550 uses crystals of different bit depths. For 128 and 256 GB models, 64-bit crystals are used. For 512 GB and 1 TB models, 128-bit crystals are used. Due to this, the difference in speed between the younger and older models has been reduced.

There is one more aspect depending on the disk capacity. The larger the disk capacity, the theoretically longer its service life. The fact is that a flash memory cell can withstand a limited number of write cycles and when this limit is reached, for example, an MLC type cell has been written to 3000 times, it fails.

All SSD disk controllers use cell interleaving during recording in order to even out cell wear. Used for alternation free memory. Accordingly, the less the disk is occupied with data and programs, the more opportunities the controller has for interleaving cells and the longer the memory will live.

Large disk capacity is the easiest way to increase free disk space. Let's assume that your programs and data occupy 100 gigabytes. If this is placed on a 120 or 128 GB disk, then the disk will be almost completely occupied and few cells will be available for striping. But if the disk capacity is 240 or 256 GB, then a lot of cells will be available for striping - more than 50%. Thus, the load on the cells will be much lower and there will be longer and more even wear.

Controllers

The computer cannot gain direct access to flash memory, so in addition to memory chips, a controller chip is also installed in the disks. Several companies produce such microcircuits:

• SandForce. Now this company is owned by another company - LSI. SandForce controllers, such as the SF2881, are the most common. They dominate the budget SSD segment. Even Intel produces SSD drives on these controllers (models 520, 530).
• Marvell- their controllers 88SS9187 and 88SS9174 are used in high-performance SSD drives from different manufacturers, in particular Micron (Crucial), Plextor, SanDisk. For example, some of the fastest SSD drives in the world are Plextor M5 Pro, Crucial M500, Crucial M550, use controllers Marvell88SS9187, 88SS9189. The company has released a fast controller for the interface with NVMe support (M.2).
• Indilinx. Now this company is owned by OCZ and the latest controller model is called Barefoot 3. Accordingly, these controllers are mainly used only in OCZ drives.
• LAMD (Link_A_Media Devices). The fast but rarely used LM87800 controller. For example, it is used in Corsair Neutron drive models. The company was bought by the Korean Hynix and these controllers are used only in conjunction with Hynix flash memory.
• Phison. This company has long been known for its controllers for USB flash drives. IN lately it began an attack on the SSD drive market. It offers low-cost solutions for the production of SSD drives - controller, firmware, board design. Its controllers are used in budget models, for example Corsair LS, SmartBuy Ignition 2.
• MDX. This controller was developed by Samsung and is used in its drives.
• Intel. In some models of its SSD drives, Intel uses its own controller. These are server models S3500, S3700, as well as the Intel 730 model aimed at the business segment of the market.
• Silicon Motion. Another company offering budget controllers for SSDs. In terms of performance, nothing outstanding. However, companies like Intel and Micron use Silicon Motion controllers in their very successful 2018 models - Intel 545s and Crucial MX500, which demonstrate high speeds in both read and write.

Depends on the controller various characteristics SSD disk. Speed ​​of operation, lifespan of flash memory, resistance to data corruption.

For example, Marvell controllers provide high performance with operations on arbitrary data blocks. This is exactly the load that falls on the disks in real computer operation. The Intel controller is focused on high performance under conditions of a large number of parallel requests (server load model).

But SandForce controllers have an unpleasant feature - after the disk is full and cleared, the write speed does not return to its original values ​​(when the disks were empty). The speed of operation also decreases when the disk is very full. At the same time, SandForce controllers provide high recording speed on easily compressible data, such as texts and documents.

Each controller has its own characteristics. Your strengths and weaknesses. If you have certain mandatory requirements to an SSD drive, then when choosing a model it makes sense to study the features of the controllers.

Inexpensive SSD drives

Inexpensive SSD drives are usually made on SandForce controllers, and Phison has been actively working in this segment for the last couple of years.

The reason for this is that both LSI (SandForce) and Phison offer complete solutions for manufacturing SSD drives. There is not only a controller, but also the firmware for it, as well as the board design for mounting all the hardware.

Thus, the manufacturer of finished drives does not need to do anything other than solder the parts onto the board and mount the board into the case.

TRIM (garbage collection)

SSD drives have an important difference from HDDs, which affects the write speed. In HDD, recording is performed “on top” of old data. Disk blocks that previously contained data and then that data was deleted are simply marked as free. And when you need to write, the HDD controller immediately writes to these free blocks.

When using flash memory, blocks that previously contained some information must be cleared before being written. This leads to the fact that when writing to previously used blocks, the writing speed drops significantly, because the controller needs to prepare them for writing (clear them).

The problem is that operating systems traditionally do not work with the file system in such a way that deleting files clears the contents of the blocks on the disk. After all, there was no need for this on HDDs.

Therefore, when using SSD drives, the effect of “performance degradation” occurs. When the disk is new and all flash memory blocks are clean, the writing speed is very high, as specified. But after the disk is completely full and some of the files are deleted, re-writing will occur at a lower speed. Because the disk controller will have to clear the flash memory blocks before writing new data there.

The drop in write speed to reused flash memory blocks can be very high. Up to values ​​close to the recording speed of HDD disks. When testing SSD drives, they often even conduct a special test to reduce the write speed of reusable blocks.

To combat this phenomenon, the new operating systems have added the TRIM disk ATA command. When a file is deleted, the file system driver sends the TRIM command to the SSD disk controller. With this command, the SSD disk controller clears freed flash memory blocks, but does so in background, in between read and write operations.

Using this command returns full write speed to reused flash memory blocks. However, not all operating systems support this command. But only relatively latest versions:

• Linux kernel since version 2.6.33.
• Windows 7, 8 and 10.
• Mac OS X starting from version 10.6.6 (but for this version you need to install an update).

Until now, the popular WIndows XP (as well as Vista) do not support this command.

A workaround for older OSes is to use third-party programs. For example, this could be the hdparm program (version 9.17 and higher) or proprietary programs of the SSD drive manufacturer, for example Intel SSD Toolbox.

There are two models of SSD drives in which the degradation of the speed of reused blocks is less pronounced than others:

• Plextor M5 pro (old model, discontinued).
• Plextor M5S (old model, discontinued).
• Intel 545s (2018 model).

The firmware of these disks can partially clear unused blocks without the TRIM command. Restoring recording speeds to over high values, but not up to the full rated recording speed.

Of course, these are not the only models that can collect “garbage” on their own. Over time, there are more such models, because successful solutions are replicated by other manufacturers.

There are disk models that, even after executing the TRIM command, do not return to the full rated write speed.

The TRIM command is most often disabled when using a RAID array.

Note! When using this function, it will be impossible to recover deleted files!

SSD drives by manufacturer

Personally, I divide all SSD drive manufacturers into two categories - the big eight and all the rest. The Big Eight are Intel, Plextor, Corsair, Samsung, Micron (under the Crucial brand), Toshiba, SanDisk, Hynix. Companies that sell good and excellent SSD drives. Each of them has its own advantages, for example Intel, Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk, Hynix and Micron make drives from their own flash memory. And Samsung uses not only its own memory in its SSD drives, but also its own controllers.

But in principle, you can buy any disc from any of these seven companies without going into details.

Everyone else is a pretty big list.

Intel. The company, together with Micron, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. It is no coincidence that they provide a 5-year warranty on their discs. Some models also have their own controllers - that is, 100% Intel - such models as Intel DC S3500, Intel DC S3700, Intel 730, Intel 545s, Intel 760p. Intel's drives are very good, but the company primarily targets the business segment of the market and therefore its drives are quite expensive.

But her discs are worth the money. For example, server SSD drives DC S3500 and S3700 use not only selected memory, but also functions such as power loss protection, advanced verification checksums for stored data. This makes them very reliable means of storing data.

Micron(trademark Crucial). The company, together with Intel, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. The difference from Intel drives is that Micron (Crucial) focuses on the budget segment of the market. Uses its own memory and Marvell controllers. In 2014, the company releases a disc that could become a new hit (like M4) - Crucial M550, Crucial MX500.

Samsung. One of the leaders in the SSD market. And not only in terms of sales volume, but also technologically. The company produces its own flash memory and its own controllers. The disks are 100% proprietary - both memory and controllers, everything is our own. As of the first half of 2014, the model Samsung 840 Pro This is the fastest SSD drive in the consumer segment of the market (drives for regular computers). The speed of this drive already exhausts the capabilities of the SATA 3 interface. New successful models are Samsung 850 and 860 EVO.

Plextor. The Japanese company is famous for its laser drives. In fact, the SSD is not made by itself - Lite-On makes them for it. But the discs are very good. Intel-Micron or Toshiba memory and Marvell controllers are used. Famous model Plextor M5 Pro despite the fact that it is no longer young and in 2014 remains one of the fastest SSD drives. In 2017, the company remains one of the market leaders in terms of disk speed with M.2 drives of the M8Pe G(N) series. Currently brand Plextor belongs to the Taiwanese company Lite-On, which previously manufactured drives for Plextor under contract.

Corsair. An American company known for the high quality of various products - RAM, power supplies. The company's products are aimed at so-called "enthusiasts", people willing to pay more for higher quality and speed. The company has several model lines - GS and GT disks on the SandForce controller, LS disks on the Phison controller, Neutron disks on the LAMD controller.

SanDisk- it has its own production of flash memory (shared with Toshiba) and some models of SSD drives from this company demonstrate very high performance. The company has a long and successful history of various types of flash drives (USB flash drives, memory cards).

Toshiba- it has its own production of flash memory (common with SanDisk). The company has a long and successful history of producing both flash memory and conventional (HDD) disks.

Hynix. This Korean company produces flash memory. And it recently bought a company that makes LAMD controllers. So now she has SSD drives from her own flash memory and with her own controller.

SSD disk lifespan

The time that an SSD drive will work is generally determined by the type of flash memory. That is, what type of cells is used and what process is used to make the memory. It was already written above that SLC type cells have the largest resource, followed by MLC and finally TLC.

What does the limit on the number of write cycles mean in a practical sense? And how can we roughly estimate the possible lifespan of a particular disk?

Let's take a conventional disk that uses MLC flash memory produced using a 19-nanometer technical process. Let's assume that the manufacturer of this memory specifies a write limit of 3000 cycles for it. This is an indicator for good MLC flash memory manufactured using 19 or 20 nanometer manufacturing processes.

Based on this memory, a disk with a capacity of 120 GB was manufactured. The 3000 cycle limit means you can completely write your disc 3000 times. If you fill it completely every day, then empty it completely and fill it completely again the next day, then theoretically the memory will live for 3000 days. That is more than 8 years. If you write only 60 gigabytes per day and erase the disk only once every two days, then the lifespan increases to 16 years.

Of course this is simplified. But it is clear that the lifespan of flash memory is quite long. Even if we take a TLC flash-based disk with a limit of 1000 write cycles, this gives a theoretical disk lifespan of at least 3 years, provided that it is completely filled every day.

That is, in all these complaints about the constantly decreasing recording limit, there is no serious basis.

So you can independently estimate the lifespan of a disk, knowing the type of flash memory that is used in this disk. You can more accurately determine it if you have information about the manufacturer of this memory, because flash memory manufacturers indicate write limits for their products.

Finally, many disk manufacturers, in their disk specifications, explicitly indicate disk write limits in gigabytes per day. For example, Samsung in the specifications of the 840 Pro drive writes: “A 5-year warranty is provided provided that no more than 40 gigabytes are written to the disc per day.” And Micron, for its Crucial M550 drive, specifies a recording limit of 72 terabytes, or approximately 66 gigabytes per day for three years.

However, in 2015, Samsung provides a 10-year warranty on some PRO series models.

In 2017, I can say from my own experience that none of the drives that I installed more than 3 years ago have yet broken. True, I have never installed SmartBuy disks. Only Plextor, SanDisk, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel.

Update 2019.

Firstly, the issue of unreliability of TLC memory can be said to be resolved. At least for market leaders. In 2019, the largest flash memory manufacturers, Intel, Micron, Samsung, declare the write resource for their TLC memory to be the same as what they gave for MLC memory several years ago. And this resource is such that it allows them to give a 5-year warranty on their SSD drives. And such a warranty period is very rarely available on an HDD.

Secondly, from my own experience, I can add that out of several dozen SSDs that I have installed in computers over the past 6 years, only one has failed - budget model Plextor (S range). And this Plextor did not die to the state of a brick - at the very least, it worked, so it was possible to copy data from there. For comparison, over the same years I replaced about a dozen HDD drives due to their failure. HDD drives in laptops die especially often.

So today SSD is more reliable than HDD. However, you need to keep in mind that we are talking about SSD drives from the best manufacturers (top eight). Discs like SmartBuy, Dexp and the like are, I think, a big lottery.

How to extend the life of an SSD drive

Free disk space. Don't fill it up completely - try to have 20 - 30 percent free space on the disk. The presence of free space allows the controller to level out the wear of memory cells. This free space should not be allocated, that is, not assigned to any partition with the file system. By the way, the presence of such an unmarked space also allows you not to bother about TRIM.

Uninterruptible power supply. If you are using an SSD in a regular computer, connect the computer via a UPS. If the SSD is in a laptop, monitor the battery condition - do not allow the laptop to turn off when the battery is completely discharged. SSD drives don't like sudden power loss. If there is an abnormal power outage on the disk, the data in the flash memory cells may be damaged. As an option, you can buy a disk model that has Power Loss Protection.

Refrigerate. SSD drives (like HDDs, like any electronics) do not like overheating. The higher the temperature of the disk, the faster it will fail. If you install an SSD in a laptop, then you can only hope that the designers of your laptop have provided for the possibility of sufficient heat removal from the disk.

But if you install an SSD in a regular computer, then your hands are free. The least you can do is use a metal adapter from 2.5" (SSD drive) to 3.5" (drive box in the case). The metal of the adapter will transfer heat from the disk to the body. However, for drives in a plastic case, a metal adapter is useless.

In the context of cooling, the big plus is the aluminum SSD case. If the disk is made wisely, then the metal case is used as a radiator to remove heat from the microcircuits.

In addition, you can install a fan - many cases even provide space for a special fan that blows air over the drive cage. Some cases even have this fan.

No need to defragment. File system fragmentation does not reduce the speed of the SSD. Therefore, by doing defragmentation you will not gain speed. However, by defragmenting, you will shorten the life of the disk by increasing write operations.

Installing an SSD on an old motherboard

You can breathe new life into your old computer by replacing the HDD with an SSD. All disk operations will be performed two to three times faster. And the computer performs a lot of disk operations - starting the OS, launching programs, opening files, using virtual memory (swap), caching in browsers, editing files, etc.

If you have an old motherboard with a SATA 2 (SATA 300) controller, then the new SSD drive will not work at full speed. There are two options to fix the matter:

• Buy a SATA 3 controller on a PCI or PCI-e board.
• Buy an SSD drive mounted on a PCI-e card, for example Plextor M6e.

Although, in my opinion, it’s easier to leave it as is. IN real life the difference in speed between connecting via SATA 2 and via SATA 3 may not be very large. It will only appear in operations that involve reading large amounts of data located sequentially on the disk. And accordingly, when recording large amounts of data sequentially. In practice, usually both writing and reading occur in small amounts in arbitrary (non-sequential) areas of the disk. And in this mode, most budget SSD drives provide speeds of less than 300 MB per second.

However, an SSD drive mounted on a PCI-e card is generally a good idea, as it will work faster than if connected via a SATA 3 controller. But this solution also has a drawback. A disk mounted on a PCI-e card cannot be installed in a laptop, but a simple SATA SSD can be used in any computer - a regular one, a laptop, an all-in-one computer, or a nettop.

Common mistakes when using SSD drives

Error one

Moving a large number of files to a regular mechanical magnetic disk (HDD). Some people install only the operating system and programs on an SSD drive, and transfer everything else to the HDD drive. Temporary file folders, browser cache folders, documents, and even the entire user profile.

They do this in order to save space on the SSD drive and increase its lifespan by reducing write operations. After all, for example, folders of temporary files are permanent write operations.

Indeed, space on the SSD is saved and the lifespan is increased. But this significantly reduces the speed of the computer. After all, the faster the disk reads or writes temporary files, documents, profile files, the faster the work is done.

My categorical opinion is that everything related to the OS and programs should be placed on an SSD drive. Working documents also need to be stored on an SSD drive. It makes sense to store only large amounts of data on the HDD - music, movies. Or data that is very rarely used - archives. Only in this case will you get the highest speed from your SSD drive. Don't forget - the main reason SSD purchases disk is speed! And that means you need to squeeze this speed to the maximum.

Error two

Disk defragmentation. Out of habit left over from using HDD drives, people also defragment SSD drives. There is no need to do this! The speed of access to arbitrary data blocks on an SSD disk is approximately two orders of magnitude higher compared to an HDD. Therefore, data fragmentation no longer affects the reading speed of this data.

Resume

Basic parameters of SSD drives

• Manufacturer. The best manufacturers SSD drives - Intel, Micron (Crucial brand), Samsung, Plextor, SanDisk, Toshiba, Corsair.
• Disk capacity. The minimum disk volume, which provides greater speed and a good supply of free space to extend life, is 240/256 gigabytes. For drives with a capacity of 60 - 128 GB, the write speed will almost certainly be below 200 MB per second. Although there are some models of such disks with a writing speed of more than 200 MB per second.
• Controller. The best controllers today are Samsung, Marvell, Intel, Silicon Motion. Intel and Samsung controllers are used only in drives from these manufacturers. Marvell and Silicon Motion controllers are used in drives from different manufacturers.

Secondary parameters of SSD drives

• Memory type. SLC memory “lives” the longest, but such memory is not available in retail today. MLC and TLC memory, in descending order, have a shorter lifespan. In 2018, there are already few disks with MLC memory; most disks use TLC memory.
• Memory process technology. Memory crystals created using a 19 or 20 nanometer process have a shorter lifespan than crystals created using a 25 nanometer process. In 2018, memory is produced using a 14-nanometer technical process.
• Hardware encryption with support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 standards.
• Power Loss Protection.

Which SSD drive to choose

Something like this:

• Manufacturer: Intel, Samsung, Plextor, Corsair, Micron (Crucial).
• Memory type: NAND Flash MLC or TLC.
• Disk capacity: ranging from 240 - 256 Gigabytes.

For example these models: Intel 730, Intel S3500, Plextor M5 Pro, Crucial M550, Samsung 840 Pro. From these models Samsung 840 Pro And Crucial M550 will give the highest writing and reading speeds to date. A disk Intel S3500 will give the highest guarantee of data integrity and safety.

Attention! These are old models, no longer in production. See the update sections at the end of the article - the current models are listed there.

Of course, when choosing a disk, you need to take into account the tasks that will be performed on the computer. If this is an ordinary home or office computer on which the main work is the Internet and documents, then the cheapest SSD drive with a capacity of 120/128 GB will do.

If this is a gaming computer, then firstly you need to take a volume of at least 240/256 gigabytes, and secondly, select a high-speed model. Because one game sometimes takes up to ten gigabytes on the disk, and during the launch process and during the game, large amounts of information are read from the disk.

If you have a computer for video processing, you need a capacity of more than 240/256 gigabytes and a model with the highest sequential writing and reading speeds.

If the computer stores and processes critical information that cannot be lost, then apparently best choice will Intel S3500 or even Intel S3700.

If you plan to use the SSD with an old OS, such as Windows XP, it makes sense to think about the effect of “speed degradation” and how to avoid it (more details in the section).

Data Recovery

SSD drives have one drawback compared to HDD drives. In the event of a breakdown, recovering data from a “dead” SSD drive will be much more difficult, and most often completely impossible.

This is due to the fact that physically, pieces of data are stored in different cells and even in different flash memory chips. And only the disk controller “knows” how to get complete data from this “mess”. And the loss of some cells, especially those where service information is stored, can lead to the impossibility of data recovery.

There is one more feature. Even on a working SSD, recovering previously deleted files may not be possible. If the disk is enabled TRIM function, then the controller will destroy the data of the deleted files.

On HDD drives, data from deleted files is not destroyed until space is needed for new files. And this makes it possible to recover deleted files (not always, but often).

So, follow the most important computer rule - it is necessary to make copies of important data. This rule, however, applies to any type of disk in general, and not just to SSD. Any disk can die at any moment.

Update 2015

In rubles, SSDs have become more expensive and plus the general crisis is bad news.

The good news is that there are SSD drives with a 10-year warranty - these are some Samsung 850 Pro series models. And Intel even gives a 5-year warranty for its budget 535 series. Despite the fact that the smallest disks (120 GB) from these companies already cost around $100.

Prices (in dollars) go down, productivity goes up.

An interesting five of the inexpensive SSD drives at the end of 2015 (from the Yulmart assortment) in order of increasing price:

• Samsung 650 MZ-650120Z
• SanDisk Ultra II
• Samsung 850 EVO Series, MZ-75E120BW
• Intel 535, SSDSC2BW120H601
• Samsung 850 PRO Series, MZ-7KE128BW

Update 2016

The good news is that SSD drives that use TLC memory can have a lifespan comparable to drives with MLC memory.

This became possible thanks to the development of a new algorithm for removing signals from memory cells - LDPC decoding. Today (in 2016) there are three controllers that support this algorithm:

• Samsung MGX, SSD drives Samsung EVO 750 and 850.
• Marvell 88SS1074, SSD drives Plextor M7V.
• Silicon Motion SM2256

According to memory wear resistance tests, Samsung EVO 850 and Plextor M7V drives show very impressive results. At the level good disks with MLC memory.

And the speed of work is very good. For example Plextor M7V 128 GB, on an Intel SATA 3 controller, gives a read speed of 497 MB/sec, and a write speed of 247 MB/sec (measured in the proprietary Plextool program). But Plextor M7V is a budget model, one of the cheapest among all SSD drives in mid-2016.

A disk Samsung EVO 850(250 GB) gives speeds (measured in Samsung proprietary software):

• On SATA controller 2 (Intel ICH9): 268 MB/sec read and 250 MB/sec write. This speed was also confirmed by measurements in Ubuntu Linux.
• On the SATA 3 controller (Intel): 540 MB/sec read and 505 MB/sec write.

On SATA 2, the speed practically rests on the limit of the SATA 2 standard itself. On SATA 3, the reading speed also rests on the limit of the standard. And at the same time, Samsung gives a 5-year warranty on drives of the line EVO 850. And the result is an extremely fast and very reliable disk.

Update 2017

Many SSD drives of the M.2 format have appeared on sale, at prices comparable to the 2.5" SATA format. But more importantly, motherboards with M.2 connector.

However, a clarification needs to be made. Not all M.2 format drives can provide read and write speeds significantly higher than through SATA III, that is, significantly higher than 570 MB per second. There are models that, having the M.2 format, nevertheless provide speeds at the level of only SATA III.

Speeds closer to 1 GB per second (or higher) depend on whether both the drive and motherboard support the NVMe (NVM Express) protocol. This is a protocol for working with disks via the PCI-e bus. It is similar to the AHCI protocol, but has advantages over it. The NVMe protocol places an emphasis on parallelizing read and write operations. And it has a greater job queue depth.

Before purchasing, you need to check the specifications of the SSD drive and motherboard. To support NVMe on the motherboard, not only the SATA III line, but also the PCI-e lanes (2 or 4) must be connected to the M.2 connector.

Here, for example, are several motherboards with an M.2 connector and NVMe support:

• ASUS H110M-A/M.2
• ASUS H170M-PLUS
• ASUS PRIME B250M-A
• ASUS B150-PRO

And accordingly, for example, SSD drives with NVMe support:

• Plextor M8Pe, PX-128M8PeG(N)
• Samsung EVO NVMe M.2

In addition, to support NVMe you need to use a fairly recent version of the OS. Windows supports NVMe out of the box starting with version 8.1. For Windows 7, you need to install an update and this is non-trivial, because the driver needs to be integrated into the installation image. Microsoft has instructions. There is another instruction in this topic, in Russian.

On Linux you need to use kernel version 3.13 19 or higher.

What are the benefits of using an NVMe-enabled SSD drive? At a minimum, today, this is approximately twice the speed of operation compared to SATA III. And in reading mode, the speed is already 3-4 times higher than through SATA III. And over time, this gap will increase. So it makes sense to bother.

If you are buying a new computer in 2017, then I advise you to buy a motherboard and an SSD drive with NVMe support.

Cheap models

There are many SSDs on sale with the cheapest possible hardware platform. Manufacturers are reducing the number of processor cores, the number of memory channels, and removing the DRAM cache (the so-called DRAM-less controllers). For example, the Phison S11 controller is not only single-core, but also dual-channel and without DRAM cache. Such disks have a low price and beautiful figures for read and write speeds, in the specifications

Manufacturers of such SSD drives draw beautiful numbers in the specifications using a software trick called pseudo-SLC cache. The essence of this software solution is that part of the TLC flash memory operates in pseudo-SLC mode, that is, one bit is written to the cell instead of three. This makes it possible to significantly increase the recording speed. However, this only works as long as the write size does not exceed the size of this pseudo-SLC cache or until the disk is completely full so that there are no free cells for the pseudo-SLC cache. And then the disk produces real, sad performance. Under high recording load, such disks can be even slower than HDDs.

And of course, given the weak controller processor and the lack of a DRAM cache, such drives have low performance in access mode to arbitrary blocks with a queue depth of 1-4. And this is the most common operating mode for a disk in a home (non-gaming) and office computer.

Some of these models:

• WD Green and Blue
• Toshiba TR200
• Kingston A400
• Sandisk SSD Plus (SDSSDA)
• GoodRam CL100
• SmartBuy Jolt

Be that as it may, even such an SSD drive will generally be faster than an HDD.

SATA goes down in history

Of course, SSDs with the SATA interface will be produced for a long time. To replace HDD in work computers. But all major manufacturers make their best models in M.2 format and with NVMe support. The reason for this is that the SATA interface no longer allows for the data transfer speed that modern SSD drives provide. The speed limit for the SATA3 bus is approximately 570 MB per second. And modern SSD drives can transfer data at speeds of more than 1 GB per second.

So if you're looking to buy a new computer or upgrade, look for a motherboard with an M.2 connector and NVMe support. And put M.2 there NVMe SSD. However, you need to take into account that a motherboard with an M.2 connector, or a disk in M.2 format, may not have support for the NVMe protocol - in this case, the disk will operate at SATA3 speed (SATA mode). It is necessary to clarify whether a specific motherboard and a specific M.2 SSD drive have NVMe support.

3D XPoint (Intel Optane memory)

The first disks (from Intel) made on a new type of memory - 3D XPoint - appeared in retail sales. This memory is fundamentally different from NAND flash memory. Firstly, it is not processed in blocks - each cell can be addressed individually. Secondly, the cells do not need to be erased before recording. Thirdly, it has a higher recording resource.

In linear read and write operations, these 3D XPoint memory drives provide speeds comparable to the fastest TLC NAND drives. But in operations of reading and writing small blocks at arbitrary addresses and with a short queue, 3D XPoint memory is faster than NAND flash. And this mode of disk operation is most common in practice.

The capacity of the first (for the retail market) 3D XPoint disks is not yet sufficient for their individual use (16 and 32 GB). And today Intel offers Optane memory technology for these drives. The 3D XPoint disk is installed in the M.2 slot and this disk is used as a cache for a regular HDD disk. It seems to me that this solution is too complicated to implement and insufficiently effective in terms of price. It's easier to use SATA or M.2 SSD. And if you use an M.2 NVMe SSD, it will also be faster than an Optane drive + HDD.

It will be interesting when Optane disks with a capacity of at least 60 GB and at a competitive (with NAND) price will appear in retail.

Good and inexpensive SSD drive models

SATA Samsung 850MZ-7LN120BW- just 850 without the EVO suffix. There is only one model in the line so far, 120 GB. Costs around 3,500 rubles (summer 2018). This model has everything grown up - DRAM cache, a good controller, plus a new 64-layer TLC 3D V-NAND memory. The result is very good speed performance. A good recording resource is 75 Terabytes.

SATA Hynix SL308- the line includes models with 120, 250 and 500 GB. DRAM cache, own controller, own memory, aluminum case. Like Toshiba, Intel and Samsung, Hynix also produces SSD drives from its own components. The 120 GB model costs around 3,500 rubles.

SATA Crucial MX500- almost the twin brother of the disk Intel SSD 545s. The differences are that a dynamically variable pseudo-SLC cache is used and there are capacitors to protect against sudden power loss (so that the write operation can be completed).

SATA Crucial Micron 1100- minimum volume in this model line 256 GB. This model costs around 6,500 rubles. It uses a Marvell controller, DRAM cache and its own TLC 3D NAND memory.

M.2 NVMe Intel 760p- the minimum volume in this model line is 128 GB. The 256 GB model costs around 6,400 rubles and has a 5-year warranty. The disk has - DDR4 DRAM cache, 64-layer TLC 3D V-NAND Intel - Micron, 8-channel SM2262 controller. All together this gives fantastic read and write speeds: 3.2 and 1.3 Gigabytes per second. This is the speed of the first computers with RAM DDR2! Of course, these are numbers when using a pseudo-SLC cache, but its size (in the 256 GB model) is approximately 6 GB, which covers requests during normal operation. Past the pseudo-SLC cache, the write speed is about 600 MB per second. According to tests, disks of this series give excellent results when performing operations with random blocks and short queues. As of summer 2018, this is the best option in the budget segment.

M.2 NVMe Samsung 960 EVO- the minimum volume in this model line is 250 GB. The 250 GB model costs around 7,000 rubles. It has the same impressive read and write speed figures: 3.2 and 1.5 Gigabytes per second. These are the numbers when using a pseudo-SLC cache, but its size changes dynamically and, if there is free space, in the 250 GB model, it can reach 13 GB. However, this disc is worse than Intel 760p, copes with reading and writing arbitrary blocks and a short queue. And this disk is option number two, if not available Intel 760p.

The good news is that good quality TLC memory has appeared, with a large recording resource. And SSD drives with TLC memory, on average, provide higher write and read speeds than drives with MLC memory. Moreover, they are also cheaper. A good 250 GB SATA SSD can now be purchased for $50-60.

So, now, in the budget segment, there are models that are more productive and more capacious than those in the premium segment a few years ago.

The bad news is that the number of frankly cheap SSD drives has increased. Which are of course very cheap, but buying them is very risky. Every year the number of “manufacturers” of SSD drives increases. And in these mountains of crap it is not easy to find a good product.

The best SATA SSD options for February 2019:

• SATA Intel SSD 545s- 256 GB.
• SATA Samsung 860 EVO MZ-76E250BW- 250 GB.

Cheap, capacious, fast disks. More details about these models in the 2018 section.

Ivan Sukhov, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 .

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Sooner or later, every user is faced with the need to buy an SSD drive. This is a small but very useful investment that will pay for itself tens, if not hundreds of times. For relatively little money, you can significantly speed up the operation of your computer and installed applications. The system turns on faster, games load faster, the computer makes less noise, and is also less vulnerable to damage during transportation.

The cost of an SSD drive is affected not only by memory capacity. These drives differ in their memory technologies, form factors, and connections. They are often the key factor influencing the price of a disc. Two disks can have the same 120 GB, but one can be several times more expensive than the other. Likewise, a 64GB drive can be much more expensive than a 240GB drive. Just like with cars, it's all about what's under the hood or under the SSD cover.

In general, the cost of a disk is formed based on three parameters:

• Memory type (SLC, MLC, TLC, V-NAND).
• Connection type (PCIe, SATA).
• Storage volume.

What memory is used in SSD

The cost of an SSD drive, as well as its characteristics, depend on the layout and type of NAND memory on the media board. NAND is built from a large number of cells that “hold” memory bits. Electrical signal either enables or disables these cells. The recorded information on the SSD creates a layer of enabled and disabled segments. Each type of SSD has its own cell structure. For example, drives with SLC memory contain one bit per cell. Such drives are often sold with smaller amounts of memory, since the manufacturer needs to fit all the chips on a standard drive board. All cells are single-level, so it is physically impossible to place a large amount of data on such a board. In addition to the memory chips, the SSD also has DDR memory on board (a small amount of volatile memory for memory caching) and a controller, and all these components require space. MLC and TLC have double and triple memory levels, so the available capacity is larger.

SLC, MLC or TLC – which is better?

To understand which type of memory is better and which one will be optimal for you, you need to take a closer look at the operating principle of SLC, MLC and TLC.

SLC (singlelevelcell- single-level cell, English) received this name because of the structure of the cell, which can be either on or off (in other words, either 1 or 0). Drives with this type of memory have the highest levels of data read and write speed. In addition, SLC memory is the most durable - each cell can be rewritten up to 100,000 times.

Schemes for the structure of memory types SLC, MLC and TLC.

SSD with SLC memory are best suited for the needs of enterprise users. You are unlikely to be able to buy such a drive for yourself, since it is damn expensive, and they simply are not sold in regular stores.

Pros of SLC memory:

• Long cell rewrite life cycle.
• Reliability.
• High speeds.
• Resistance to higher temperatures.

Disadvantages of SLC memory:

• Disks are very expensive and inaccessible to the average user.
• Small volumes.

MLC (multilevelcell– multi-level cell, English). This type of memory stores two bits of information in one cell. The big advantage of SSDs with MLC memory is their low production cost when compared to SLC. As a result, MLC disks can be found in any computer store. They are very popular, affordable and relatively reliable. True, the number of write/rewrite cycles is somewhere around 10,000 per cell.

MLC drives are well suited for those who want fast loading speeds for games and a relatively long drive life. It will cost more than TLC, but the benefits are definitely worth it.

Pros of MLC memory:

• SLC is cheaper and therefore more accessible.
• Sold on every corner.
• More reliable than TLC.

Disadvantages of MLC memory:

• Not as reliable as SLC drives (the disadvantage is offset by the cost).

TLC (triplelevelcell– three-level cell, English) – there are three bits of information per memory cell. The cheapest type of SSD media to produce. This option is exclusively for ordinary consumers and is not suitable for industrial use. The write cycle of such disks is significantly lower than even MLC and ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 per cell. In addition, the writing and reading speeds are also not very high.

Such SSD drives can be purchased as storage media for operating system. The choice of those who have a very limited budget or do not need to frequently rewrite data. It is also the easiest and most inexpensive way to upgrade your PC.

Pros of TLC memory:

• Cheaper than SLC, MLC and eMLC combined.
• Much faster than conventional HDDs (about 10 times).
• Inexpensive. You can buy in kilograms.

Cons of TLC memory:

• Fragility. Significantly less durable compared to MLC, not to mention SLC.
• Relatively low speed work when compared with other types of memory.

V-NAND (verticalnand– “vertical” memory). A separate type of memory in which the cells are located not horizontally relative to the board, but vertically (hence the name). These SSD drives offer more capacity, lower power consumption and up to 10 times faster write/read speeds compared to conventional linear NAND memory. Thanks to V-NAND, Samsung was able to release a 4 TB SSD in a regular 2.5-inch form factor.

SSD drive connection type

Solid state drives are connected either via a SATA connector or via PCIe. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages.

PCIe or SATA SSD – which is better?

Another parameter that significantly affects the cost is the type of connection. Here, manufacturers offer users either a SATA connection or PCIe. The latter is always more expensive, but that doesn't mean you always have to choose PCIe.

SATA (SerialATA) appeared back in 2003 and has been updated three times since then (modern SSDs use a SATA3 connection). This means that in 14 years this standard has had enough time to reliably gain a foothold in the market and actually appear in everyone computer, be it a desktop PC or a laptop. The result is excellent compatibility with almost all computers. If you buy a “satash” disk, then in principle it will work even in ten-year-old computers or laptops. This way you can breathe a second life into an old piece of hardware.

The downside of a SATA connection is performance. The most advanced and most expensive SATA SSD drive rests on the physical limit of 6 Gbit/sec (750 MB/sec). Often, SSD drives with a SATA interface offer no more than 600 MB/sec. However, you need to understand that 600 MB / sec is still damn fast. This figure will be sufficient for the vast majority of ordinary users. If you are not one or you need more speed out of principle, then there is nothing you can do about it - you need to buy an SSD with PCIe.

PCIe-connection ( PeripheralComponentInterconnectExpress) achieves higher speeds due to faster connections to motherboard computer. Typically this interface is used to connect video cards or other add-ons that require low latency and high speed. PCIe 3.0 reaches speeds of up to 985 MB/sec per lane. Since PCIe can have 1, 4, 8 or 16 lanes, we're talking about potential speeds of up to 15.76 GB/sec.

Does this mean that PCIe SSD is 25 times faster than SATA SSD? Theoretically, yes. But you are unlikely to find such a disk in any Citylink or DNS, if you find it in principle. Often, PCIe SSDs offer speed gains over SATA by anywhere from 2-4 times, with a maximum speed of around 4Gb/sec.

It is also important to note that you will notice the big difference between SATA SSD and PCIe SSD only when working with very large files. For example, during video editing, where one file can be up to hundreds of gigabytes in size. If you're buying an SSD just to speed up your system or load games, then SATA and PCIe will perform about the same. It all depends on your needs and how you use the disk. Those who buy an SSD for a laptop should also understand that when transferring large files, PCIe drives consume significantly more battery power and generates much more heat. Sometimes it comes to the point that PCIe drives without cooling radiators begin to slow down due to overheating and throttling.

What are M.2 and U.2 SSDs

M.2 and U.2 are two separate form factors with their own size, shape, layout and connection method. Both standards support both SATA and PCIe. Often, such “sticks” are used in laptops, where space is very limited, but modern motherboards (especially the mid-range and high-end segment) for desktop computers are increasingly equipped with M.2 slots, allowing you to plug this SSD drive into a desktop.

The performance of M.2 SATA SSD will be the same as 2.5” SATA SSD. PCIe M.2 SSDs are limited to four PCIe lanes, but this is more than enough for extreme high speeds in normal use scenarios.

SSD lifespan

Like all good things in this life, an SSD drive eventually comes to the end of its life. As you already understood from the description above, this parameter directly depends on what type of memory is used in your drive. SLC lasts longer than MLC, and MLC lasts longer than TLC.

Often the manufacturer himself indicates how long his product can work. This figure can be calculated in hours or terabytes of overwritten information. Practice shows that consumer SSD drives operate in the range from 700 TB to 1 PTb. The longer the mileage, the more memory the drive begins to lose. For reference: 1 PTB is 15,384 GTA V installations.

The average user has an SSD with MLC or TLC memory At worst, it will last for several years. Everything will depend on how actively you overwrite information on it. To prevent disk failure from becoming an unpleasant surprise for you, you can always monitor its condition and carry out SSD diagnostics using appropriate programs.

SSD controller

An SSD disk controller is a small computer responsible for the operation of memory cells. Sometimes it happens that a low-quality controller causes the failure of an SSD drive with normal memory. If possible, we advise you to pay attention to this SSD parameter, but it’s not that simple. If in stores you can filter the available offers by type, volume or interface, you will no longer be able to select a disk based on the controller you are using. Here you need to select your preferred model, and then go to the manufacturer’s website and look at the controller model in the specifications. True, you may find that some manufacturers keep information about the controller they use secret. Others talk about it freely and even use it as a marketing ploy. Why not boast that a drive from some Kingston uses a high-quality Phison S10 controller? A good chip will ensure high-quality and long-term operation of an SSD drive even from little-known manufacturers, while a popular OEM with a low-quality controller can easily die before the end of the warranty period.

We hope this information will help you navigate the large sea of ​​different SSD drives a little better, and you will be able to choose for yourself a model that will not only be productive, but also durable, and also have the best price/quality ratio.