One of the most common hardware failures is the hard drive. Unfortunately, when the hard drive fails, it can mean that ALL of your data is gone. There are ways to get some or all of the data back, but they’re VERY expensive.
Hard drives can also limit performance. Reading data from a hard drive is slower than reading it from memory. That’s why adding RAM can increase performance.
Solid State Drives, or SSD’s, looks similar to a conventional hard drive, but has no moving parts. Think of it as a big memory card. SSD’s are more reliable than hard drives. But, there’s more to it than that! SSD’s use less power and are much faster than a conventional hard drive. This makes them ideal for a laptop. Lower power consumption means longer battery life. Improved durability is great because laptops tend to get bounced around.
The cost is not too bad, depending on your storage requirements. A 120GB Intel SSD is about $200. Compare that to a conventional hard drive, which is about $75 for 250GB.
The cost goes through the roof as capacity increases, though. The same Intel unit as above, but in a 300GB capacity, is $500.
Solid State Drives are something I’m keeping an eye on. Like any new electronic product, the prices are coming down and the capacity is going up. They’re still “not quite there” yet, but it won’t be long!
If you’re Milwaukee, Waukesha, or Jefferson county, Mullarky Business Systems can upgrade your current computer or laptop with a solid state drive. Give us a call.