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SSD Solid State Drive
For a long time, solid state drives (SSD's) were unreliable and very expensive. But their time has come. Now solid state drives (SSD's) have become reliable enough and inexpensive enough to include in a computer build. Crucial is a leading maker for these devices.
Click on either picture to see it enlarged.
The solid state drive is a mass storage device. It provides a large amount of permanent read/write memory, like a hard drive, but at performance speeds that more closely resemble RAM. Where used, their performance improvement over hard drives is breathtaking.
The advantages of a solid state drive over hard drives don't stop there. Solid state drives are smaller in size than hard drives, and do not add to the heat generation of the computer as hard drives do. Solid state drives are completely silent, whereas some popular hard drives can be the noisiest component in the computer. And solid state drives are vibration-free, unlike hard drives.
Ideally, the solid state drive replaces the hard drive. For most of us that's not going to be practical. A hard drive comparable in size to a solid state drive is far cheaper. And solid state drives get too expensive at storage sizes that would make precluding the hard drive possible.
The commonly preferred way of using the solid state drive is as the boot drive. Solid State Drives are available in sizes from 64GB up to 512GB. The 128GB size hits the sweet spot in terms of size and price. At 128GB, the SSD is large enough to hold the operating system and commonly used applications and games. This means that nearly everything for which the computer is used gets a dramatic performance boost.
As prices for solid state drives continues to fall, it will become more and more tempting to use large capacity solid state drives and eventually build the computer without hard drive. That's an option even now, if you're willing to pony up the bucks.
My complete recommendations for building a computer with quality components at unbeatable prices is on my home page at Build A Computer Like My Super PC - Cost To Build A Computer. Here again are the recommendations for a solid state drive!
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