SSD disks: the new frontier to store your data

[kaomao]

yes the technology is not new (first made back in 1978) but now the prices will drop down so everyone could buy a solid state disk!
Before it was used by military forces and big companies.
A solid state disk:
- It's Quite
- It's Faster than hell
- It has improved life span
- It has NO fucking fragmented data

Prices now are insane (600$ for 64 Gb) but in the coming months this will revolutionize the world of personal computers.
And I think I'll buy one just for audio recording!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

 

[Baron of Norsworthy]

yes the technology is not new (first made back in 1978) but now the prices will drop down so everyone could buy a solid state disk!
Before it was used by military forces and big companies.
A solid state disk:
- It's Quite
- It's Faster than hell
- It has improved life span
- It has NO fucking fragmented data

Prices now are insane (600$ for 64 Gb) but in the coming months this will revolutionize the world of personal computers.
And I think I'll buy one just for audio recording!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

It will be great especially with the reduced hardrive access times, I could do with 2 of them now.

 

[kev]

yeo, they're on their way

 

[Kadmium]

No fragmented data? I find that highly dubious. Fragmentation is an artifact of the filesystem, not a limitation on magnetic disks.

 

[ElektricEyez]

The cool thing about them is that everything on today's PC's are extremely fast - except the hard drives. Once Solid State prices drop, this will greatly increase your PC's speed, because as it stands everything bottlenecks at the hard drive. Which should also help with recording.

 

[Torniojaws]

The problem with flash memory is that they have an *extremely* limited amount of data overwrites. The sectors can only be rewritten 100 000 to 1 000 000 times, which may sound like a lot but when you think about how many times a sector is written daily, especially in audio recording, the fact is that the drive will be unusable very quickly. Perhaps at worst in 1 - 2 years, compared to the decades that mechanical hard drives will work.

 

[Metaltastic]

The problem with flash memory is that they have an *extremely* limited amount of data overwrites. The sectors can only be rewritten 100 000 to 1 000 000 times, which may sound like a lot but when you think about how many times a sector is written daily, especially in audio recording, the fact is that the drive will be unusable very quickly. Perhaps at worst in 1 - 2 years, compared to the decades that mechanical hard drives will work.

Really? So my flash drive has a limited lifespan? What happens when it craps, how will the problems manifest themselves? Furthermore, isn't RAM considered flash memory? There doesn't seem to be much problem with that, or with the temporary caches in ipods, video game consoles, etc.?

 

[grywolf627]

The problem with flash memory is that they have an *extremely* limited amount of data overwrites. The sectors can only be rewritten 100 000 to 1 000 000 times, which may sound like a lot but when you think about how many times a sector is written daily, especially in audio recording, the fact is that the drive will be unusable very quickly. Perhaps at worst in 1 - 2 years, compared to the decades that mechanical hard drives will work.

You hit the nail exactly on the head. I work for a major computer company which shall remain nameless, testing software and the OS image on the thinclients that we make, which use flash roms as the "hard drive". You'd be amazed at how fast things things wear out with constant writing/re-writing of data. And data DOES get corrupt easily on these things. Not a cost effective solution for audio recording...at least...at this point in time.

 

[006]

I dunno man, SSD technology has come a long way in 30 years so I would assume they have it straightened out by now with the life expectancy. I've had my Gen2 iPod since they first came out, and never had a problem with it, I gave it to a friend when I got an iPod Video last year and he still uses it every day no problems. But then again, iPods aren't the best example because how often does somebody really write/re-write to it? I would say in the years that I have had the Gen2 I updated it maybe 50 times - if even that many times. So if SSDs really can only be written/re-written 100,000-1,000,000 times then that iPod is far from crapping out. But the good argument is about using it for recording, where you absolutely will be writing to it constantly when it's in use. 100,000-1,000,000 definitely sounds like a lot, but you are right, when you are recording that amount of actions can accumulate pretty fast, especially if you are always working on something. I think if a SSD was developed specifically for audio/recording use and had a better life expectancy then they would be superior to magnetic drives. But until then I think I will stick with my Glyph.

~006

 

[kaomao]

Actually the new ssd will not have a so limited lifespan, we have to wait maybe a year and their lifespan will be equal to the regular disks.