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Notebook Storage SSDs and HDs Compared

Posted by kdawson on from the now-what-would-you-pay dept.

The Raindog sends us a particularly timely showdown article comparing seven 2.5" mobile hard drives, four of them HDs and three SSDs, across a wide range of application, file-copy, power-consumption, and noise-level tests. Tom's Hardware was recently forced to issue a correction to a claim, which we discussed here, that SSDs aren't actually much more power-thrifty than HDs. The Tech Report's in-depth comparison provides some data points on the question of whether solid-state storage is ready to supplant traditional mechanical hard drives, but notes that the price disparity is still substantial.

27 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. It's not the power efficiency... by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's the lack of moving parts. Try dropping both types repeatedly and see which one stops working first.

    --
    http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
    1. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by MagdJTK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Fair enough, but is this particularly relevant to the market? Sure, it would be nice, but would you rather pay a couple of hundred quid or just look after the computer in the first place?

      The way I see it is that geeks would replace their laptop early enough that the HD will probably last long enough and that casual users won't want the extra expense. I think to be honest, the performance difference is the only real advantage and as soon as the prices come down, I'm getting one!

    2. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Depends on what you're doing. If you have a laptop that just travels between home, the office and maybe a cafe or two, then no. You don't need a solid state hard drive. If, however, you do a lot of traveling with your laptop, you may very well drop it once or twice, especially if you're hurried at an airport or some other such situation. Are SSDs for everyone? No, but for power users who are on the go a lot, they make your data a lot safer.

      --
      http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
    3. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by kesuki · · Score: 4, Interesting

      flash based drives simplify mil spec laptops, though. imagine having to design a laptop with a conventional HDD knowing that it has to survive being thrown into the back of a jeep carelessly, or be able to still work after a soldier pile dived on top of it trying to avoid machine gun fire, or even expected to still work if it had taken a pretty big shock as a result of nearby artillery or grenade blasts.

      they used to have really good shock absorbing cages to protect the drive...

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    4. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by ichigo+2.0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sure, it would be nice, but would you rather pay a couple of hundred quid or just look after the computer in the first place?

      It's not really a matter of looking after the computer in the first place. There is demand for a rugged computer that can be manhandled without it breaking apart. When I come home I want to toss my computer on my desk like I do with my keys and wallet. After I've surfed a while I want to toss my computer on the coffee table like I do with magazines. The whole "holy laptop" approach where you have to carry it around on a silk cushion and press the keys one at a time so as not to hurt its feelings is the reason I've never bothered buying one.

    5. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by ozamosi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was babysitting my mother's new puppy a few months back.

      I was happily IRC:ing away from the couch, when I heard the puppy standing by the door.

      For those of you that don't know, the thing about puppies is that they do prefer to pee outside, but their bladder system isn't really that good, so when they decide they want to go out, you only have a few seconds to avoid an accident.

      So, I quickly put my laptop on the table, throw my headset away, and start to quickly move towards the door. Unfortunately, I didn't really put the computer down very good - half of it was hanging outside the table. As I tried to move past it, my knee touched it, and that was enough to throw the computer of the table, letting it fall for 4-5 decimeters before it hit the floor. It gave up a faint "peeep!" before it died.

      My hard drive only kindof worked after that - booting was fine, but there were lots of broken clusters that sent the computer into a (seemingly) infinite loop, forcing the computer to use all CPU resources waiting for the hard drive, in effect freezing it. Slowly but surely, more and more clusters broke down, more and more files got damaged, until I finally bought a new drive. Trust me - at that point, I really, really wanted to buy a SSD.

      Oh well, at least the puppy got out in time...

    6. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by pthisis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For me the selling points is noise. Most of the time whatever machines I'm near are plugged in, but having a nearly silent media pc in the living room, having a silent instant-on music player in the bedroom, and having a whir-less office would increase my happiness for many hours out of the day.

      Power savings would be pretty nice, too, but much less often.

      --
      rage, rage against the dying of the light
    7. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by nko321 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I have kids and it isn't an option for me to simply stop using the laptop when the two year olds are around. I need zilch for storage capacity and love longevity. $200 more for a notebook that lasts a year longer, speculatively speaking? Sign me up!

    8. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by keytoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When I come home I want to toss my computer on my desk like I do with my keys and wallet. After I've surfed a while I want to toss my computer on the coffee table like I do with magazines. The whole "holy laptop" approach where you have to carry it around on a silk cushion and press the keys one at a time so as not to hurt its feelings is the reason I've never bothered buying one.

      You know, there are degrees of ruggedness between carrying it on a pillow and beating the shit out of it. I've had a laptop at my side pretty much constantly for upwards of 10 years now. At no time have I ever treated it as anything other than a tool. I don't baby my tools. I don't coo to it wistfully at the end of the day. I don't 'press the keys one at a time'. I also don't fling it across the house - but I don't do that to my socket wrenches either.

      In all those 10 years of laptop lugging, I have never required any repairs or replacement due to mishaps. If you truly haven't bought a laptop because you picture them as fragile, I highly recommend you pick one up and give it a try. There is something to be said for carrying around a fully functional workstation wherever you go. Just remember that there is a continuum between 'holy laptop' and 'throw it across the room' - it's not a quantum step.

      --

      Culture is more than commerce

    9. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by Millenniumman · · Score: 3, Informative

      HDDs are really not the main thing to worry about when a laptop is dropped or damaged. Screens are much more expensive than HDs, and much harder to replace. Now, data on HDDs is another story, potentially very valuable or important and impossible to replace, but it can be backed up.

      Also, for the same price as a single SSD you could buy literally dozens of HDDs with more than double the storage as the SSD, so in terms of price, even if you pretend SSDs are super reliable and don't even need backup they are still more expensive than dealing with the unreliability of HDs. Obviously, it is much more convient when your hardware doesn't fail, even if it can be replaced fairly easily and cheaply, with minimal data loss, but HDDs are only one compontent of several that can be damaged and make your computer unusable, and with their incredibly limited storage SSDs are much more inconvient. You won't lose your data even if the thing is destroyed, because it won't fit on there in the first place.

      Obviously, SSDs have some places where they excel, but at current prices and storage levels they are way over-hyped and over-used. The eee is an especially glaring example of this, putting a ridiculously high end component into a low end machine, forcing a incredibly low amount of storage.

      --
      Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
    10. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've never had to repair anything due to mishaps, and I treat my laptop with reasonable care. However, I have had to replace two laptop hard drives on three occasions due to drive failures in the last ten years. Actually, make that two in the past five years, and none prior to that. One was an acoustic failure (loud, whining drive, but worked perfectly for the better part of a year in that state before I bothered to get it replaced). The other one... I put the machine to sleep, woke it up a minute later, and the drive wouldn't spin up, making a click-of-death "can't find track zero" noise. My suspicion is that it was a failure of the head due to abrasion as it drags across the ramp when parking.

      Mechanical failures don't just happen to people who abuse their machines. Yes, they happen much more frequently to people who treat their machines like excrement, but they also happen randomly for no apparent reason... usually due to flaws in the mechanical design. Some drives have bad ramps that put too much stress on the heads when they park. Some drives have bearings that eventually start to leak oil all over the disk surface. And so on. I'd be much happier if I never had to deal with a Winchester drive again... particularly in laptops.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    11. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by Nightspirit · · Score: 5, Funny

      I dropped my fujitsu laptop multiple times this year and it styiklkl worklsd fklaweklersdsdklerty

    12. Re:It's not the power efficiency... by AioKits · · Score: 3, Informative

      Out of curiosity, have you ever seen actual 'ruggedized' military equipment?

      Take a peek at these: http://www.amrel.com/federal_military_computer/rocky_patriot_rugged_notebook.html

      This isn't even going into the fire systems equipment that is ruggedized.

      --
      "Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
  2. How about a link? by digitac · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think someone forgot a critical link... try this for the Tech Report article:

    http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079

    1. Re:How about a link? by The+Ancients · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think someone forgot a critical link...

      I think someone forgot they're on /.

      --
      The Mothership
    2. Re:How about a link? by MBCook · · Score: 5, Informative

      How about the link to the just published (today) update on Tom's that not only has useful methodologies, but shows a new OCZ drive that wipes the floor with the rest of the drives in both power draw and performance?

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  3. What about recovery? by allaunjsilverfox2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've read that the algorithms used in SSD's are usually proprietary. The problem with SSD's is that they DIDN'T fix the wear leveling problem. It exists, just a lot slower now due to the algorithms referenced above. If my drive dies, I'll have to find a service that can recover my files, but they will have to be certified in samsung, seagate, white label, etc. I really feel uncomfortable with that idea.

    --
    Restore the madness of youth's lechery
    1. Re:What about recovery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've read that the algorithms used in SSD's are usually proprietary. The problem with SSD's is that they DIDN'T fix the wear leveling problem. It exists, just a lot slower now due to the algorithms referenced above. If my drive dies, I'll have to find a service that can recover my files, but they will have to be certified in samsung, seagate, white label, etc. I really feel uncomfortable with that idea.

      You could just backup your files...

    2. Re:What about recovery? by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 4, Informative

      TFA says for a 60G disk, with 50G written daily, the drive will last for 33 years in respect to wear.

      --
      It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
      Be yourself no matter what they say
    3. Re:What about recovery? by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The larger the drive, the more space to spread the wear.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  4. Practical observations by carp3_noct3m · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Boils down to a couple of things: Reliability = Good, Speed = Good, Space = Fair , Cost = Why can't I pirate this! Damn, but that would be "stealing". When the cost goes down and the size comes up a bit, Ill be ready to buy one.

    --
    "It's ok, I'm completely secure as long as my iron is off"
    1. Re:Practical observations by carp3_noct3m · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, I have a funny story. For Marines in Iraq movies get passed around on HD's alot. Me and some buddies had a 320g external hd at the time. Well, one day theyre watching Lost and we get attacked, I jump down and kick the cord. We all watched in Tivo slomo while the poor thing went all the 3 feet from desk to floor. It even had the entire album of some of my fancy themselves rappers friends. They blamed me, I blamed them for stringing a 10 foot usb to the laptop (which was hooked to a projector, its funny what you can get in the middle of nowhere when you know the supply officer)and the terrorist blamed the hard-drive. We lost over 200 movies, and SSD just might have stopped the whole thing, and now im ranting, but theres one of my war stories, buy me beer/scotch if you want more/better ones.

      --
      "It's ok, I'm completely secure as long as my iron is off"
    2. Re:Practical observations by MikeUW · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I dropped my laptop once - actually, it kind of cartwheeled up into the air as I pulled it out of my backpack, then crashed on the ground.

      No my hard drive didn't break - but it landed square on the end with the wireless card sticking out of it, and crushed the card. Fortunately the rest of it was fine.

      In fact, I've never had a notebook drive die in any way (though maybe by saying so I've jinxed myself). Lots of desktop drives have died on me though...and I never dropped any of those.

  5. Re:How can a 32gb Thumb Drive by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're missing SLC vs. MLC and high-performance controllers.

  6. All those design points are incongruous by gelfling · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would love an SSD for r/w performance that blows a mechanical drive out of the water.

    I would love an SSD that doesn't use much power.
    I would love an SSD that's shockproof.
    I would love an SSD that runs cool.
    I would love an SSD that's silent.
    I would love an SSD that roughly the same price performance of a mechanical drive.

    The problem is, it can't be all of those things. It can't even be most of those things. So pick the ones you need.

  7. Re:How can a 32gb Thumb Drive by billcopc · · Score: 4, Informative

    The thumb drive will die young if you use it as a hard drive, they're typically only designed for 10-15k write cycles (per cell). They also use MLC cells, which store two bits each - that doubles the capacity, but quadruples the error rate. Errors are usually corrected via parity/ECC, but obviously if you have more errors, you're more likely to exceed the ECC threshold.

    There's also the issue with performance. A thumb drive might get 10-15mb/sec on a good day, 20 if you pay way too much money for a "dual channel" unit. Hard drives are expected to deliver 40mb/sec minimum these days, else your apps will take forever to load.

    If you really want to be a wacko, you could try RAID-0 across a bunch of thumb drives. You'll get the performance back, but good god you're playing with fire.

    --
    -Billco, Fnarg.com
  8. The best thing since the MOUSE by v(*_*)vvvv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    SSDs are the best thing to happen to PCs since the invention of the mouse.

    I have had a MemoRight GT for 3 months now, and my laptop feels amazing. I am disappointed Tom didn't include one in his review.

    Because the seek speed is 40x + than an HDD, data access is blazing fast on even the cheaper SSDs. The hangup is in the slow read/write speeds and problems with random access. MemoRight GT is the first SSD I saw that was faster than HDDs in all of these areas, and hence it not only outperforms I/O wise, you get the full benefit of fast access... And this will make your PC feel 4x faster.

    Everything becomes faster. Web pages load faster. Email arrives faster. Windows moves faster. No more HDD cache writing lag or "what is my HDD doing" moments.

    I don't care that much for battery life, though I am sure some do. As Tom concludes, that is pretty much a spec you just need to look out for, so if you want it, look for a drive that has it.

    What I do love though is the silence. Anyone who has gone through an HDD failure is sensitive to HDD sounds probably more than they know, or would like.

    SSDs make no sound, and there are no strange vibrations.

    I spent close to 2K on the drive, but it was worth every penny. If I buy a new SSD when the 3rd generation drives arrive, my Memoright will still always have a place in one of my notebooks.