So what the heck is SSD any way?

I write these articles when I've been asked more than a few times about a particular subject in the tech field. It still never ceases to amaze me when someone asks me about things I think of as common knowledge, but then I remind myself that I'm the one who works in the tech field, not everyone else. Which is why I started this blog to begin with. That being said, lets move on to this article.

You may recall my previous post about Flash (or Thumb) Drives. That memory technology is the leading reason why we even have this great new device. It's read and write speed capabilities, it's ease of use, and it's long term storage capabilities all play a big roll in SSD technology.

SSD stands for Solid-State Disk. Essentially its a newfangled modern version of a computer hard-drive. Its called Solid-State because it has no moving parts. The term SSD has been adopted to distinguish solid-state electronics from electromechanical devices. Since there are no moving parts, solid-state drives are less fragile than regular traditional hard disks and are also silent (unless a cooling fan is used).

There was a few previous versions of SSD's that I should point out. Basically it was a device that used regular everyday computer RAM chips to create a RAM Disk. It would combine all of the total ram chips sizes to create one large storage unit and it would emulate a hard-drive interface to the computer. They were nice because using SDRAM or DDR Ram is extremely fast compared to Flash memory. There are a few drawbacks to this type of SSD though. The biggest one is that because its not flash memory, once the chips loose power, everything that was stored on it is lost, making it completely useless for long term storage. Another is its total capacity is greatly limited. If the largest ram chips on the market are 2gb and there are only 4 slots on the board, then the total drive size will only be 8gb, not a very large drive. Great for the operating systems virtual memory space, but not for data storage. These have been used mostly by specialized computer needs such as enterprise level servers and military systems that move large amounts of data.

The SSD's that is all the rage now is based on Flash memory. Not quite as fast as the volatile memory in RAM chips, but still much faster than its mechanical counterpart. Flash based SSD's have a faster start-up because no spin-up is required. They have fast random access time because there is no read/write head. They have Consistent read performance because physical location of data is irrelevant for SSDs, which also means that file fragmentation has negligible effect. Because they have no moving parts, they are quiet and have a high mechanical reliability, as the lack of moving parts almost eliminates the risk of "mechanical" failure. They have Ability to endure extreme shock, high altitude, vibration and extremes of temperature, lower power consumption, and create less heat, this makes them useful for laptops, mobile computers, and devices that operate in extreme conditions.

On the down side, SSD's are more expensive per GB than traditional hard-drives, but the price of flash memory is dropping drastically making them more affordable to the consumer market. There capacity levels are lower than traditional hard-drives, but flash memory maximum capacities are increasing as fast as the prices are dropping. The physical size of the SSD gets larger as the capacity get larger, so the higher capacity SSD drives are physically larger then traditional hard-drives of the same volume. But I predict that they will overcome this size issue soon as they had to many times in the past with traditional hard-drives.

No your computers NOT trying to hitch a ride with a USB Thumb Drive!

I cannot believe it. I would have thought that everyone would know all about these handy little gadgets by now, but I still keep getting asked what a USB Flash (or Thumb) Drive is, whats it for, and why do I need one. Hence the reason for this post in the "Todays Technology info for those Not in the Know" blog.


Well first a little background info.

The term "Thumb Drive" derives from the first Flash Drive made by a Singapore company back in 2000 who dubbed it the "Thumb Drive", and the name stuck for a while. IBM was really the first company to market in the US the same year with its Flash Drive dubbed "DiskOnKey".

I'm sure you remember the days of saving files to a floppy disk at a maximum storage of 1.44mb, then for a short while we got a larger version "Zip Drive" holding a whopping 100mb of storage.

(Just for reference for those who don't have a clue about digital storage space:

1000bytes = 1kb (kilobyte): 1000kb = 1mb (megabyte): 1000mb = 1gb (gigabyte): 1000gb = 1tb (terabyte)

The average generic text file is usually at least a couple KB in size. The average Word Document file is usually at least 1 MB in size. A Digital Photo can vary from a couple hundred KB to a few MB depending the picture resolution. The average Music File can vary from 2-20MB depending on the saved file format. The average digital home video clip can range from a couple MB to nearly a GB in size. The average full length DVD movie is usually around 2-3GB or an HD movie is at 4-7GB in size.)

Next came the Writable CD-Rom (CD-R) drive giving us 650 - 700mb of storage, but you can only Write on them once, so then we got the Re-Writable CD-Rom (CD-RW) Drives that gave us the ability to Re-Write a CD that you can fully erase and re-use approximately 1000 times or you can format it so you can keep it in the drive and delete individual files and write new ones without erasing the entire disk, but formatted it only held 350mb, but still more then a Zip Drive.

Then we got the Writable DVD-Rom (DVD-R) drive giving us 4GB of storage, then the Dual Layer DVD-Rom (DVD-R_DL) drive giving us 7.5GB of storage, again only to be written on once. Not so handy to grab a bunch files and take to work or a friends then re-use again.

That was the main problem with the larger capacity Optical Rom Drives, they held quite a bit of storage, but mostly to be used once for data backup (or maybe more times for long term storage), but to just grab a couple larger files from work or from home and take elsewhere was quite a pain, and wasteful.

Next we got the USB External Harddrives giving us much more storage capacity (today up to 2TB) that we can re-use over and over, great for entire system backups, and of system file storage, but still not to great to grab a few files and take elsewhere. Sure you can unplug it and just go, but the problem is that you have to be very careful not to drop it or jar it (especially when powered up) or you can damage the mechanical moving parts or even the disk itself where the data is stored. Not to mention its still a little big and bulky to be carrying around, and you have to have somewhere to plug in the power cord to use it.

Now we have the USB Flash Drive. Currently not quite as much storage capacity as the USB external harddrive (capacities range from 1mb - 256GB), but very portable. there small enough to put on a keychain, do not require a power plug, and they have to mechanical or moving parts to damage. All the data is stored on a chip, and the transfer rate at which the computer can read write files to and from the newest USB 2.0 (and soon USB 3.0) drive is much faster than any other drive to date. Not to mention the cost per MB is really inexpensive. Simply plug the drive into a free USB port, the computer sees it as yet another storage drive, copy files to it, unplug it, stick in your pocket and go.

I keep all of my all of my handy dandy computer repair utilities on one flash drive and personal or work related transfer files on another.

Having PC problems, and think you can't fix it yourself?

Has your PC been running really slow, or maybe barley running at all? Has is been locking up frequently, or programs take forever to load when not too long ago they ran just fine?

Aren't you just dreading taking your PC in to be fixed when you know it cant be that hard to fix? Don't you wish you knew how to do it yourself without screwing it up even more?

Well it might be easier than you think. Have you noticed that a lot of the time when you take your PC in for repair or a tune up, it comes back with nothing you had on it is there any more and you have to setup all your favorite stuff again, unless you pay a premium price for keeping all your favorite stuff on it or backing it up for you before fixing it?

You are about to learn the easy way they fix up most modern PC's factory built today and save you a lot of time and money.

First off, have you noticed they always ask you for your disks that came with your computer?
Did you know that most factory built PC's six ears old or newer don't even need all those disks, and usually don't even come with them? That's because the hard drives in todays computers have gotten large enough to store all of the info from those disks in a special hidden partition and still leave plenty of room for the operating system and all of your favorite programs and personal files.

Before you begin any PC fix, make sure you have backed up all your personal files on an external source, weather it be on cd's, usb flash drive, tape drive, external hard-drive, or even the online backup sites like Carbonite or Mozy. Also make sure you have driver disks for all of the devices you have installed since you purchased the system. If you cannot find a disk, you can always download the drivers for your version of windows from the device manufactures websites and save them along with your personal files backup.

This first fix only works if you can get into Windows and it only has minor problems. You may need the proper Windows CD available if required.

Click on the start button then click Run. In the text box type "sfc /scannow" (without the quotes) then hit the Enter key. The built in Windows "System File Checker" will check the important system files to make sure they are ok and replace them with fresh copies if needed. All personal files will remain in tact.

The next two fixes are known as NON-Destructive Restore. This is where important Windows system files are replaced with fresh copies and Windows Registry entries are updated or restored accordingly. Your private files will remain in tact, but the programs they rely on may not. For example a saved excel spreadsheet file will remain, but the Microsoft Office/Excel Program may need re-installed.

First, if your PC is just not running right or suddenly acting a little goofy, you might be able to easily fix it by using Windows built in "System Restore" which you can find in the start menu, or if you hit hit the F8 key a few times when the computer is first booting up (when the screen is still black and showing white text or the manufactures logo screen) then choosing safe mode. Then when the computer boots into safe mode it will ask if you want to run system restore or go ahead and run in safe mode, choose system restore. Once the system restore programs comes up, choose "restore my computer to an earlier time" and then pick a date a couple days prior to when you noticed the computer acting funny, then click next to start the process. Once its done,d the computer will reboot and hopefully its running better.

Second, if your computer is not booting into windows at all, or the Windows built in system restore just did not do the trick, then you can use the manufactures built in system restore feature. To access it, if your computer came with system restore disks, then put disk 1 into the cd drive then reboot the PC, if not, then as soon as you power on your computer and it shows the POST screen (either the black screen with white text, or the manufactures boot logo screen) you should see some text that says press f10 for system restore (all makes and models are different, some say f9, f10, f11, or f12) press the button that it tells you. Just keep in mind that you only have a couple seconds to catch it, and you may have to press it many times durring that time for it to acknowledge that you even hit it. Now it should boot into a special manufactures system restore software and then you can choose to restore/repair the PC. Most of the time you can just pres the next button through the screens untill the process begins. Once the process is complete the computer will reboot and hopefully the computer is running smoothly.

The final fix is known as a Full Destructive Restore. This will completely wipe out the entire system and replace it with a fresh new copy of Windows and extra software, and it will be just like the day you purchased it. Your private/personal files will not be saved. Back up First. I recommend doing this once a year just to keep the computer fresh.

To access this fix is same as the last fix. When you first power on the computer, press the f10 or what ever key is says then when it comes up, instead of just pressing next, you will either choose Full/Destructive restore, or you may need to choose the advanced option then choose the full restore. Once you get the process started, it will take a while and the system will reboot a few times, and it will more than likely ask you a bunch of questions, but once it is complete, it will be completely restored and ready to re-install all your favorite programs and restore your personal files from backup. Keep in mind you may need to re-install drivers for hardware or devices that you have installed since you purchased the computer. If you do not have your driver disks for the devices, you can always download them from the device manufactures websites.

I hope this has helped you as it has helped me for many years.