1. SSD DEVICES
ABSTRACT
A look into the history, development, cost and types of
SSD devices available
Jordan Hyman 20109461
Computer System Fundamentals

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SSD DEVICES
Table of Contents
What is a Solid State Device?....................................................................................................... 1
Historical background of the development of the SSD from the inception until present day ................ 1
Provide a list of SSD’s available – Type and capacity ....................................................................... 2
Complete a survey of the price range of SSD devices from 2010 to 2015 (£ per GB)............................ 2
Hard Drive ............................................................................................................................. 2
RAM ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Compile a list of the major manufactures of SSD ............................................................................ 3
List the advantages of using SSD .................................................................................................. 4
List the disadvantages of using SSD .............................................................................................. 4

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1
What is a Solid State Device?
A Solid State Device refers to electronic components, devices and systems based entirely on the
semiconductor.
RAM or Random Access Memory and ROM or Read Only Memory are forms of SSDs. RAM comes in 2
formats Static and Dynamic or SRAM and DRAM. Static RAM is made of 6 CMOS transistors and arethe
fastest type of memory on earth with each memory cell able to store 1-bit of data. Dynamic RAMlines
up one transistor with a capacitor to create an ultra-compact memory cell, however unlike SRAM the
capacitor needs to be refreshed after a period to keep it charged which results in the introduction of
latency in memory access. RAMis volatile meaning as soon as the power is removed their stateis lost or
reset however ROM is non-volatile meaning that the stateis not lost or reset when the power is
removed. ROM stores data by either permanently enabling or disabling selected transistors so that the
memory cannot be altered. There are writable versions of ROM such as EEPROM which led to the
development of the flash memory.
Flash memory was developed from EEPROM and are based on the NAND and NOR logic gates however
unlike EEPROM devices they areflash memory with higher block sizes giving them a significant speed
advantage over non-flash EEPROM devices . NAND devices can be written and read from and make up
the majority of flash memory sticks, memory cards and SSD hard drives whereas NOR devices only allow a
single byte to be written or read.
Solid StateDrives use electrical charges to read and write the data from memory chips that are soldered
onto an electric circuit board and are a form of non-volatile memory. In NAND devices the cells are
connected in series which consume less space than NOR devices and also reduces the cost of
manufacturing compared to NOR devices.
Historical background of the development of the SSD from the
inception until present day
The first Solid StateDevice was a transistor created by Bell Labs that first came into commercial use in the
1940’s and flash memory was first introduced by Toshiba in 1987.

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2
RAM was patented by Robert Dennard in 1968 and is the main form of memory used in modern
computers. Single Data RateSDRAM was widely used in computer systems in the 1990’s until the
introduction of Intel Pentium III it is now consider as obsolete by the computer industry. Double Data
RateSDRAM was to the direct successor to SDR SDRAM and improved on it by providing double the data
during one clock cycle, it was subsequently improved to address high-performance memory needs
resulting in DDR2SDRAM which was standard on most chipsets running Pentium 4 Prescott and later
included Intel Core and AMD Athlon 64. The next chapter in the development of DDR SDRAM was DDR3
SDRAM whose specifications were finalised in 2007 and primarily increased the clock rates possible whilst
reducing the voltages however latencies also increased significantly giving DDR3only 2-5% performance
gains over DDR2.
The first SSD Hard Drive was marketed by NEC in the 1990s and was a 5.25” SCSI drive that utilised
internal batterybacked RAM and in 2006 Samsung launched the first high volume Windows XP notebook
utilising SSD Hard Drives.
Provide a list of SSD’s available – Type and capacity
Type Capacity
Flash Memory Current Maximum 1TB
Hard Drive Current Maximum 4TB
Memory Cards SD Standard – up to 32GB
SDHC Standard – up to 128GB
SDXC Standard – up to 1TB
RAM 24 GB
Complete a survey of the price range of SSD devices from
2010 to 2015 (£ per GB)
Hard Drive
2010 – 0.58P
2013 – 0.32P
2014 - 0.19P
RAM
2010 - £8.01
2013 - £3.56
(All prices converted from USD to GBP)
The reduction in price is correlated to Moore’s Law which is “the observation that the number of
transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years” (Moore, 1965)

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Compile a list of the major manufactures of SSD
The current major manufacturers of SSD’s are:
Hard Drives:
1. Corsair Memory
2. Crucial Technology
3. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies owned by Western Digital
4. Intel
5. Kingston Technology
6. Lite-On
7. OCZ Technology
8. Patriot Memory
9. Samsung Electronics
10. SanDisk
11. SeagateTechnology
12. Toshiba
13. Transcend Information
14. Western Digital
15. Zalman
Flash Memory Sticks:
1. Corsair Memory
2. Crucial Technology
3. HP
4. Kingston Technology
5. Lexar
6. OCZ
7. PNY
8. Samsung
9. SanDisk
10. Seagate
11. Toshiba
12. Transcend
Memory Cards:
1. Sony
2. Sandisk
RAM:
1. Corsair Memory
2. G.Skill
3. Kingston Technology
4. Crucial

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List the advantages of using SSD
In this section I will examine the advantages of an SSD Hard Drive compared to a traditional hard drive
which are as follows:
 Access Time – SSD Hard Drives have access speeds of 35 to 100 microseconds which is nearly 100
times faster than a traditional HDD
 Reliability – The SSD has no moving parts and uses flash memory to store the data.
 Power – The SSD uses less power than a traditional HDD as there areno moving parts which
means an increase in batterylife for laptop users
 Noise – The SSD has no moving parts therefore is silent
 Size – The SSD is available in more form factors (2.5” 1.8” and 1.0”) increasing the space available
inside the computer
 Heat – As the SSD has no moving parts and because it is flash memory it generates less heat
which helps to increase the lifespan and reliability
 Magnetism – SSD’s are not affected by magnetism
List the disadvantages of using SSD
In this section I will examine the disadvantages of an SSD Hard Drive compared to a traditional hard drive
which are as follows:
 Price – Cost of SSD Hard Drive are more than a traditional Hard Drive
 Capacity – SSD Hard Drives have a maximum capacity of 4TB however they arerare and
expensive compared to a traditional HardDrive with the cheaper options in SSD Hard Drives only
coming in with 128GB and 256GB drives.
 Availability – More model numbers available for traditional hard drives than SSD hard drives
from the major hard drive manufacturers
 Longevity – SSD Hard drives will wear out over time as each cell in a flash memory bank has a
limited number of times it can be written and erased.