Fast SSD vs. Hard Disks

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Osiris

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Fast SSD vs. Hard Disks

I first thought about getting a SSD (Solid State Disk) drive for my new computer that I assembled at the beginning of this year. The SSD drives were rather expensive and only available with capacities of 16 or 32 Gigabytes which probably would have been enough. Far more pressing was the state of the performance of those drive.
The situation seems to be changing slowly with 64 Gigabyte SSD drives available in larger quantities and better prices. One SSD drive that I was looking forward to was the OCZ Core Series SSD drive with 64 Gigabyte capacity and the guys at Hot Hardware managed to get their hands on one of those drives and compared it to the ultra fast WD VelociRaptor hard disk.
While the OCZ Core Series SSD drive lacks behind in write speeds (tops 87 MB/s compared to 129 MB/s for the VelociRaptor) it managed to win the read speed benchmark (140 MB/s compared to 123 MB/s) and of course in random access times.
Far more impressive than those computed values are values from real applications, and those tests make a difference.
How about a Windows Vista startup of 51 MB/s compared to 15.6 MB/s for the conventional hard drive ? Similar results are available for gaming (77 MB/s vs. 12.5 MB/s), application loading (21 MB/s vs. 3.7 MB/s) and Windows Defender (66 MB/s vs. 19.8 MB/s). The SSD drive managed to beat the hard drive in every test which has to be attributed largely to the low random access time.
This convinced me and I just ordered a OCZ Core Series SSD drive with 64 Gigabyte capacity for 200 Euros. Once I have that will do some tests with various operating systems and benchmarks.
 
One thing about SSD is that it can only be written to so many times before it starts to become useless, just like flash drives and the such.
 
yeah SSDs are silent as there are no moving parts...but no they don't last forever as the way they work limit the numbers of reads and writes they can do.

I wouldn't mind a SSD but the cost is ridiculous. I'll get one when I can get a 32gb drive for around 30quid...which won't be for awhile I would imagine.
 
Well it will still last years, possibly outlasting most standard hard drives, so it's a non-issue really :)

It's just the cost that turns me completely away. My server 08 only takes about 3.5 loading bars to get to the login menu anyway so it's not too bad on my WD3200AAKS, but a SSD would be so nice. Maybe next year.
 
I always hear people gripe about how loud hard drives are. I cant hear mine over the fans. Also, is there really much point in spending 8x the cost per gb to get your OS to load 5 seconds faster?
 
I always hear people gripe about how loud hard drives are. I cant hear mine over the fans. Also, is there really much point in spending 8x the cost per gb to get your OS to load 5 seconds faster?

same here...i've never been able to hear anything inside of my case..i see no use in spending that much for a "quiet" drive or something that speeds up a few seconds of load time
 
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