Which SSD to choose for the system. Choosing an SSD drive - how to buy a good SSD (solid state drive) drive

An easy way to speed up your computer is to install an SSD drive on it. We already talked about it in one of the previous articles. These drives come in several types, and I would like to devote today’s article to just that. The first is a SATA solid-state drive, usually it comes in a 2.5" form factor and is universal solution with very good speed and a fairly reasonable price.

It is suitable for any computer, almost any laptop (there are exceptions, such as SONY models, which use a 1.8" form factor drive). Next on the list we have PCI, especially pay attention to SSD PCI 3.0 - they have just crazy speed and you might be surprised at the performance you get with these drives.

But, like all good things, they have one drawback - a fairly high price, which is often 2 or even 3 times higher than regular SSD SATA 2.5 drives. There are also mSATA (in the picture below), which is short for “mini SATA”, they are most often used in laptops, however, in terms of speed, such drives are no different from regular SATA 2, that is, it is the same, but in a smaller form -factor.

Look how much less mSATA SSD drive (green PCB on top) compared to a regular 2.5" hard drive

It is noteworthy that there are SSDs exclusively for Apple (even here they remain separate “personalities”), and they are even more expensive, although in terms of performance they are no different from the same PCI SSDs. The recording speed here can be 700 MB/s - which is an excellent indicator.

If you want to buy an SSD for yourself, then in any case you will have to choose between SATA and PCI versions, and there is a question of price. If you spend a lot of time on your computer, then be sure to try PCI version drive. Because it itself comes in a RAID array (this is when 2 hard drives are connected into one, roughly speaking), in this case the information is read from two devices at once, which speeds up the system by exactly 2 times.

PCI SSD - installed inside the computer system unit

That is, for example, the same Windows is installed on 2 flash drives (2 different chips) at once and read from them simultaneously, which is a truly great solution for increasing computer performance, I definitely recommend purchasing it.

If you just want to somehow speed up your old computer, which you may soon be planning to change to something more productive, or you just want to try for the first time solid state drive in work - I definitely recommend that everyone take the familiar and time-tested SATA 2.5 SSD.

Based on device solid state hard disk (it does not have rotating magnetic disks, like in a HDD, for example), it is clear that its operating speed and, in general, the very fact of its operation, directly depend on two parameters: controller models and types of chips NAND memory . Moreover, even two different drives can contain the same controller, but at the same time, their operating speed will differ (it all depends on the firmware). The controller conditionally divides the entire memory into cells into which information will then be written.

And this is where the fundamental differences between different types of SSD memory lie. That is, it doesn’t matter what memory model is used in the drive itself, the controller in any case must first divide it into so-called cells. But how many bits of information fit into one cell is determined by the type of NAND memory. Currently, only three varieties are used: SLC, MLC, TLC (as a type of MLC).

SLC

SLC (Single Level Cell) - allows you to store only 1 bit of information in one cell - zero or one. This is the most expensive type of NAND chips. The high cost is determined by the complexity in the production of such drives. In addition to the price, the disadvantages also include low capacity - about 60 GB, for example.

However, such a drive will be faster and more reliable than all others, due to the fact that the cell will be overwritten much less frequently, which, as is known, significantly extends the life of the device itself. According to manufacturers, one cell can be rewritten up to 100,000 times. In addition, SLC technology provides the highest speed of reading/writing information, and such drives are the fastest.

On at the moment The market for SLC solutions is extremely poorly formed. Until recently, one of the famous such drives was the Intel X25-E, which had a capacity of only 64 GB. It cost about 20,000 rubles - which is extremely expensive, because for the same money you can easily buy an SSD disk with a capacity of about 1 terabyte (1000 GB), albeit with MLC memory.

MLC

MLC (Multi-Level Cell) is a multi-level cell that allows you to record two bits of information at once, which theoretically reduces its resource by exactly half. However, in fact, the resource of an MLC SSD drive is even lower. Initially, the drives offered up to 10,000 write cycles, then this figure dropped to 5,000, and then became as indicated in the table.

However, today it is the most common type of memory in the market of solid-state drives. There are simply a huge number of models of this type; their capacity is already significantly higher than that of SLC models, and can reach up to 1 TB and even higher. In addition, the price of MLC drives of the same capacity will be significantly lower than in the case of SLC. As can be seen from the table, the performance of MLC is also slightly worse.

There is also a subtype of MLC - eMLC (enterprise MLC), among the advantages: increased service life of chips, due to more possible write/rewrite cycles. Few people know, but Samsung, for example, has a unique technology called “3D V-NAND”, which allows cells to be placed vertically, significantly expanding the memory capacity without increasing production costs.

TLC

TLC (Triple Level Cell) - guess how many bits of information such a TLC cell can store? That's right, three. That is, as you already understand, all these abbreviations tell us about the density of information storage in NAND chips. It turns out that the most “economical” memory will be TLC. Similar (TLC) chips are used in flash drives, where the service life (number of rewrite cycles) is not so important parameter. In addition, TLC technology is very cheap to produce.

I would recommend using TLC as a hard drive (not to be confused with an HDD drive) to install games on it, for example. Well, the reading speed from it will be many times higher than even the fastest HDD, and the cost of TLC solid-state drives is the lowest of all today (but still more expensive than HDD). And to install the OS, it is better to use a drive with MLC, since it is more reliable and durable than TLC.

ONFi and Toggle Mode

Drives ( solid state drives) with MLC are divided into two types according to the interface used. Both of these abbreviations denote not just different interfaces, but also associations (alliances) different manufacturers flash memory produced according to a specific standard. For example, Intel, Micron, Spectec, Hynix are classified as “ONFI”. And Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk - respectively to “Toggle Mode”.

Both interfaces are available different versions,versions define the bandwidth for each NAND channel. In addition, ONFI is divided into asynchronous and synchronous, the latter provides performance, but at the same time significantly increases the price of the device. Well, asynchronous, accordingly, is cheaper, but slower. All other things being equal, Toggle Mode memory “on paper” looks slightly faster than ONFi in “sequential write” and “random read” operations.

How to determine the type of SSD memory?

You can try to find it out programmatically, for example, using the “SSD-Z” program. Well, you can also look for this information in reviews of drives, or on special sites (most often in English) - collections of characteristics of SSD models.

Probably every person who is familiar with computer technology knows or has at least heard of such a device as an SSD drive. What is it and what role does it play in the operation of a computer? In short, SSD is used to record and store the user's personal data. You could argue that that's what hard drives are for. And this statement will be absolutely correct, because these components of the computer perform identical functions. So why was the SSD invented, what is it, how does it work and how does it differ from a regular HDD? All these questions can be answered in this article.

What is the difference between a hard drive and an SSD hard drive? What kind of device is this and what are the main principles of its operation?

Today, the main place to store most files on a computer is the hard drive. If you take it apart, you will find a rather fragile mechanism inside. It consists of magnetic plates rotating on a special head. A carriage moves between these plates, which finds and reads the necessary information. The hard drive mechanism resembles a gramophone, but these devices perform different functions. Unlike the mechanism of a musical device, the hard drive carriage moves at a speed of several thousand revolutions per minute and performs work related to copying and recording information.

As for the SSD disk, or, as it is commonly called, a solid state drive, it is used for the same purposes as a hard disk. It just works completely differently. There are no moving elements inside this device, but special chips are installed to store information. A solid-state drive resembles a large flash drive that can be placed in place of a hard drive.

Basic principles of operation of solid-state drives

The memory of SSD disks consists of special blocks that are divided into cells where the necessary data is stored. Everything would be fine, but the main problem arises when you need to delete or re-record existing information. The fact is that it is impossible to delete part of the information from one block, but you have to format the entire sector. In this case, the necessary data is stored in the cells of neighboring blocks and only then overwritten in the old place. Suppose you need to save data of 10 KB in size. In this case, the memory block has a volume of 20 KB, 10 KB of which are already occupied. In this case, the information available on the disk is transferred to another location, the entire block is deleted, and only then the old and new data are written. It turns out that to carry out one operation, the system performs several additional actions, which leads to slower operation and accelerates the wear of the solid-state drive.

To increase device performance, you must use special program TRIM, or SSD trimming as it is sometimes called. What it is and how it works, we will consider further. TRIM is not even an application, but a special command that the operating system sends to the SSD to indicate unused elements. Thanks to this function, you can immediately delete unnecessary files, avoiding additional operations with transferring information to adjacent blocks. And this significantly improves SSD performance. But this command not supported by older versions of operating systems. Therefore, to connect TRIM, Windows 7 or 8, Linux version 2.66.33 or higher must be installed on the computer.

What does an SSD consist of?

Having studied the differences between the two types of information storage, we will dwell in more detail on how SSD solid-state drives are designed, what kind of devices they are and how they function. In appearance, this is an ordinary box with connectors for connecting to a computer. Mainly SSD drives for home use are completed Sata interfaces, USB 3.0 and PCI-Express, which provide the required write and read speeds without any problems.

SSDs do not have any moving mechanical parts. Thanks to this, they are much more resistant to external factors. For example, a regular HDD disk is a rather fragile thing, because if the read head comes into contact with the magnetic plate during shaking or falling, this will lead to the failure of the media. But solid-state drives are designed completely differently. Inside these devices, special boards are installed on which memory chips and a controller are soldered. Some SSD drives are additionally equipped with compact batteries, which, in case of sudden shutdown electricity provides the cache with additional power, and the data is stored on the main memory chips. Now let's take a closer look at the main components of a solid-state drive.

SSD memory: what is it and what are its main functions?

Most SSD drives use NAND, or, as it is also called, flash memory. Similar chips are used in regular flash drives, only in solid-state drives they are more reliable and have greater speed due to the presence of a controller. Due to their low cost, they are widely used in SSDs, making these devices quite affordable for most users. Another advantage of this is that it is non-volatile and will not require additional food for work.

In addition to NAND technology, solid-state drives sometimes use RAM-SSD. This type of memory has a high speed of writing and reading data due to the use of chips used to create RAM. It will require a constant connection to electricity, so SSD drives that use RAM often have additional batteries installed in case of a sudden power outage. Due to the high cost of producing these drives, they are rarely found in home PCs and laptops. RAM-SSDs are mainly used in computer systems large companies to increase the speed of working with databases.

Today, most drives use NAND memory. Despite this, these SSD drives differ from each other in speed of writing, reading data and cost. It all depends on the chips used in the drive: SLC, TLC or SSD MLC. What is it and what is the difference between them? This is how different ones are designated. The most common technology is MLC, thanks to which two bits of information can be stored in one cell. TLC makes it possible to write as many as 3 bits, but this leads to faster cell wear, so this technology is not very popular. The fastest and most durable is SLC memory, with which you can write only one bit of data in each cell. Among the disadvantages, one can highlight only the high cost, which is 2 times higher than SSD price MLC.

Controller

The controller is the most important element, without which the SSD cannot function. What it is and what its role is, we will find out further. These devices perform the work of distributing the load between memory blocks, are responsible for reading and writing information, error correction and file compression. The controller resembles a command center where decisions related to data processing are made. The speed of operation of the solid-state drive and its durability depend on this detail. The main component of the controllers is a special microprocessor, which bears the entire load. Also, the performance of the device depends on the quality of the firmware.

Quite a lot of companies are engaged in the production of SSD drives, because the technology for their production is quite simple and requires less time than creating a classic hard drive. All you need is to purchase memory chips, controllers and boards where everything will be soldered. After this, the structure is placed in beautiful body with a company logo - and the product is ready for sale. But the components themselves for solid-state drives have a high price, and the creation of a controller and high-quality firmware for it will require large expenses. Because of this, the cost of SSD drives today is much higher than conventional HDDs.

Hybrid SSD HDD

Now let's look at the hybrid SSD HDD. What is this device and what is it intended for? Every year, solid state drives are gaining more and more popularity. Technology does not stand still, and standard hard drives are gradually replacing more technologically advanced systems. SDD drives are present in many computers, but are used not as the main storage of information, but as an additional one. And all because their cost is significantly higher compared to regular ones. hard drives. To compensate for this gap between the two types of drives, it was created hybrid HDD SSD. Let’s try to consider in more detail what kind of device this is and what advantages it has.

The hybrid drive is based on the same HDD without any changes. But chips with flash memory are also installed in the body of these drives, which are used as a buffer zone. The information that is most frequently used is copied to it. This made it possible to increase the loading speed of some applications and the operating system, when compared with conventional hard drives. The maximum amount of flash memory in such hybrid SSDs is 8GB. What was the result? In fact, we have something between a hard drive and a small solid-state drive. You cannot load data or install applications into buffer memory. It is used as a reserve for running priority programs that the user cannot control independently. As for the price, the cost of hybrid drives is lower than standard SSDs, but higher than HDDs; moreover, they are not very popular in our country, so they are not sold everywhere.

Benefits of a Solid State Drive

An integral part modern computer is an SSD drive. We have found out what kind of device this is and how it works, all that remains is to highlight its main pros and cons compared to conventional HDDs. Let's start with the positive aspects of SSDs.

The most important thing advantage of SSD is incredible and recording information. They are several times more productive than hard drives. For example, the data processing speed of some drives exceeds 500 MB/s. In practice, this results in faster operation of programs and the operating system itself, which loads in a matter of seconds. This is very important, because the current generation of computers has high performance, which is greatly slowed down by HDDs. But with the advent of new drives, their speed has increased significantly.

Another advantage of SSD devices is their higher resistance to external factors. They do not have such a fragile mechanism as hard drives. Thanks to this, they can easily withstand shaking, vibration and moderate impacts to the body. These devices will be an excellent solution for laptops. In addition, they cope better with temperature changes.

Another advantage of SSD is its quietness and low power consumption. Because hard drives have moving mechanical parts, they produce a certain level of noise. In addition, in working HDD condition have a fairly high temperature, so the coolers have to rotate at an accelerated rate. But all these problems are absent from SSDs, which do not heat up, do not make noise and consume less electricity.

Flaws

Having assessed all the advantages of solid-state drives, it remains to find out what weaknesses the SSD hard drive has. What are these flaws? The first of them is the high cost of such drives. Despite the simplicity of their design, manufacturing flash memory chips and controllers is quite an expensive business. But there is no need to be upset about this, because technology is constantly developing, and the price of these goods is gradually decreasing. In a couple of years, they may well be equal in price to HDDs.

After the first drawback, a second one can be identified. Due to their high cost, SSDs have lower storage capacity than HDDs. For example, the memory capacity of some HDDs is 8 TB, while SDDs only reach 1 TB.

SSD memory is short-lived and will fail after a certain number of write cycles. Although the current generation of these devices has a fairly long service life, you must be prepared for the fact that one day the drive will stop working, and it will be problematic to restore information.

I would like to add that SSDs do not tolerate power surges quite well. If after one of these voltage drops it burns out, then it will be impossible to obtain data. In the case of an HDD disk, a certain sector in it will fail, but most of it will remain intact, thanks to which all undamaged information can be retrieved.

What should you pay attention to when buying an SSD?

Having studied the information about solid-state drives, many users probably wanted to purchase this device for their computer. But you don’t have to immediately run to the store and grab the first product that comes your way. Here are some tips to help you choose an SSD.

First you need to pay attention to the size of the SSD. What is it? In other words, this is the amount of built-in. The higher its value, the more information can be recorded. But you don't need to buy the most expensive goods, because solid-state drives are mainly used for installing operating systems and applications on them, and the main place for storing data is still the hard drive. Having completed your SSD system with just 60-120 GB, you can achieve a significant increase in the speed of your computer.

Reading and copying speed plays an important role. The higher it is, the better, but it happens that motherboard cannot reveal the full potential of an SSD drive due to the low bus bandwidth. It happens that there is no point in installing fast drives in old laptops or PCs at all, because even after the update the system will work the same as on regular HDD. Therefore, it is worth studying the configuration of your computer, and only then go to the store. The largest ones are, and for outdated IDE ports you will need a special adapter to install an SSD.

The most important component of any SSD is the controller. It is this detail that controls all processes associated with information processing. The durability of the entire device depends on how well it is made, so it is recommended to give preference to proven and proven manufacturers. The leaders in production are SandForce, Marvell, Intel, Indilinx.

Finally, you should pay attention to the dimensions of the drive. For a PC this is not so important, because in system unit You can install any SSD, but problems may arise with laptops.

Basic rules for using solid-state drives

After looking at reviews from users and experts, we can conclude that an SSD hard drive is an integral part of a modern computer. We have already looked at what it is and how it works. Now you need to learn how to use it correctly. As strange as it may sound, in order to understand all the advantages of solid-state drives, you need to follow a few simple rules.

There is no need to fill all available memory to capacity. Many people neglect this rule, because SSDs are quite expensive, so users buy small drives and completely load them with necessary and not so necessary information. But we must remember that if you leave less than 25% free space, then the data processing speed will decrease significantly. The fact is that the more memory, the higher the number of free blocks where data can be written. When there is too little space left, information is distributed across the cells of neighboring blocks, and this leads to a decrease in performance.

It is worth remembering that using solid-state drives you can significantly increase the performance of your computer, so it is recommended to install the operating system, applications and demanding games on them. But you should use HDD as the main information storage. This will be more economical and practical, because they can easily cope with playing audio and video files no worse than SSDs.

It is best to have one of the following installed on your computer latest versions operating systems. For example, Windows XP or Vista are poorly optimized for working with solid-state drives and do not support the TRIM command.

Solid State Drive is a generation of modern and fast information storage devices. They use non-volatile Flash memory technology called NAND. Thanks to the developments of Asus, Samsung, Kingston and other giant companies, the SSD has been released into mass production and is available for purchase at a reasonable price. Given its technical superiority, namely write/read speed, resistance to physical damage and compact dimensions, HDD drives every year they are losing their position in the market in favor of young and effective technology.

Today you can buy different SSDs from different manufacturers, in different price categories, with all kinds of connection interfaces (SATA, M2, PCI Express, NGFF). But which one is better to choose? We invite you to take a look at our TOP 7 rating best models solid state hard drives 2018 – 2019.

Features, pros and cons of solid state drives

Let's look at the strengths and weaknesses of solid-state drives:

Pros

there are no moving parts in the device case, which means that the disk does not make noise (unlike HDD) and is less susceptible to mechanical damage;
high speed of writing (up to 500 MB/sec) and reading (up to 540 MB/sec) information from the disk;
low power consumption (~1.5 W under load);
modest dimensions (100x70x7 mm).

Cons

limited number of rewrite cycles; after the resource is exhausted, the hard drive will be read-only;
the price of a gigabyte is six to seven times higher than the price of HDD drives;
Write speed decreases when processing large files.

TOP 7 best SSD drives for a computer: which one is better?

Still, which SSD drive should you choose for your computer? Of the variety of solid-state drives, we have selected the seven best options:

120 Gb Kingston SA400S37/120G.

Solid-state drives can rightfully be called one of the most useful innovations in the computer market - it’s enough to buy an SSD for even an old computer to start working very quickly and responsively.

However, choosing an SSD in 2018 is not so easy - the market is saturated with models of very different types and characteristics. This abundance of options is explained by the fact that it is very easy to produce SSDs, because they are, in fact, the same flash drives, only made a little differently.

Latest SSD Technology

SSD stands for solid-state drive or solid state drive. This is a small flat box containing an electronic board with microcircuits inside. There are no mechanical, moving parts like in hard drives.

We had what an SSD is and why it is needed (and whether it is needed).

Data is stored in flash memory chips - these are the same chips that are used in USB flash drives. But in an SSD, these chips are combined into an array, where data is read and written in parallel to all chips at once. This gives a high final speed of work.

The distribution of data across the chips is handled by the controller - an important part of the SSD, on which indicators such as speed and reliability depend. Controllers are produced by several companies, including Phison, Samsung, JMicron, Marvell, Toshiba and others. It is impossible to name a unequivocally good and unequivocally bad controller manufacturer; here you have to look at a specific model.

Another important indicator is the type of flash memory and its manufacturer. Although there are a huge number of SSD models, they all use flash memory from just a few manufacturers: Micron/Intel, Hynix, Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk. Currently (2018) there is following types memory:

SLC - each memory cell stores only 1 bit, which gives maximum speed and reliability - one cell can be rewritten up to 100 thousand times without the risk of losing data, however, this makes SLC the most expensive type of flash memory, and therefore it is used only in server solutions and as a small cache for mass-produced SSDs;
MLC is the “golden mean”, where 2 bits of data are stored in each cell, such memory works 2-3 times slower than SLC, and its reliability is 33 times less (only 3 thousand cell rewrites), however, drives with MLC memory much cheaper and more voluminous;
TLC is the most budget solution, which is gaining popularity - here each cell stores as many as 3 bits of data, which is why the memory works ~1.5 times slower, and the durability is 3 times less than MLC (1000 rewrite cycles for each cell and the drive can be thrown away), but, as you might guess - low price and large volume cover all shortcomings;
3D XPoint is a unique development by Intel and Micron, used in Intel Optane drives, and which does not relate to conventional flash memory at all - data is stored here by changing the phase state of certain substances under the influence of electric current, this gives enormous reliability and speed in random operations.

Does it make sense to switch to an SSD now?

If you look at the configurations of new computers and laptops in the middle and high price ranges, then in almost 100% of cases an SSD will be installed. We can say that a more or less productive computer is currently unthinkable without a solid-state drive. There are a number of objective reasons for this.

Firstly, These are speed indicators. The cheapest SSDs provide up to 550 MB/s sequential read and write, which is almost 2.5 times more than the fastest hard drives. But for real strong point SSD - random, fragmented operations when you need to read or write many files that are in different folders. Hard drive To do this, you have to move the head, which is why, for example, the system loads slowly or the game is difficult. SSDs do not have any heads, so during random operations they, on average, a thousand times faster than HDD, if you look at the number of IOPS, and ten times faster, if you look at the resulting speed in Mb/sec.

Here, for example, are the test results for casual reading five-year HDD Seagate Barracuda 7200.12:

And five years old Intel SSD 320:

As you can see, the SSD spends almost 160 times less time on random searches, which is due to the absence of mechanical parts. And this is an SSD from 2012, and modern samples are much more productive. While HDDs have not become much faster in this regard over the same time.

Secondly, this is the absence of noise and (with some reservations) heating. Inside the hard drive, pancakes are constantly spinning, on which data is stored, and the head also moves, emitting a characteristic crackling or crunching sound. SSD is completely electronic device, and therefore makes absolutely no sounds. The same applies to heating in the general case - solid state drives consume energy and heat up less than hard drives. Exception - top NVMe SSD, which are inserted into PCI slots Express.

Thirdly, SSDs are very resistant to mechanical stress such as shocks, shocks and falls, unlike hard drives. This is why solid-state drives are so valued by lovers of reliable laptops - the HDD has always been the weakest link, quickly failing due to constant vibrations, knocks and position changes. With the advent of SSDs, laptops have become truly mobile devices.

Fourthly, this is the predictability of the resource. SSDs have a standard indicator such as the resource or degree of wear of flash memory, which can be viewed at any time. Given that good controller this gives a fairly accurate time frame for the drive to fail. For example, here's what SMART writes about the same five-year-old SSD:

This means that the drive resource is 92%, i.e. Flash memory is worn out by 8%. In the case of a hard drive, there are no such indicators and cannot be due to its mechanical design. An HDD can fail with almost equal probability in a week, six months or 5 years.

About SSD resource There is a myth that hard drives are much more reliable than solid-state drives - the supposedly small number of rewrites of memory cells leads to SSDs breaking almost every few months. Of course this is not true. Even TLC memory, despite seemingly terrible low number rewrites, is more than reliable at home, and can last up to 10 years.

One popular portal, the results of which eloquently indicate that the reliability of most solid state devices is several times greater than the resource declared by the manufacturer. In short, there is no need to worry about the durability of a solid-state drive. But for this you need to choose a more or less high-quality SSD, because here you can get a drive with a weak controller that will quickly break.

Criteria by which we will select the leaders of 2018

The price range here is as wide as the variety of models - you can buy an SSD for either 2,000 rubles or 500,000 rubles. The main difference between them is capacity and speed. Unfortunately, SSDs are still much more expensive than hard drives per unit of volume. Therefore, you have to look for a compromise - as a rule, you buy a computer SSD capacity 120-250 GB for the system and programs, and HDD size 2-4 TB for everything else.

In general, now there is no point in buying SSDs with a capacity of less than 120 GB - the cheapest SSDs measuring 32-64 GB are only 600-800 rubles cheaper than budget 120 GB ones, and the difference in performance and reliability is very noticeable. After all, SSDs are designed in such a way that the larger the volume, the faster and more durable they are. But it is worth noting that this dependence is nonlinear - somewhere around 500 GB, the increase in speed and reliability becomes very gentle. That is, the difference between the performance of the 120 GB and 500 GB models is much stronger than between the 500 GB and 2 TB models.

Budget SSD models

Budget solid-state drives include models costing up to 3,500-4,000 rubles with TLC memory of a “hit” capacity of 120-128 GB, which are connected to a regular SATA port, like hard drives. This size is quite enough for an operating system, a set of applications, and even a few not too many big games. Work files, music, movies, of course, will have to be stored on larger drives - the same HDDs.

Already in this class of drives you can count on 350-550 MB/sec of sequential reading and writing, which is practically the ceiling for the SATA bus. Budgeting manifests itself in random and mixed loads - as a rule, such models are very leisurely in comparison with more expensive models. Although, of course, even this is much better than the fastest hard drives.

It is useful to install such SSDs on old or cheap computers that usually have a hard drive. This gives a significant increase in speed and responsiveness, thanks to which even weak or outdated hardware can be used quite comfortably for several more years. But for modern, powerful configurations, it is better to buy more expensive SSDs so that they are in harmony with the rest of the components.

Good representatives of the class (especially reliable models are highlighted in bold):

GOODRAM CX300
Kingston A400
Kingston SSDNow UV400
Smartbuy Ignition PLUS
Smartbuy Revival 2
Smartbuy Splash 2
Transcend SSD370
Western Digital Green

Mid-range SSD

This price range is from 4,000 to 8,500 rubles, which includes drives with a capacity of up to 480 GB, using both TLC and MLC memory. But what’s most interesting is that NVMe solid-state drives are already appearing here, which are inserted into the M.2 slot and produce 2-3 Gb/sec sequential reading and 1-2 Gb/sec write. That is, for quite reasonable money you can achieve the highest performance in disk operations, which is suitable for powerful desktops and workstations.

These NVMe SSDs include:

A-DATA XPG SX7000
Apacer Z280
OCZ RD400
Patriot Scorch
Plextor M9PeGN
SmartBuy M7
Transcend MTE850
Western Digital Black

The downside of such affordability is unstable speed under mixed and random loads, as well as a relatively short resource. However, for several years of normal desktop loads, these SSDs are quite suitable.

As for the usual SATA devices, here you can already count on consistently high speeds (up to 580 Mb/sec) and greater durability. Solid state devices based on 3D TLC memory, such as Samsung EVO, deserve special attention.

Mid-segment SSDs are great for office computers, gaming machines and high-performance workstations. If you choose a roomy 480 GB model, then the need for a separate HDD may completely disappear - this volume is more than enough for a work desktop or laptop.

ADATA Ultimate SU900
GOODRAM Iridium Pro
Intel 545s
Kingston HyperX Savage
OCZ TR200
Samsung 850/860 EVO
Samsung 850 PRO
Western Digital Blue

Top SSDs

At a price of up to 21,000-22,000 rubles, you can buy a SATA SSD with a capacity of up to 1 TB, or 500-512 GB in NVMe version, providing speeds of several GB/sec and high reliability of data storage. That is, here you can choose - capacity comparable to HDD and standard 550 MB/sec, or 2 times smaller size combined with outstanding performance. At the same time, NVMe solid state devices can use both M.2 connectors and PCI Express slots, like video cards.

It is clear that SATA drives with a capacity of 960 GB or 1 TB can already completely replace a traditional hard drive, while providing tens or even hundreds of times higher performance. However, SATA bandwidth is not enough to handle very heavy content. When working with high-definition photos or videos, it will be useful to purchase an NVMe drive. Moreover, professional solutions like Samsung PRO with corresponding properties are available for such a price.

Good representatives of the class (especially reliable models are highlighted in bold), in addition to the models from the previous paragraph:

Intel 600p
Kingston HyperX Predator
Kingston KC400
Plextor M9Pe
Samsung 860/960 PRO

Premium segment

This includes all solid-state drives with a price above 22,000 rubles. These are SSDs for professional and corporate purposes, the volume of which starts from 960 GB/1 TB, and up to tens of terabytes. Many of them are designed in the form of a board that is inserted into a PCI Express x4 or x8 slot and has a massive cooling radiator. This is not just a decoration that should convince the buyer of the seriousness of the device. Such SSDs with read speeds of up to 6 GB/sec (Hitachi/HGST models) get very hot, and can even reach throttling due to overheating.

Of course, in this segment there are also quite traditional SATA drives of large capacity and reasonable cost, and solid state drives for M.2 with sufficient high speeds. But I would like to focus on something very special: Intel Optane drives with innovative 3D XPoint memory.

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, 3D XPoint is a completely different type of memory that uses phase transitions of matter, and has nothing to do with the usual SLC/MLC/TLC. The solid state based on it, Intel Optane 900P, is also made in the form of a PCI Express card. At first glance, its characteristics are no different from other NVMe drives - the same 2-2.5 GB/sec read and write. The power of 3D XPoint is manifested in 2 factors: a colossal resource - 5-8 peta write bytes (5-8 thousand TB), and, compared to any other SSD.

Intel Optane can rightfully be called the SSD of the future or truly full-fledged SSDs that are free of the last vestiges typical problem hard drives - severe performance drawdowns during random and mixed operations.

Good representatives of the class (especially reliable models are highlighted in bold), in addition to the models from the previous paragraph:

Corsair Neutron
Intel Optane 900P
Intel Pxxxx and Sxxxx series
Micron xxxx Pro
Seagate Nitro
Transcend JetDrive

Choosing an SSD: final points

Even budget SSDs are fast and reliable enough for home use.
Relatively inexpensively you can take NVMe models and get several Gb/sec speeds.
To work with heavy content, it makes sense to buy a professional-grade NVMe SSD.
If you need an almost eternal drive with enormous performance, then Intel Optane.
For 25-40 thousand rubles, you can get an SSD with a capacity of several TB and completely forget about hard drives.

Also on the site:

The best SSDs of late 2018 - early 2019 updated: March 1, 2019 by: alex ferman

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 make the right choice of such an information 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 will also be stored on it, modern games 40-50 GB each. 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. Optimal choice here disks of 240-256 GB in size can become.

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 better read speed results.

Form factor, interface

Most common SSD form factor- this 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 PCI-Express buses. 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 your 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 that of a SATA controller.

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 high level speed and reliability, therefore 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, however, 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. They generally show good results, however, drives based on them have a relatively low resource and are presented mainly in budget segment 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 available disk in this category. At the moment it is produced 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 have considered the criteria SSD selection for a laptop, we 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.