SSD
For Indian residents:- Best Choice 1, My Preferred Choice(2.5 inch SATA Internal), Best Choice 2, Best Choice 3, My Preferred Choice(M.2 SATA Internal), Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, My Preferred Choice(External), Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, My Preferred Choice(M.2 NVMe Internal) Best Choice 8 and Best Choice 9
RAM
For Indian residents:- Best Choice 1, My Preferred Choice(Laptop), Best Choice 2, Best Choice 3, My Preferred Choice(Desktop), Best Choice 4, Best Choice 5, Best Choice 6, Best Choice 7, Best Choice 8, Best Choice 9, Best Choice 10, Best Choice 11 and Best Choice 12
HARD DISK DRIVE(HDD)
This is an electro-mechanical data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or more rapidly rotating disks, known as platters which are coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving read-write arm, which reads and writes data to the platter surfaces. A typical HDD has two electric motors: a spindle motor that spins the platters and an actuator (motor) that positions the read-write head assembly across the platters.
The platters of modern consumer-grade HDDs rotate at an RPM of 5400 or 7200. Higher the RPM, better will be the read-write speeds and hence, better would be the computer’s overall performance. The read-write speeds of a typical HDD is in the range of 50–170 Mbps, which is significantly lesser than that of SSDs.
Based on their use and the purpose they serve, HDDs are primarily manufactured in two configurations:-
- Internal
- External
Internal HDD:- As the name suggests, this configuration of HDD is installed within the chassis of a desktop or a laptop and primarily functions as boot up drive for the operating system. All the registry files required for successfully running the operating system are mostly stored on an internal HDD. This configuration of HDD sits inside its dedicated slot and is held in place by the means of screws. It is connected to the motherboard by the means of a SATA connector. An HDD that is installed in a desktop has a disk diameter of 3.5 inches, whereas, in a laptop, the diameter of the disk measures 2.5 inches. Depending upon the storage capacity of the HDD, one may save one’s documents, media files, and install one’s required software on this drive, apart from the operating system.
External HDD:- Unlike the Internal HDD that is installed inside the chassis of a computer, an external HDD connects with the computer externally via a USB port. By virtue of its easy connectivity with the computer, an external HDD is highly portable in nature and often functions as a mass data storage device which one can carry along if one is a frequent traveller and requires to make use of the data on the go or if one requires to share data of one computer with another. Another area where an external HDD shines is serving as a backup drive to the internal HDD. If in case data on the internal HDD gets corrupted for some reason, one can restore all of it by the backup made on external HDD.
SOLID STATE DRIVE(SSD)
This is a type of storage device that has no moving parts unlike an HDD which relies on rotating platters and a read-write arm. Instead, an SSD makes use of NAND type flash memory to store data. Instead of a magnetic platter, files are saved on a grid of NAND flash cells. Each grid, also called blocks can store between 256 KB and 4MB of data. When the user requests a file, the controller, also known as processor of an SSD has the exact addresses of the blocks where the specific data is written, and the data is almost instantly made available to the user. There’s no waiting for a read/write head to find the information it needs. SSD access times are thus measured in nanoseconds.
An SSD requires significantly less power to operate as compared to a traditional HDD. This characteristic feature of SSD solves dual purpose in case of laptop users: first, charge on the battery lasts longer, hence an improved battery life is observed. This facet of SSDs is especially a boon for those who travel frequently and have to go for longer duration without plugging the laptop to the power socket and second, since battery life is enhanced, it needs to be recharged less often. This results in less frequent recharges, thereby enhancing shelf life of the battery.
Like HDDs, SSDs are also manufactured in two configurations to serve the varied requirements of users. The configurations are:-
- Internal
- External
Internal SSD:- An internal SSD can be configured as an HDD replacement and can be installed in place of the HDD in the dedicated slot compatible with 2.5 inch drives. In this case, the SSD is connected to the motherboard by the same SATA connector that an HDD is connected to the motherboard with. An M.2 form factor of SATA based SSDs is also a popular choice in the market, apart from the traditional 2.5 inch one. Another iteration of internal SSD is the NVMe protocol based SSD that connects to the motherboard by the means of PCIe interface, which is a high-bandwidth interface. SATA based SSDs have a maximum read-write speed of 560 MBps and 530 MBps respectively which are immensely less than PCIe based NVMe SSDs that have a maximum read-write speed of 3500 MBps. Like an Internal HDD, an internal SSD too is mostly used as the boot up drive for the operating system with all the registry files essential for running the operating system stored on it. Due to significantly faster read-write speeds of SSDs as compared to HDDs, the boot up and application load times are significantly lesser.
External SSD:- This type of SSD appeals to the likes of those who have to work with huge file sizes, up in the range of several gigabytes, and are not comfortable with the relatively slow read-write speeds associated with HDDs. External SSD connects with the computer externally via a USB port. All the facets of external HDDs stated earlier, apply to external SSDs as well, with external SSDs exercising a distinct advantage of superior read-write speeds when compared to that of external HDDs.
RAM is the primary memory of a computer. Whenever the user opens a file or an application, it is fed from the computer’s HDD or SSD, into the RAM. Once the RAM receives data, the CPU accesses the file or runs an application. In case when multiple programs are open at the same time such that the total storage capacity of the RAM is almost entirely utilized, the RAM might not be in a state to hold on to any more programs or data. In such a scenario, when the user opens another file or runs a new application, the RAM, in order to allocate space to load the new data has to perform an additional task of compressing or transferring some of the then relatively non-essential files back to the HDD or SSD, thus slowing down the computer significantly.
This phenomenon is commonly observed in instances when multiple browser tabs are open simultaneously, utilizing a major chunk of the RAM’s total storage capacity. In such a scenario, when one revisits a tab that was opened a while ago, the computer would freeze for a few seconds and the tab would often reload. It is also not uncommon to find some resource intensive applications occasionally crash due to shortage of RAM.
In such scenarios, enhancing the primary memory of the computer by either replacing the existing RAM with a higher storage capacity one or by supplementing the existing RAM by adding another similar or higher storage capacity one in the vacant RAM slot, would enhance the performance of the computer significantly.
COST CUTTING TECHNIQUES
- Poorly soldered connections between circuit elements on the data storage device. Data storage devices make use of billions of transistors, resistors and capacitors to store the user data. These billions of circuit elements require to be soldered in place on a PCB(Printed Circuit Board). The entire process of fabrication needs utmost precision, which requires deploying hundreds of robots and skilled work force. This adds to the overall cost of production. Hence, to reduce manufacturing costs and to increase profits, some manufacturers resort to making use of relatively inexpensive machinery and materials which are usually not as accurate in soldering the connections between the numerous circuit elements, and the soldering technique deployed is often sub-par. As a result of this, solder joints between the circuit elements come apart and the data storage device fails only after a few months of use, and along that, often the entire user data stored on the device is lost. The consumer is thus left duped and requires a new storage device, thereby giving recurring profits to the manufacturer.
- Little to no thermal considerations. High operational temperatures have severe negative repercussions on the shelf life of a data storage device and on the performance of a computer. Thus, to safeguard the device from the influence of intense heat, such circuit elements are to be used that have low electric resistance and high thermal tolerance. However, circuit elements with these characteristics are slightly costly to manufacture and procure. So, to reduce manufacturing costs further, those manufacturers resort to installing low-grade components in the products they manufacture that generate high amounts of heat when power is supplied to them. The heat, apart from impacting the device, dissipates to other components, inside the chassis of the computer, as well, thereby shortening their operable life too.
For an extensive buying guide on Data Storage Devices, head over to our detailed post - https://shoppinaire.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-detailed-guide-to-buying-data-storage.html
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