256 GB SSD: Faster than HDD

256 GB SSD

If you want to buy a laptop or computer-based on 256 GB SSD, then you are in the right place. Here we discuss SSDs. What are they and how they are manufactured? There are many SSDs available in the market but in this article we will discuss 256 GB SSD in detail. Also, if you are confused about HDD and SSD, you can get a solution to your problem in this article.

Introduction to SSDs

SSDs are introduced by SanDisk in 1991, i.e. 29 years ago from now. In 1978, a semiconductor data storing device fitted with a hard drive interface was introduced as StorageTek STC 4305. The charged-coupled devices (CCDs) were seen seven-time quicker than IBM’s product in terms of storage and even at almost the half price of it, i.e. $400k for 45MB capacity.

read also: Analysis of 4 TB SSD

What are flash-based SSDs?

A device where the persistent data stored in non-volatile memory, is known as Flash SSD. Fujio Masuoka founded and innovated flash-based SSDs at Toshiba in 1980. It was commercialized and launched in 1987 by Toshiba. In 1989, founders of SanDisk, Eli Harari, and Sanjay Mehrotra collaborated with Robert D. Norman to file a patent for a flash-based SSD after experiencing potential in the product as an objective of hard disks. SanDisk Corporation introduced 2.5 And 3.5 form factors with PATA interfaces in 1998.

How are SSDs constructed and functioned?

The controller and memory are the main components of SSDs. DRAM volatile memory was the primary memory component in an SSD.

What is the controller?

A controller is used to incorporate the electronic medium between the NAND memory parts and the host. It is an embedded processor that functions the performance of SSD and executes firmware-level codes. Go through the list of functions worked by the controller:

• Bad block mapping
• Read and write caching
• Encryption
• Crypto-shredding
• Error detection and correction
• Garbage collection and more

The performance of SSDs depends on the number of NAND flash chips. Owing to the narrow asynchronous, I/O interface, i.e. 8/16 bit and extra high latency of basic actions, a single NAND chip gets slow. By adding data striping and interleaving in the architecture of an SSD, Intel and Micron made them more efficient and faster.

After that, in 2009, SSDs were being made quicker effectiveness of 250 MB/s read/write speed along with the SATA 3 interface. Later on, after 2 years, Sand Force introduced a SATA 6 interface with 500 MB/s having realized about parallel flash connectivity and consumer-grade. For less writing and higher logical throughput, Sand Force controllers compress the data.

What do we mean by SSD?

A Solid-state drive (SSD) is a storage device which stores data by uniting the Integrated Circuit. It is a hardware that uses flash memory and works as secondary storage. The SSDs are more resistive compared to electromechanical storage disks in terms of physical shock, running silently, and quick access time. Semiconductor cells contain 1 & 4 bits of data as SSDs store data in it.

Types of cells

There are 4 types of cells. They are as follows: –

1. Single level cells (SLC) – most reliable, high priced, quick, and durable. Single bit cells are constructed with the help of floating-rate MOSFET transistors, where the data of Flash memory is stored. It saves less data than any other memory. SLC can handle up to 50k-100k program/erase cycles.
2. Multi-level cells (MLC) – cheap, high data density, memory-readable software. The Bose-Chaudhari-Hocquenghem (BCH code) is an algorithm used to correct multiple bit errors by necessitating an error-correcting code, i.e. ECC at higher error rates. To resolve glitches, read speeds of MLC are lower because of reading the same data at a second threshold voltage. They can correct 1k-10k programs/erase cycles.
3. Triple level cells (TLC) – It is a kind of NAND flash memory. Toshiba introduces it in 2009, which stores three bits of information per cell. It is capable of handling 128GB of memory. After expansion and updates, no it has the capacity of handling data up to 512GB.
4. Quad-level cell (QLC) – Four bits cells are constructed for saving memory by following the convention set by TLC. It is capable of storing 768GB. Also, Samsung, ADATA, Intel launched QLC NAND memory in 2018.

Storage Space

Nowadays, laptops that are comprised of SSD, usually come with two options that are 128 GB or 256 GB storage space. You may consider that this internal storage is enough for a regular user. You can store many trending mini-games as well some of the media files including songs, photos as well as videos. But note that if you store some of the giant games that you should take the help of external hard drive.

Also, for this purpose, you can use cloud storage. Some of the big gaming laptop manufacturers give a proper system to hold this situation. They provide a combination of fast SSD as well a big memory hard drive. In today’s world, you can tackle a less storage situation, but you must need a powerful and fast reading writing function.

If you are eligible to afford then, you can easily buy a 256 GB SSD rather than 128 GB SSD.

Best 256 GB SSD options available in market

Here are some of the best SSDs available in the market. Also, specifications are included in this section. You can choose any SSD you want. For buying these SSDs, links are also given below.

Don’t miss: 1TB SSD & 2TB SSD

Transcend 230S 256 GB 2.5-inch Internal SSD

Specification Table:

Form Factor	2.5 inch
Thickness	7 mm
Interface	SATA III 6 GB/s
Storage Capacity	Up to 1 TB
Read Speed	560 MB/s
Write Speed	520 MB/s
Flash Memory	3D NAND
Cache	DDR3 DRAM
Technology	RAID engine
Technology	LDPC coding
Technology	Built-in SLC caching
Support	DevSleep ultra-low power mode state
Support	S.M.A.R.T command
Support	TRIM command
Support	NCQ command
Exclusive	SSD Scope Software
Grab this deal here	click now

ADATA Ultimate SU800 256 GB Internal SSD

Specification Table:

Interface	Ultimate SU800
Storage Capacity	128 GB to 2 TB
Read Speed	560 MB/s
Write Speed	520 MB/s
Flash Memory	3D NAND
Cache	SLC
RAM	DRAM
Technology	TBW
Support	OS Boot Drive
Support	Mass storage drive
Support	DRAM cache Buffer
Grab this deal here	click now

XPG GAMMIX 256 GB PCle M.2 2280 Gaming SSD

Specification Table:

Form Factor	M.2 2280
Storage Capacity	256 GB/512 GB/1 TB/2 TB
Read Speed	3500 MB/s
Write Speed	3000 MB/s
Flash Memory	3D NAND
Cache	SLC
Support	RBG
Get this deal here	click now

SSD (Solid State Drive) vs HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

If you are buying a computer, you must get confused about storage options available. In that process of thinking, you must be confused about whether to buy SSD or HDD. Here is the solution to this problem. So, keep in mind that if you are buying an HDD based laptop or computer. Then at that same price, you can get an SSD based laptop or computer too.

But there will be definitely a difference between internal storage. So, many of you will want to buy a 1 TB HDD based laptop instead of a 256 GB SSD. But do you think that is a good option? So, their answer is NO. It is not a wise decision. If you do then in simple words, you are buying an average performance machine rather than a better or outstanding performance machine.

So, many of you think that the option of buying a better storage laptop is a wise decision. Let’s discuss the reason for that. So first let’s know what SSD and HHD are. And then the difference between them.

HHD

• A hard drive is a mechanical drive consisting of many moving parts.
• The two main parts are platter and head. 
• The platter is a disk and head is a moving part.
• Head moves on the surface of the platter, and from there it reads/writes the data.

SSD

• SSD is a flash drive. SSDs are made up of semiconductors.
• SSD does not contain any moving parts.
• SSD is totally in solid-state form.

Comparison between SSD and HDD

Specification	SSD	HDD
Speed	Fast	Slow (due to moving parts)
Average Life	20 years	7 years
Nature	Silent	Vibrating
Temperature Handling	70 °C	55°C
Cost	Expensive	Cheap
Storage Capacity (at the same cost)	low	high

Now a question arises that what to buy? Whether I buy an SSD base machine or HDD based machine? You can take this decision with some simple steps. First of all, be clear that for what reason you are buying the laptop or computer. If you are a student and you want a laptop or computer form some basic operations like study projects, programming, normal gaming, multimedia, and web browsing.

For these basic purposes, you can buy an HDD based laptop or computer. For these purposes, you don’t need any fast performance. Adding to that, because of ample storage, you can store study projects, offline books as well as media collections in large quantities. But if you are an advanced user that is you perform some heavy tasks.

Like you do graphic designing, video editing, heavy programming, high-end gaming, and multitasking, and then you can prefer an SSD storage device. The reason for this is that for loading these tasks, you need high processing. For fast processing, you need an excellent processor and memory with fast data transfer.

To tackle the problem of storage, you can store your data in an external hard drive.

Conclusion

In this article, we discuss SSDs. First, we discuss what Flash-based SSDs, their construction, and manufacturing are. Then we discuss some of the terms that we use in the SSD market. After that, we came to 256 GB SSDs and the options available in the market as well as their specifications. At last, we compared SSD and HDD and concluded.