How to buy an SSD
They’re much faster than hard drives, and the prices aren’ten’t as scary as they used to be. But which SSD do you need?
Our guide to solid-state drives with four of the best reviewed
An SSD (solid-state drive) uses processors instead of spinning magnetic plates to store data permanently. They cost more per gigabyte, but they are up to 10 times faster.
Installing Windows 10 on an SSD means your PC starts up quicker, programs load in a blink, and switching between tasks feels smoother. If you can afford enough SSD capacity to store photos and videos, editing them will be faster. Alternatively, you can copy only what you’re currently editing to an SSD. Affordable sizes range from 128GB to 1TB.
Internal or external
If you have a desktop PC, the best place for storage is inside, where it can connect directly to the motherboard. It may also be possible to replace the 2.5in drive in a laptop, but it’ll usually be harder to access. Some PCS come with unpackaged SSDS wired in, and can’t be upgraded.
If you can’t upgrade internally or need to share a drive between PCS, connect an SSD to your fastest external port. You can buy external SSDS ready to plug in, or buy a drive enclosure for the appropriate interfaces and insert a 2.5in SSD (such as the ones reviewed here) into it. The enclosure, as well as the interface and the drive, may affect the speed. Startech’s USB 3.1 to SATA III enclosure (£30 from Amazon www.snipca.com/24991, pictured above) is a popular choice.
Interface
Most internal drives are connected via SATA III, also known as SATA 6G. Some
Your PC starts up p quicker, programs load in a blink, and switching between tasks is smoother
PCS let you connect this externally as ESATA (see image below). At a maximum of six gigabits per second (Gbps), or 750 megabytes (MB/S), SATA III is only slightly faster than USB 3.0 or USB 3.1 Gen 1, at 5Gbps, and slower than USB 3.1 Gen 2, which can reach 10Gbps.
So if your PC has a USB 3.1 port – which may be the familiar rectangular USB Type-a, or the smaller USB Type-c – you’re not losing any speed by plugging in a USB 3.1 SSD rather than a SATA drive. Thunderbolt connectivity, which may be provided by a Type-c port or a Mini Displayport-style socket, also works at up to 10Gbps, while Thunderbolt 2 doubles this and Thunderbolt 3 (exclusive to Type-c) supports 40Gbps. However, Thunderbolt drives are more expensive, and most won’t exceed 10Gbps. You can only tell which interfaces and speeds a USB socket supports by checking your PC’S documentation.
Internal SSDS can also be connected via M.2, a version of PCI Express available on the latest motherboards. M.2 formats vary (see www.snipca.com/24990) – the fastest being NVME. But all of these SSDS look like a small circuit board with processors on it, a bit like a RAM module. If your PC has M.2, that’s probably the way to go.
Specifications
Most SSDS now use MLC (multi-level cell) or TLC (triple-level) flash memory, which stores more bits of data in each cell than SLC (single level), and many are 3D, meaning cells are layered to pack more in. This can reduce reliability, but other improvements have made up for that.
All SSDS will eventually wear out. Sellers quote figures relating to TBW (terabytes written) and MTTF (mean time to failure, basically how long it’s got to live). If you saved 50GB of files every day, a 200TBW SSD would be expected to last 11 years. MTTF is typically at least 1.5 million hours, which should be long enough for most people.
Trim is a feature that lets you avoid overwriting data that hasn’t changed, which helps minimise an SSD’S tendency to slow down over time. All versions of Windows since Vista support Trim, and SSDS will use it if it’s beneficial.
Some SSDS also incorporate hardware encryption, but this will only work if you set it up using Windows Professional’s Bitlocker or a PC that supports the Opal 2 storage specifications.