Compare ssd speeds: SSD UserBenchmarks — 1071 Solid State Drives Compared

Best SSDs of 2023 | The Versus ranking

Are you buying a new PC or upgrading an old one? You might want to consider a computer with a solid-state drive instead of an old-school hard disk drive. Solid-state drives (SSDs) are faster, more durable, and more reliable compared to hard disk drives (HDDs).

There are countless options available on the market, and even if you go for the leading SSD manufacturers, like Samsung, Western Digital, or Crucial, you might get confused between their different product lines.

To help you decide, we have compiled a list with the most important specifications you should take into account when choosing an SSD.

SSD vs. HDD

When it comes to data storage, HDDs and SDDs work differently. HDDs store the data on spinning platters, with a needle-like component called head floating above it. Whenever we need to access data, the head moves to the position of the data. In the case of SSD, there are no moving parts. Data is stored in memory blocks. So there is no question of mechanical failures in SSDs. The most significant advantage of SSD over HDD is performance. If you are looking for a way to make your computer operate fast and efficiently, SSDs are the best bet for you.

But there are a few downsides to SSDs as well. Even though over the years, their price has dropped, they are still quite expensive. You have to spend about $100 to get a 250GB SSD, whereas the same price can get you a 4TB HDD.

Performance and speed

When it comes to measuring the performance of an SSD, there are three key aspects to consider: throughput, latency, and IOPS (Input/Output Operations per Second).

Throughput, the actual data transfer rate, is the second parameter to measure the performance of a storage device. How long it takes to BEGIN a data transfer, called latency, is even more important. IOPS indicates how OFTEN the storage device can perform a data transfer. IOPS and latency are integral performance measuring tools for enterprise and data center.

Another crucial parameter is the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), which is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a system during operation. For example, in the case of the Intel 335, the 1.2 million hour MTBF means that if the drive is used at an average of 8 hours a day, a population of 1000 SSDs would be expected to have one failure every 150 days. The MTBF varies from manufacturer to manufacturer but, generally, any device with a value above 1 million is good to go.

Interface and form factors

SATA, mSATA, M.2, and PCIe are the most popular interface options currently available on the market. The form factor depends not only on the type of interface used but also on the physical dimensions of your device.

SATA

At present, the SSD market is dominated by various types of Serial ATA interfaces. With the latest version of SATA, the data exchange rate can go as high as 6Gbps. But not all SSDs are using the latest SATA III interface. The data transfer rates of different versions of SATA interface are presented below:

To get the promised speed, you need to ensure that your computer is SATA III compatible as well. However, even if your computer is not compatible with SATA III, the SSD would still work because all versions of SATA are backward-compatible. However, in such a situation, the data transfer rate is limited.

The form factor of SATA SSDs is pretty much similar to that of HDDs. They usually come with standardized options of 3.5 inches, 2.5 inches, and 1.8 inches. For laptops, the standard form factor is 2.5 inches, and for desktop, it’s 3.5 inches, but you can mount a 2.5 inch SSD on a PC using an adaptor. Smaller form factors are suitable for laptops. When buying an SSD for your laptop, also keep an eye for the thickness. The thickness may vary from 5mm to 9.5mm, but some can be as thick as 12mm, and they might not fit.

mSATA

mSATA or mini-SATA interface is identical to SATA in terms of data transfer rate. The smaller form factor of mSATA SSDs makes them ideal for notebooks and laptops. However, the mSATA interface is getting replaced by the M.2 interface.

PCIe

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express or PCIe SSDs use the PCIe slots on the motherboard and are thus capable of high performance. Theoretically, in the PCIe SSDs, transfer rate results can hover anywhere from 1.5GB/s to 3GB/s. The downside is that these SSDs are very expensive. The form factor of PCIe SSDs varies from 4.3 inches to 12.3 inches.

M.2

M.2 is an interface that can use either SATA specification and restrict the bandwidth up to 600MB/s or can use PCIe that provides bandwidth up to 1 Gbps. There is also the possibility to use multiple PCIe lanes (up to 4 PCIe lanes) to get transfer rates of up to 4 Gbps. They have a light and thin chassis and are suitable for portable devices.

Protocols

With different hardware interface specifications like PCIe, we have been able to boost the data transfer rate. But to get full advantage of the hardware, it is crucial to have efficient software protocols specifically optimized for SSDs.

AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) was the protocol used for the storage devices, but it was more optimized for HDDs. NVMe or Non-Volatile Memory Express protocol was developed for low-latency SSDs, paired with an interface like PCIe. Other protocols, such as SATA Express (by Serial ATA International Organization) and SCSI Express, are also used to boost the performance of SSDs using PCIe interfaces.

Security

To secure data, consumer and enterprise SSDs are using hardware-based encryption. On these SSDs, data is always secured with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Nowadays, most SSDs come with 128-bit, 192-bit, or 256-bit AES to secure the data. But your platform should support AES x-bit self-encryption. The advantage of a self-encrypting drive is that it takes place at the BIOS level.

Storage capacity

Typical storage capacities for solid-state drives range between 64GB and 1TB. The number of NAND chips (memory chips) also affects the performance of the SSD. Usually, the higher the storage, the more NAND chips the SSD has. A higher number of memory chips allows the drive to spread out the read and write operations of the data between the chips, effectively increasing performance, a process similar to how RAID works on a computer with multiple hard drives.

The best bet is to use anything beyond 250GB, as it gives you enough space to keep your operating system, games, and other applications. There is also the possibility of using both an SSD and an HDD. Usually, for systems that use both types of data storage, the SSD is used as the boot drive, which has the operating system (because it’s faster), and the HDD is used to store files.

In the case of HDDs, when the operating system needs extra space, it overwrites the «not in use» memory zone (the memory available after deleting a file) in one single operation. But a solid-state drive has to first erase all data in this «not in use» space before recording the new data. SSDs are only able to delete data in large 512 kB blocks, which slows down the entire overwriting process. However, new SSDs support TRIM. Whenever you delete a file, the operating system sends a TRIM command to mark the unused data blocks, informing the SSD about which blocks of data are no longer in use. That way, the SSD can write data on the marked space, skipping the cumbersome deletion process.

NVMe vs. M.2 vs. SATA SSD: What’s the difference?

Home / Business / Feature

Feature

Knowing the advantages of each can help you save money—or shave time off projects with large files.

By Alaina Yee

Senior Editor, PCWorld Dec 13, 2021 3:30 am PST

Image: Alaina Yee / IDG

Solid-state drives are universally faster than old-school hard-disk drives, but not all SSDs are the same. They come in different shapes and sizes, have different maximum speeds, and as you might guess, cost different prices.

We explain each type of drive in deep detail in “What type of SSD should you buy?” and also highlight specific recommendations in our round-up of the best SSDs, but that information can be harder to apply when trying to buy a laptop or pre-built PC. Instead, it’s often more important to understand what kind of SSD you’re getting, so that you can decide if it suits your purposes.

To make that simple, we’ve created this quick breakdown for you. Key differences are outlined below, with a full chart at the end for easy side-by-side comparisons. It’s fast reading, so you should be able to get back to your purchasing lickety-split.

Key differences between NVMe, M.2, and SATA SSDs

Interface type

SSDs can either use NVMe or SATA as the method for communicating with the rest of a PC. SATA is slower than NVMe.

M.2, on the other hand, is actually a type of form factor. You can find both NVMe M.2 SSDs and SATA M.2 SSDs in the wild.

Sometimes product advertisements or summaries use “M. 2 SSD” to imply an NVMe drive and “SATA SSD” to indicate the presence of a 2.5-inch form factor SSD. Because of this, don’t take such phrases at face value. Look instead at technical specs to figure out the approximate speed of a laptop or desktop PC’s storage drive.

Speed

NVMe drives are faster than SATA drives. (This is true even if both SSDs are in an M.2 form factor.) Transfer rates depend first on which generation of PCIe connector your NVMe drive uses, and then the individual model. 

An example of an NVME Gen 3 SSD that ACTUALLY gets up to 3,500mB/s

Crucial P5 SSD (1TB)

Currently, the maximum speed for an NVMe PCIe 3.0 (aka Gen 3) SSD is up to 3,500MB per second, while a NVMe PCIe 4.0 (aka Gen 4) SSD can hit up to 7,500MB per second. Manufacturers usually list the theoretical speeds to expect from a particular model, which you can then verify by checking out independent benchmark results.

SATA SSDs typically hit speeds of up to 500MB per second. (However, like NVME drives, performance can vary between individual models.) That may sound astonishingly slow, but compared to SATA HDDs, the difference is still like night and day—a 7,200 RPM hard-disk drive tops out around 160MB per second. Nearly everyone notices a material difference between an HDD and a SATA SSD during basic tasks like document editing or web browsing.

So why choose an NVMe drive over SATA? The advantage becomes tangibly clear when you’re loading or copying files, especially big ones.

Form factor

In typical laptop and pre-built desktop PCs, NVMe SSDs are usually found in the M.2 form factor. (Other forms exist but they’re far less common.) SATA SSDs can either take the form of 2.5-inch or M.2 drives.

If your laptop has a spare M.2 slot, first check if supports NVMe, SATA, or both before buying a drive.

Price

An example of a SATA SSD available in both M.2 and 2.5″ forms

WD Blue 1TB SATA SSD

As you’d guess, the faster the drive, the more you pay. Current street prices for a 1TB SATA SSD is around $90 to $100, while a 1TB NVMe PCIe 3.0 drive hovers around $115 to $120 for recommended models. Expect to pay between $120 to $200 for a 1TB PCIe 4.0 drive, with less expensive models capping out around 5,000MB per second. 

Form factor matters less these days, however. While 2.5-inch SATA SSDs can sometimes be cheaper than M.2 models, more often they’re the same price.

NVME, M.2, and SATA SSD comparison chart

PCWorld

Author: Alaina Yee, Senior Editor

Alaina Yee is PCWorld’s resident bargain hunter—when she’s not covering PC building, computer components, mini-PCs, and more, she’s scouring for the best tech deals. Previously her work has appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, Maximum PC, and Official Xbox Magazine. You can find her on Twitter at @morphingball.

SSD vs HDD Speed ​​& Performance Comparison 2020

When buying a new laptop/desktop, I’m not sure which SSD/hard drive I should buy and how it will affect the overall performance of the laptop. Can’t choose SSD or HDD, which is best for you? Here is a brief description of SSD vs HDD The advantages and disadvantages that help you decide which type is right for you depend on what you use your computer for.

Solid State Drives ( SSD ) and hard drives ( HDD ) are similar in their physical characteristics but store data differently. The difference between HDDs and SSDs lies in the technology used to store and retrieve data. HDD uses magnetic disk as storage whereas SSD uses memory. Hard drives are cheaper and you can get more storage space. However, SSDs are faster, lighter, more durable, and consume less power. Your needs will determine which disc is best for you.

Content of the message: —

• 1 What is HDD (hard disk)?
  • 1.1 How hard drives work
• 2 What is an SSD (Solid State Drive)?
• 3 Compare HDD Vs. SSD
  • • 3. 0.1 Architecture
    • 3.0.2 Components
    • 3.0.3 Speed ​​
    • 3.0.4 Storage type
    • 3.0.5 Storage capacity Data loss

    90.640067

    • 3.0.7 Defragmentation
    • 3.0.8 Price
    • 3.0.9 Performance
• 4 SSD vs HDD: which is better for you?

What is an HDD (hard disk drive)?

HDD stands for hard disk. The hard drive was invented by IBM (International Business Machines) in 1956. When it was launched, it became very popular and became the drive of choice in the 1960s. When it was first launched, it was larger in size, but sometimes when it became very popular with computer companies, it would shrink in size and increase its capacity. You now have a very small hard drive with plenty of storage space.

The hard disk is a mechanical device and the moving parts have some friction loss due to the noise it makes during operation. The read and write speed of the hard disk is about 40-50Mbps. Thus, if you have more data backed up, it will take longer to copy to the hard drive.

Standard hard disk drive (HDD)

• Uses moving mechanical parts to transfer data to disks
• Speed ​​is measured in RPM
• Generates heat
• Sensitive to shock and vibration, susceptible to damage

Benefits of a standard hard drive

• it can store
• Higher RPMs read and write data faster

How hard drives work

Hard drives consist of one or more magnetically sensitive platters, a drive arm with a read/write head on it for each drive, and a motor that spins plates and moves levers. There’s also an I/O controller and firmware that tells the hardware what to do and communicates with the rest of the system.

Each dish is organized into concentric circles called lanes. Tracks are divided into logical blocks called sectors. Each track and sector number gives a unique address that can be used to organize and search for data. The data is written to the nearest available area. There is an algorithm that processes the data before it is written, allowing the firmware to detect and correct errors.

The platters rotate at preset speeds (4200 to 7200 rpm for consumer computers), these speeds correlate with the read/write speed. The higher the set speed, the faster the hard drive can read and write data.

What is an SSD (Solid State Drive)?

SSD stands for Microchip Solid State Drive and is a very fast and secure drive. These storage devices were invented in the 1970s, but these drives are relatively expensive. When it was invented, some companies used the SSD as RAM, which is used for quick access for temporary use. But as the size of an SSD increases, companies sell it as persistent drives. Currently, SSDs are competing for HDDs in every function.

SSD uses flash memory instead of moving parts. An SSD has no moving parts, so there are no issues with data loss or disk damage. The best part of SSD is that SSD read/write speed is 250-500Mbps which is much faster than HDDs. But SSDs are more expensive and have less storage space compared to HDDs.

Solid State Drive (SSD)

The SSD is available with two different interfaces: SATA or PCIe. PCIe has a theoretical bandwidth of up to 4 times that of SATA and is supported by the NVMe host protocol.

• There are no moving parts
• like a flash memory found in USB-drives
• Safe and less prone to
• Data Right and load time
• Cool
• consumes less energy
• Outperforms 10,000 RPM hard drives in read/write speed
• Provides longer battery life and improved shock resistance

Solid State Drive Benefits

• Better for Mobile Users
• Improved Performance
• Durability
• Lightweight and Cooler than Standard Hard Drives

Comparison HDD Vs. SSD

With that out of the way, let’s compare both Drives by architecture, speed, storage type, capacity, performance, price, etc.

HDD Vs Comparison. SSD

Architecture

HDD: HDD consists of a head and a rotating disk. Data is written by the head onto a spinning disc.

SSD: The SSD architecture mainly uses semiconductor flash chips, also called integrated circuit assembly. Data is stored in these semiconductor flash chips instead of a spinning disc.

Components

A hard drive contains moving parts, a motor-driven spindle that holds one or more flat, circular disks (called platters) coated with a thin layer of magnetic material. read and write heads are located on top of the disks; all this is enclosed in a metal case.

SSD has no moving parts; in fact, it is a memory chip. These are interconnected integrated circuits (ICs) with an interface connector. There are three main components — controller, cache and capacitor.

Speed ​​

HDD: Because hard drives are mechanical drives, the data flow depends on the rotation speed of the drive. But when compared with the latest New SSDs, the speed of HDDs is very slow.

SSD: Since SSD technology uses electronic interfaces, the speed of SSD is very fast compared to HDD. The speed is almost 6 times faster than older hard drives.

Storage type

HDD: Data is written to the hard drives sequentially, so a DISK DEFRAGMENTATION is required for optimal performance. So disparate data can be properly organized.

SSD: There is no sequential data write, so DEFRAGMENT on the SSD is not required.

Drive capacity

HDD: The capacity of hard drives is generally maximum. TB, HB, ZB hard drives are available. They are also used on servers to store vast amounts of data.

SDD: The capacity of SSDs is very small compared to HDDs. Basically, they are only available on the market up to certain terabytes due to the high cost of silicon chips.

Loss of data

HDD: In this case, data loss is the main problem. After repeated overwriting and as the hard drive ages, the risk of damage to the drive increases. Typically, the expected life of hard drives is about 5 years.

Another important thing is that if the hard drive is dropped from your hand or has been badly beaten, there is a risk of damage to the drive.

SSD: Solid state drives have overcome all the limitations of hard drives. SSDs will never be damaged due to repeated overwriting. The lifespan of an SSD is almost infinite. Minimum Data Loss Risk ID on SSD

Defrag

HDD: HDD performance degrades due to fragmentation; therefore, they need to be defragmented periodically.

SSD: SSD performance is not affected by fragmentation. So defragmentation is not needed.

Price

HDD: The price of mechanical hard drives is not high, since the mechanism itself is not so expensive.

SSD: The price of an SSD is very high because it contains silicon chips, and the cost of silicon chips is very high.

Capacity

The performance of a PC with an SSD is much higher than that of a PC with an HDD. So I think that when building a PC, you should use an SSD instead of a HDD for better performance.

SSD vs HDD: which is better for you? The

SSD has an access speed of 35 to 100 microseconds, nearly 100 times faster than traditional mechanical HDDs. This means faster read/write speeds, faster app loading times, and faster loading times.

Because an SSD has no moving parts, it can withstand the shock or vibration that is fatal to a hard drive.
The hard disk requires more power because it must turn on the spindle motor to spin the disk. This can be of great importance when using battery powered portable devices.

Also The HDDs are a popular choice for most mainstream consumers, who typically choose a hard drive as their storage option in their new computer simply because of the much lower cost. On the contrary, if you are not interested in budget and speed, high performance comes first. SSD drive is the right choice for you.

So the answer to this question is up to you. You must achieve balance. But then again, SSD is cool!

• How to optimize SSD (Solid State Drive) performance in Windows 10
• What is the difference between a VPN and a proxy and how do they work?
• BitLocker | BitLocker To Go Drive Encryption feature in Windows 10
• Fix: You need to format the drive before using it Windows
• 10 warning signs that your Windows 10 is infected with virus and malware

How to compare SSDs

Hello friends. Our site is actively developing the topic of solid-state SSD drives — new format hard drives, the speed of which significantly exceeds the speed of old hard drives HDD format. We are looking at different aspects of drives, and in this article we will talk about how to compare SSDs. How to compare two, three, or more SSDs if you’re looking to buy a drive and you want to buy the best one for your budget. The evolution of SSDs, their different characteristics and connection interfaces, different price niches and many manufacturers — all this has given rise to a huge selection of drives on the market and, accordingly, a lot of questions from the consumer. And, in fact, in order to remove at least some of these issues, let’s look at various means of comparison when choosing an SSD.

So, friends, SSD drives, all the site materials available on them, see the publication “All About SSD Solid State Drives”, there you will find a lot of interesting things about conventional SATA SSDs and modern NVMe SSDs, about their installation in computers, but most importantly — about their various parameters that affect your choice, such as: interface, connection connector, form factor, type of flash memory, controller. All this you will need when choosing a drive to buy. Well, when you are already directly choosing an SSD, how to compare different models to choose the best one? You can compare SSDs on various marketplaces on the Internet, which have special tools for comparing products on the site. Let’s look at three such sites.

E-Katalog

E-Katalog site

One way to compare SSDs is to use the E-Katalog aggregator site. The large-scale platform works for the markets of Russia and Ukraine. It has many characteristics of SSD drives. We set the filters of the type of drive we need, look at the list of offers, and for the models that are of interest, check the “Compare” box. Then click the orange «Compare» button at the bottom.

Let’s go to the product comparison page, where all compared drives will be presented in a single table of characteristics and prices.

Hotline

Hotline website

An analogue of E-Katalog on the Ukrainian market is the Hotline aggregator platform. If you are from Russia, in terms of prices for SSDs, Hotline will be useless for you, but you can use their characteristics here if you do not find what you need on Russian-language resources. Hotline is also a good shopping service detailing SSD specifications. How to compare SSD on Hotline? We set the device filters, for the models of interest, check the «Compare» box and, as a result, click the «Compare» option itself.

Let’s get to the page of the product comparison table and we can examine each of the drives for each characteristic.

NIKS

NIKS website

The most information-intensive way to compare SSDs is with the help of the NIKS computer company website. NIKS is not an aggregator platform, it is an online store of a company specialized in the trade of computer goods. The NIKS website has a huge database of SSD drives with their detailed characteristics. There are drive tests. And there is a product comparison function. We set the filters of the types of SSD we are interested in. In the list of offers, check the boxes of the models that are of interest and, as a result, click «Show Comparison Table».

Next, click «Compare».

And look at the comparison table with the characteristics of all drives added to the comparison.