{"id":1114,"date":"2017-01-03T10:43:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T10:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appledomination.co.za\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2017-01-03T10:43:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T10:43:20","slug":"is-an-ssd-drive-really-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.appledomination.co.za\/index.php\/2017\/01\/03\/is-an-ssd-drive-really-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Is an SSD Drive really worth it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

**Spoiler alert** YES IT IS!<\/p>\n

It’s 2017. If you haven’t heard of an SSD, then you’re in luck, I will tell you all about it.<\/p>\n

If you have heard, but kinda don’t have a cooking clue what all the fuss is about, then you’re also in luck…i’ll tell you what they do and how they work.<\/p>\n

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What is SSD?<\/h1>\n

Solid State Drives (SSD) appeared on the market a good few years ago, and were regarded as “luxury upgrades”, due to their ridiculously expensive pricing.<\/p>\n

If you think about a current Hard Disk Drive (HDD), which most computers come with still, think about a vinyl player from back in the day. Inside of the HDD, you will find a beautiful silver Platter (the record), an incredibly accurate Actuator Arm (the Record player Arm, that we used to move to play individual tracks on the record), and then the all important Read\/Write Head (the needle).<\/p>\n

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Up until now, or maybe 2010 at least, this technology has suited our needs, and was totally acceptable. However, they had issues.<\/p>\n

For instance, that Arm is moving 1000’s of times per minute\u00a0to read and write your little emails to the hard drive so you can watch Netflix in the back round. This causes immense levels of wear and tear, not to mention, opportunity for mechanical failures (Ever had a hard drive crash on you? There we go).<\/p>\n

So what makes an SSD, well, an SSD?<\/h1>\n

The most important aspect of an SSD, is that there are no moving parts<\/span>. Nothing. Not a single part moves! This is incredible, because if you’ve ever carried a normal hard drive around with you, you know that one little bump, not to mention dropping it, could potentially crash your drive completely and lose all your data in one foul swoop. But because there are no moving parts in an SSD, you can drop-kick it over the street if you want, plug it, and carry on working. Have you ever dropped your favorite flash drive before? Did it corrupt? Exactly. Flash Drives use the same technology as SSD.<\/p>\n

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So because there is no “record” and “arm” and “head” inside, like the HDD, how does it store your data? Without getting too technical, it is stored on Chips. The same way that RAM (computer memory) stores your working data on chips, and is incredibly fast for doing so.<\/p>\n

What are the advantages of using an SSD?<\/h1>\n

I have already mentioned 2 of the advantages, and here are 2 more:<\/p>\n

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  1. Durability<\/li>\n
  2. Speed<\/li>\n
  3. Cost<\/li>\n
  4. Universal Compatibility<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    So how much does it cost then to buy an SSD?<\/h1>\n

    SSDs\u00a0work in slightly different sizes to HDDs. You will find SSD drives in these sizes: 120GB, 240\/250GB, 500GB, 1TB and now even 2TB.<\/p>\n

    In Cape Town, to purchase these drives, you would be looking at the following costs (current January 2017):<\/p>\n