Updated on June 16, 2021
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With the increasing consumption of data, the demand for storage solutions has grown in the past few decades. This surge in demand has led to the enhancement of capacity, performance, and resilience of data storage devices.
To achieve greater data throughput and low transaction latency, the hard disk drives (HDD)are getting replaced by solid state drives (SSD) by enterprises at a rapid speed.
The goal is to increase performance, efficiency, reliability, and lower overall operating expenses (OpEx).
When it comes to market growth, it is likely to increase from 26.5 billion in 2018 to USD 60.2 million by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.7% ( trend analysis report by https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/).
To begin to understand the usage of SSD, why is SSD preferred? Are SDD and SSD the same? What exactly is SSD? let’s dive in.
What Are Enterprise Solid State Drives?
The hard drives which we were using earlier consisted of mechanical parts like a read/write head to gather data. These components had a limited life and could fail with due course of usage.
However, a solid-state drive (SSD) is a new generation of storage devices that have flash-based memory. It is much faster and reliable with a better life. One of the significant uses of SSDs is their speedy operation due to low read-access times and fast throughputs.
A simple NAND chip is used in the memory chip that has no moving part. The use of these devices started in the 1980s but was limited to supercomputers. In the early 1990s, many devices were having SSDs as the prices dropped but the limited size and life span were still the main issues for the restricted use.
In the late 2000, solid state drives became a part of PCs and laptops of high configuration and it became a part of an acceptable option after 2015.
Today, it has become a choice of the Pc and laptop buyers as it offers many advantages in areas like business, gaming, mobility, and servers. Even for new laptops and PCs, it has become a default choice.
Types of SSDs:
To attach an SSD to your system, you need to connect it using a specific interface. Common interfaces are:
- PCIe and NVMe SSDs: PCI Express (PCIe) – to connect graphics cards, network cards, or other high-performance peripherals.
- mSATA III, SATA III, and traditional SSDs: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) – good to replace HDD, even an upgrade to a SATA-based SSD is good for old PCs and laptops for normal use.
How Is Solid State Drives Better Than SATA and SAS?
To get a more comprehensive view of why it makes sense to get an SSD over an HDD, let’s view some of the factors that create a difference:
Performance – SSDs can deliver incredibly high read and write performance for both sequential and random data requests from the CPU. With no degradation of the response time, the NAND flash drives have low latencies, which increases user productivity.
SSDs are optimized not only for peak performance in the first few seconds of access but using a larger over-provisioned area (OP). A higher sustained steady-state performance over longer periods increases its adaptability for laptops and PCs.
Reliability – During the production process of each Flash drive, a die-cut from silicon wafers is tested and characterized with a Raw Bit Error Rate (BER or RBER). The BER defines the rate at which naturally occurring bit errors occur. The SSD Controller corrects ECC (error-correcting code)) without disrupting user or system access.
The SSD controller’s ability to correct these bit errors increases the reliability of the drive thus passing the JEDEC credibility tests.
Power Fail Protection – The SSD architecture has frequent flushing of data from the controller’s cache areas. This reduces and minimizes the data loss during a power failure. Drive’s Power Fail Protection also ensures that the SSD is not likely to become inoperable after encountering an unsafe shutdown. For web-scale data centers, solid-state drives are a great benefit.
Compatibility – An enterprise-class SSD can withstand heavy read or write activity like downloading a video or audio file from the internet on a PC or laptop. Enterprise SSDs have a 24×7 duty cycle with a 20/80 duty cycle (20% of the time active, 80% in idle or sleep mode during computer usage).
The high TeraBytes Written (TBW) value of SSD makes it compatible with other devices used for storage like RAM. An endurance metric can be calculated to check the performance of SSD.
Top Enterprise Solid State Drives for 2021
Here we are giving you the idea about best enterprise SSD’s 2021. Below we are explaining you features and price comparison of these enterprise-class solid state drives.
M.2 SSD: Toshiba XD5
SSD is always compared with the price but Toshiba XD5 wins in the Best M.2 SSD category due to its ability to write faster data (almost 4 TB of data per day for five years).
The durability and endurance of this SSD are high while it performs consistently. For the quality of service (QoS), and high read latency, the XD5 SSD is often a top pick. It is best known for handling heavy transactional workloads and other applications that demand constant writing of data at a predictable rate. It is lightweight and offers low power consumption.
High reliability, data protection, power-loss-protection, and the encryption technology demanded by enterprise applications are some of the additional features.
M.2 SSD: Samsung 970 Pro
The Samsung 970 Pro harnesses NVMe to provide blistering speed to the M.2 form factor. The drive has a high throughput and IOPS with a comparatively lower price.
The M.2 SSD Samsung 970 Pro combines NVMe and a tiny form factor with V-NAND 2-bit MLC technology. Its throughput of 3.5 GB/s and 500,000 IOPS make it a popular choice among enterprises.
It performs well during the queue depth and peak performance in sequential read tests. For companies that need NVMe speed, it is one of the best M.2 SSD options. The latest V-NAND technology is used in its manufacturing with a new Phoenix controller in a compact M.2 (2280) form factor. An endurance rate of up to 1,200 TBW and a 5-year warranty provide confidence in SSD lifespan.
SATA SSD: Micron 5200
The micron 5200 sata ssd drive can write and rewrite up to 8.4 PB of data and offers 3 million hours before failure. With affordable prices, It also boasts decent SATA performance with high capacity. Micron designed these SATA SSDs for virtualized workloads and cloud architectures.
With low latency of 55 microseconds, it is the most reliable and durable SSDs around. However, it has low read and write performance but that is compensated with its low price. It is available with a capacity of 7.68 TB with high endurance.
SATA SSD: Samsung 883 DCT
The Samsung 883 DCT SATA SSD is ideal for enterprise server storage systems. With high reliability and data protection for applications, it has high speed. For good performance, plenty of capacity, and high reliability, this SATA system is a good candidate. It has a 6 Gb/s SATA interface with impressive storage capacities of up to 3.84 TB.
The data corruption due to power failure is less. There are less expensive SATA SSD options, such as the Micron 520. But for storage admins who need enterprise-class SATA SSDs, the Samsung 883 is a superior choice.
PCIe SSD: Intel Optane 4800X
Intel’s SSD offers high random read/write rates, as well as very good throughput and high endurance. It is ideal for companies seeing to reduce transaction costs for latency-sensitive workloads.
Only SSD manufactured with 3D Xpoint technology has low latency in microseconds. It can accelerate applications, reduce transaction costs for latency-sensitive workloads, and improve overall data center TCO.
It is compatible with PCIe Gen3 x4 speeds. Based on 64-layer Intel 3D NAND TLC, it accelerates read-intensive workloads at higher service levels and improves overall system reliability and flexibility.
PCIe SSD: Western Digital PC SN720
The Western Digital PC SN720 is one of the high-performing SSD with a 500k/400k ratio on random reads/writes, a throughput of 3.4 GB/s, and high endurance. The addition of NMVe and PCIe makes it a formidable candidate for Tier 0 workloads running enterprise applications.
The drive can be used for high-intensity applications. A 64-layer 3D NAND provides longevity. Its tiered-caching, fast NVMe architecture delivers extreme performance and endurance of up to 500 TBW.
The SN720’s new, fast NVMe SSD firmware and controller architecture is purpose-built to maximize the performance and scalability for low latency and power efficiency.
SSD For the Money: Seagate Barracuda
The drive is a high-performance drive with excellent throughput and endurance. It’s a top choice for less demanding situations like home PCs and laptops. It is a respectable SATA 6Gb/s interface for optimal performance and compatibility. The drive is equipped with 3D TLC NAND flash memory to provide sequential read and write speeds of up to 560/540 MB/s.
Its throughput tops most competitive providing sequential read and writes speeds of up to 560/540 MB/s. However, with capacity topping out at 2 TB, it isn’t big enough for enterprise workloads.
Low-cost and High-output of SSDs
You can upgrade your PC or laptop and make it work like new again with one of these low-cost and high output solid-state drives. Here is a list of SSDs that are the best in the category of 120GB/128GB SSDs:
- Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SSD – BEST SQ. WRITE
- Crucial BX100 120GB SSD
- HyperX 3K 120GB SSD – BEST SQ. READ
- HyperX FURY 120GB SSD
- Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD – BEST SQ. WRITE
- Samsung 850 PRO 128GB SSD – BEST 3K RANDOM R/W
- SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB SSD
- SanDisk G25 128GB SSD
- Transcend SSD340 128GB
- Kingston Technology 120GB SSDNow V300 (Upgrade Kit Option)
- Additional Features and Compatibility of SSDs
There are distinctive differences between enterprise SSDs ranging from their NAND Flash memory size to the compatibility with other devices.
Understanding the requirements as it pertains to performance, reliability, and endurance, the SSD can be chosen. It must be a suitable choice that can perform in a mission-critical, enterprise environment.
To find out the best drive for your device can become simpler by checking these additional features:
SSD Drives For laptops:
With one, two, or four 2.5-in slots :
- SATA drives, or for two M.2 slots and one 2.5-in.
- SATA drive, or for one or two mSATA drives.
- laptops with M.2 slots may have SATA or NVMe slots.
- 860 EVO and 860 PRO SATA are recommended for older laptops.
SSD Drives For desktop systems:
- Motherboards with 2 slots can hold NVMe drives
- PCIe cards with many or 4 slots can have M.2 NVMe SSDs.
- Desktop systems with 3.5-in. hard drives. can use a sled and one or more PCIe SSDs,
SSD Drives For servers:
Newer models can have 2.5-in SSDs and NVMe SSDs. They can support 20 2.5-in. NVMe drives or as many as 36 M.2 SSDs.
Recommendations for best value enterprise SSD in 2021:
If you are buying a new device for personal or official use, you must opt for an SSD. However, upgrading older systems with new drives requires an investigation depending on the existing configuration of the laptop or PC has.So, determine what types of interfaces the existing drives use, and replace them with SSD models that use the same interface.ssd storage drivesssd storage drives
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