There can be no questioning that SSD is the future of data storage – not only is it attractive because of the near instant latency, dramatic improvements in read and write speeds and enhanced reliability, but the capacity potential of SDD massively outstrips its older spinning disk cousin. 4TB drives have just been announced and 6TB drives are literally round the corner. Most of the main manufacturers are planning 8TB and even 16TB drives, smashing the 4-6TB limit conventional drives have been restricted to.
Where does it leave the future of the spinning disk?
The only real advantage at the moment is cost, as SSD has typically carried a premium, but even that is rapidly being eaten away as SSD becomes much more of a commodity item. The price gap between the two is narrowing all the time however, and is not far off being on a par. If you put SSD and conventional disk toe-to-toe now, you’ll be able to compare something of almost identical capacity but with only a small increment in cost for the SSD alternative. For example a 480GB drive is now only £100 more expensive as an SDD, versus a traditional HDD. Perhaps a small price to pay for the dramatic performance advantages achieved as a result?
If you’ve not considered SSD before, talk to us about including it in one of our units, as every one of our products can accommodate this HDD alternative.
