When TB SSD comes down to <£100, I will consider replacing my current server setup, or at least look at buying them to put into a separate array.

For laptops they can be very handy. Light and robust, plus laptop drives might not be as price sensitive as desktop drives.

I'm certainly tempted to have an SSD OS/Apps drive when I re-build my Windows machine. I'm currently debating whether I do my photo work on it or my laptop, though. Hmmm. I guess that's a question for another thread.

I am confused. iPhones are SSD are they not? Does this mean that the memory won't last long?

They are SSD's but as there's not much writing going on (swap files etc) it'll last a while

"long" is subjective and relative, CC. Also, remember it's write cycles that are most limited on SSDs. How often does an iPhone write data? All storage media have their disadvantages, it's always a case of trying to settle on the best compromise.

Yes. It depends on your usage. On average I think you get about 100,000 (give or take, dependant on usage) Read/writes before MTBF. A standard platter based hard drive is considerably more than that, but is prone to other, mechanical failures that SSD's aren't.

Mark

Mark, having looked at this article (written sometime between 2006 and 2008) it seems that the 100,000 figure is somewhat outdated, and a more typical value is 1,000,000 write cycles. For iPhones and the like, I doubt it'll be an issue at all. For desktop systems, it seems to be acceptable if you're sensible. I wouldn't use one in a media-centre as the storage drive, for example.

yes but if it is mainly for playback then it could still be a media centre.

I guess it depends on how much media one consumes over a given period of time.

Mark

Thanks for that Edd. (8+)

Mark

Why not? How long would it take to record and watch and delete a film one million times? I make it more than 300 years.

As a HDD is only guaranteed for two to three years this does not seem too shoddy.

The most important thing to do as far as maintaining an SSD is to turn off any defragmentation tools. They don't achieve anything and simply use up write cycles on the drive. In Windows 7 this will be done automatically if it knows it has an SSD. Most issues arise not from their limits but from people not knowing how to use them appropriately.

It'd still be pretty safe, but I still wouldn't want to risk it. It's not just writing files. It's the OS moving files about, swapping RAM onto the HDD and back, bufferring video, defragging the drive (if required (although ill-advised on an SSD)), etc, etc. I, personally, wouldn't want to use one to store a lot of files for the (relatively) short periods, where they get replaced fairly often with newer content.

But a film will take up thousands (if not millions) of sectors.

The problem is when blocks get half filled, the drive needs to move data around to empty the blocks etc for maximum efficiency, this causes another write or two to the sector.