Effectiveness analysis of using Solid State Disk technology

Abstract

In the daily use of computer applications, large quantities of data are being written and read. Central Processing Unit, Random Access Memory and computer Hard Disk Drive are involved in that process. In 2008 / 2009 the massive commercial use of hard drives based on Solid State technology began, which are now rapidly replacing mechanical hard drives, made up of mechanical and electronic components (actuator, actuator arm, the motor that allows the rotation speed from 5400 rpm to 15000 rpm, controller, cache, etc.). Solid State Disk technology uses the same electronic interface as hard disk drives to communicate with the rest of the computer, which facilitates Solid State Disk installation and replacement of mechanical drives. Hard drives constructed in Solid State technology have the memory controller and flash memory on which the device performance primarily depends. Speed of writing and reading of data from the hard drive is extremely affecting the operation of the entire computer system, especially database search, the playback / recording of audio-video and daily data read / copy. The research described in this paper will compare the speed of writing / reading of the mechanical hard drive with the speed of writing / reading of the hard drive in SSD technology. The comparison will be conducted through synthetic tests with ATTO Disk Benchmark tool. Solid State Disk technology can also be viewed according to the „Green computing” concept, meaning reduced expenses (less energy consumption, less cooling costs for data centers, servers, PCs) and higher performance). Comparison results between these two technologies will provide a cost-effective argumentation in favor of switching to SSD technology.