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COMPUTER HARD DISK drives have come a long way since their first incarnation – a 1,5m cube invented by IBM in 1956 with a capacity of around 4.4MB. Now hard drives are a small fraction of that physical size and hold many thousands of times the capacity. But they still use the same fundamental storage mechanism: a spinning platter with a magnetic head that reads data.
The problem with hard disk drives (HDDs) is the moving parts are sensitive – especially to bumps and other sudden movements. They’re also susceptible to dust and give static electric shocks, among other things. Most computer users will either have experienced an HDD failure or know of someone who has.
Now a next generation of storage devices is making its way to the mainstream in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs). The new drives essentially store information on flash memory, or chips, in the same way your camera’s memory card or USB flash drives do. There are no moving parts and they’re less sensitive to bumps, shocks, particles and other data loss risks. But they’ve been denied wide use because they’ve been very, very expensive – until now.
The technology became viable as a replacement for hard disks a couple of years ago but has had to scale for the mass market. They’re still expensive compared with their HDD relatives – but are now worth it. Another past limitation has also been overcome: initial SSDs could only be written to a small finite number of times but now easily outlast conventional drives in that regard.
Not only do the SSD units I’ve tested from Kingston take knocks better than hard drives, they also consume less power. In my 13” MacBook Pro I’ve noticed an improvement of between 40 minutes and an hour in battery life – something I’m willing to pay for alone.
But it gets better. The access time for SSD is faster than HDD. My computer boots in a few seconds and opening applications is many times faster than it used to be. Waking the computer from sleep also happens very quickly. So not only is the drive more robust and will make its way into my next computer – and probably the one after it too – it’s also a significant speed and battery upgrade.
The Kingston SSDNow+100 drives come in a kit that makes it easy to install the new drive and transfer data from your old one. The kit even includes an external drive enclosure for your old drive that turns it into a USB drive and allows you to easily access it to transfer data. The drives are a 2,5” form factor, compatible with most laptops, but the kit includes mounting brackets that also allow them to be installed in desktop computers.
It’s an elegant solution and delivers on all its promises. But it’s still very expensive. Practical users will probably want to wait another year for prices to come down. However, if you, like me, don’t want to wait, then switching to SSD is about the coolest thing you can do for your computer. But you’ll have to contend with less storage space – unless you want to break the bank for a 512GB version at a whopping R15 000. The 128GB looks more reasonable at R3 000.
Review
VERDICT: The ultimate upgrade for your computer.
COMPLEXITY: Easy to install on most computers, but expert help is advised.
PRICE: R1 725 to R15 000, depending on capacity.
ALSO CONSIDER: Samsung Hybrid Hard Drive.
VALUE RATING: 8/10
The problem with hard disk drives (HDDs) is the moving parts are sensitive – especially to bumps and other sudden movements. They’re also susceptible to dust and give static electric shocks, among other things. Most computer users will either have experienced an HDD failure or know of someone who has.
Now a next generation of storage devices is making its way to the mainstream in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs). The new drives essentially store information on flash memory, or chips, in the same way your camera’s memory card or USB flash drives do. There are no moving parts and they’re less sensitive to bumps, shocks, particles and other data loss risks. But they’ve been denied wide use because they’ve been very, very expensive – until now.
The technology became viable as a replacement for hard disks a couple of years ago but has had to scale for the mass market. They’re still expensive compared with their HDD relatives – but are now worth it. Another past limitation has also been overcome: initial SSDs could only be written to a small finite number of times but now easily outlast conventional drives in that regard.
Not only do the SSD units I’ve tested from Kingston take knocks better than hard drives, they also consume less power. In my 13” MacBook Pro I’ve noticed an improvement of between 40 minutes and an hour in battery life – something I’m willing to pay for alone.
But it gets better. The access time for SSD is faster than HDD. My computer boots in a few seconds and opening applications is many times faster than it used to be. Waking the computer from sleep also happens very quickly. So not only is the drive more robust and will make its way into my next computer – and probably the one after it too – it’s also a significant speed and battery upgrade.
The Kingston SSDNow+100 drives come in a kit that makes it easy to install the new drive and transfer data from your old one. The kit even includes an external drive enclosure for your old drive that turns it into a USB drive and allows you to easily access it to transfer data. The drives are a 2,5” form factor, compatible with most laptops, but the kit includes mounting brackets that also allow them to be installed in desktop computers.
It’s an elegant solution and delivers on all its promises. But it’s still very expensive. Practical users will probably want to wait another year for prices to come down. However, if you, like me, don’t want to wait, then switching to SSD is about the coolest thing you can do for your computer. But you’ll have to contend with less storage space – unless you want to break the bank for a 512GB version at a whopping R15 000. The 128GB looks more reasonable at R3 000.
Review
VERDICT: The ultimate upgrade for your computer.
COMPLEXITY: Easy to install on most computers, but expert help is advised.
PRICE: R1 725 to R15 000, depending on capacity.
ALSO CONSIDER: Samsung Hybrid Hard Drive.
VALUE RATING: 8/10
