The (non) Future of SSDs

A couple of interesting stories out over the past 24 hours have brought into serious doubt about SSDs replacing traditional hard drives in the long term. First, an article was put out that says the results of testing has demonstrated a conflict between speed and capacity. The secret to getting more data space from an SSD is in building to the newer nano sizes. Most mobile devices are going from 40-50 nm to 20-30 nm construction. This is good because it allows higher drive capacity, but as the sizing gets smaller, the leakage of electrons go higher, the slower the transfer is, and the quicker the SSD fails. Within 10-15 years, SSDs will reach a stage where they will be slower than hard drives.

An article today, states that the problem people have with slow downloads on mobile devices is often not the fault of the network, but is a problem with the NAND flash module. Apparently, while the manufacturers of Android devices are upgrading processors, they are still using older types of NAND flash modules with limited bandwith, thus creating a bottleneck in downloads. Many of them showing 100-300% decrease in performance.

Computers can benefit from using hybrid systems that use SSDs for speed, and hard drives for capacity. But what of the future of smart phones and tablets that depend on flash drives for all memory functions. Is another technology going to come out to replace the SSD? Will they solve the problems with SSDs? What is the answer?

Great post Seadog, I wasn't aware of this so I'm now interested in learning more about it.

The Archangel

I also read an article that spoke highly of the hybrid drives. Best of both world noticeable boot and program access speed plus lower price.

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