The first SSDs, or solid-state drives using flash memory, appeared in 1995, and were used exclusively in the military and aerospace sectors. The huge cost at that time was compensated by the unique characteristics that allow the operation of such disks in aggressive environments over a wide temperature range.

SSD drives appeared in the mass market not so long ago, but quickly became popular, as they are a modern alternative to a standard hard drive ( HDD). Let's figure out what parameters you need to choose a solid state drive, and what it is all about.

Device

Out of habit, an SSD is called a "disk", but it's more likely to be called a " solid box”, since there are no moving parts in it, and nothing similar in shape to a disk either. The memory in it is based on the physical properties of the conductivity of semiconductors, so the SSD is a semiconductor (or solid state) device, while a conventional hard drive can be called an electro-mechanical device.

The abbreviation SSD just means " solid state drive", that is, literally, " solid state drive". It consists of a controller and memory chips.

The controller is the most important part of the device that links the memory to the computer. The main characteristics of an SSD - data transfer speed, power consumption, etc., depend on it. The controller has its own microprocessor, running according to a preset program, and can perform the functions of correcting code errors, preventing wear, and cleaning debris.

Memory in drives can be either non-volatile (NAND) or volatile (RAM).

At first, NAND-memory outperformed HDD only in the speed of access to arbitrary memory blocks, and only since 2012, the read / write speed has also increased many times over. Now in the mass market, SSD drives are represented by models with non-volatile NAND memory.

RAM memory features ultra-fast read and write speeds, and is built on the principles random access memory computer. Such memory is volatile - in the absence of power, the data disappears. It is usually used in specific areas, such as speeding up work with databases, it is difficult to find it on sale.

Differences between SSD and HDD

SSD differs from the HDD in the first place, the physical device. Thanks to this, it boasts some advantages, but it also has a number of serious disadvantages.

Main advantages:

· Speed. Even according to technical specifications It can be seen that the read / write speed of SSDs is several times higher, but in practice, performance can vary by 50-100 times.
· No moving parts and therefore no noise. It also means high mechanical resistance.
· The speed of random access to memory is much higher. As a result, the speed of work does not depend on the location of the files and their fragmentation.
· Much less vulnerable to electromagnetic fields.
· Small size and weight, low power consumption.

Disadvantages:

· Resource limitation by rewriting cycles. Means that you can overwrite a single cell a certain amount of times - on average, this figure varies from 1,000 to 100,000 times.
· The cost of a gigabyte of volume is still quite high, and exceeds the cost of a conventional HDD by several times. However, this shortcoming will disappear with time.
Difficulty or even impossibility of recovering deleted or lost data associated with the hardware command used by the drive TRIM, and with high sensitivity to power supply voltage drops: with such damage to memory chips, information from them is irretrievably lost.

In general, solid state drives have a number of advantages that standard hard drives do not have - in cases where speed, access speed, size and resistance to mechanical stress play a major role, SDD is aggressively replacing HDD.

How much SSD will you need?

The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing an SSD is its volume. On sale there are models with a capacity of 32 to 2000 GB.

The solution depends on the use case - you can install only the operating system on the drive, and limit yourself to the volume SSD in 60-128 GB, which will be sufficient for Windows and the installation of basic programs.

The second option is to use the SSD as the main media library, but then you will need 500-1000%20%D0%93%D0%B1%0A" rel="noopener nofollow">500-1000 GB disk, which will be quite expensive. This only makes sense if you are working with a large number of files that need to be accessed really quickly. As applied to the average user - not very rational price/speed ratio.

But there is another property of solid-state drives - depending on the volume, the write speed can vary greatly. The larger the disk capacity, the higher the write speed, as a rule. This is due to the fact that the SSD is able to use several memory crystals in parallel at once, and the number of crystals grows along with the volume. That is, in the same SSD models with different capacities of 128 and 480 GB, the difference in speed can vary by about 3 times.

Considering this feature, we can say that now the most optimal choice in terms of price / speed can be called 120-240 GB SSD models, they will be enough to install the system and the most important software, and maybe for several games.

Interface and form factor

2.5" SSD

The most common SSD form factor is the 2.5-inch format. It is a “bar” with dimensions of approximately 100x70x7mm, they may vary slightly from different manufacturers (± 1mm). The interface for 2.5” drives is usually SATA3 (6 Gb/s).

Advantages of the 2.5" format:

• Prevalence in the market, any volume is available
• Convenient and easy to use, compatible with any motherboard
• Democratic price

Disadvantages of the format:

• Relatively low speed among ssds - up to a maximum of 600 Mb / s per channel, against, for example, 1 Gb / s for a PCIe interface
• AHCI controllers that were designed for classic hard drives

If you need a drive that is convenient and easy to mount in a PC case, and your motherboard has only SATA2 or SATA3 connectors, then 2.5%E2%80%9D%20SSD%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BA %D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%0A"rel="noopener nofollow"> 2.5" SSD drive- This is your choice. The system and office programs will obviously boot faster compared to the HDD, and the average user will not notice a big difference with faster solutions.

mSATA SSD

There is a more compact form factor - mSATA, dimensions 30x51x4 mm. It makes sense to use it in laptops and any other compact devices where the installation of a conventional 2.5” drive is impractical. If they, of course, have an mSATA connector. In terms of speed, this is still the same SATA3 specification (6 Gb / s), and does not differ from 2.5".

M.2 SSD

There is one more, the most compact M.2%0A" rel="noopener nofollow">M.2 form factor gradually replacing mSATA Designed mainly for laptops Dimensions - 3.5x22x42(60.80) mm There are three different lengths of brackets - 42, 60 and 80 mm , pay attention to compatibility when installing in your system.Modern motherboards offer at least one U.2 slot for M.2 format.

M.2 can be either SATA or PCIe. The difference between these interface options is in speed, and quite a big one at that - SATA drives can boast an average speed of 550 Mb / s, while PCIe, depending on the generation, can offer 500 Mb / s per lane for PCI-E 2.0. and speeds up to 985 Mb/s per PCI-E 3.0 lane. Thus, an SSD installed in a PCIe x4 slot (with four lanes) can exchange data at speeds up to 2 Gb / s in the case of PCI Express 2.0 and up to almost 4 Gb / s when using PCI Express third generation.

At the same time, the differences in price are significant, an M.2 form factor drive with a PCIe interface will cost, on average, twice as much as a SATA interface with the same volume.

The form factor has a U.2 connector, which can have connectors that differ from each other in keys - special “cutouts” in them. There are keys B and , and also B&M. They differ in speed on the PCIe bus: the M key will provide speeds up to PCIe x4, the M key will provide speeds up to PCIe x2, as well as the combined B&M key.

(4:medium)(6:medium)

The B-connector is incompatible with the M-connector, the M-connector, respectively, with the B-connector, and the B&M connector is compatible with any. Be Careful When Purchasing an SSD%0A%20%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%20 M.2%0A" rel="noopener nofollow">SSD format M.2 , as the motherboard, laptop or tablet must have a suitable connector.

PCI-e SSD

Finally, the last existing form factor is SSD%0A,%20%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BA%20%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%20%D1%80%D0%B0%D1% 81%D1%88%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F%20 PCI-E%0A" rel="noopener nofollow">SSD as a PCI-E expansion card. Mounted, respectively, in the PCI-E slot, have the highest speed, about 2000 MB/s read and 1000 MB/s write. Such speeds will cost you very dearly: it is obvious that choosing such a drive is worth it for professional tasks.

NVM Express

There are also SSDs having the new logical NVM%20Express%0A" rel="noopener nofollow">NVM Express interface designed specifically for solid state drives. It differs from the old AHCI with even lower access latencies and high parallelism of memory chips due to a new set of hardware algorithms.
There are models on the market both with a connector M.2, and in PCIe . The downside of PCIe here is that it will take up an important slot, which can be useful for another board.

Since the NVMe standard is designed specifically for flash memory, it takes into account its features, while AHCI is still only a compromise. Therefore, NVMe is the future of SSDs and will only get better over time.

What type of memory is best in an SSD?

Let's look at the types of SSD memory. This is one of the main characteristics of an SSD, which determines the cell rewriting resource and speed.

MLC (Multi Level Cell)- the most popular type of memory. Cells contain 2 bits, unlike the 1st bit in the old type SLC which is almost out of stock. This results in a larger volume, which means a lower cost. Recording resource from 2000 to 5000 rewriting cycles. In this case, "overwriting" means overwriting each cell of the disk. Therefore, for a 240 GB model, for example, you can record at least 480 TB of information. So, the resource of such an SSD, even with constant intensive use, should be enough for 5-10 years of commercials (for which it will still be very outdated). And for home use, it will last for 20 years at all, so the limited rewriting cycles can be completely ignored. MLC is the best combination of reliability/price.

TLC (Triple Level Cell)- it follows from the name that 3 bits of data are stored in one cell at once. The recording density here, in comparison with MLC, is higher by as much as 50%, which means that the rewriting resource is less - from only 1000 cycles. Access speed is also lower due to higher density. The cost now is not much different from the MLC. It has long been widely used in flash drives. The service life is also sufficient for a home solution, but the susceptibility to uncorrectable errors and the "death" of memory cells is noticeably higher, and during the entire service life.

3D NAND- it is more a form of memory organization, and not its new type. There is both MLC and TLC 3D NAND. Such a memory has vertically placed memory cells, and a separate memory chip in it has several levels of cells. It turns out that the cell has a third spatial coordinate, hence the prefix "3D" in the name of the memory - 3D NAND. It features a very low error rate and high endurance due to the larger process technology of 30-40nM.
The manufacturer's warranty for some models reaches 10 years of use, but the cost is high. The most reliable type of memory in existence.

Differences between cheap SSDs and expensive ones

Disks of the same volume can differ greatly in price even from the same manufacturer. A cheap SSD can differ from an expensive one in the following ways:

· Cheaper type of memory. In ascending order of cost / reliability, conditionally: TLC ≥ MLC ≥ 3D NAND.
· Cheaper controller. Also affects read/write speed.
· Clipboard. The cheapest SSDs may not have a clipboard at all, this does not make them much cheaper, but it significantly reduces performance.
· Protection systems. For example, expensive models have power interruption protection in the form of reserve capacitors, which allow you to correctly complete the write operation and not lose data.
Brand. Of course, a more popular brand will be more expensive, which does not always mean technical superiority.

Conclusion. What is more profitable to buy?

It is safe to say that modern SSD drives are quite reliable. The fear of data loss and the negative attitude towards solid state drives as a class are completely unjustified at the moment. If we talk about more or less popular brands, then even cheap TLC memory is suitable for budget home use, and its resource will last you for at least several years. Many manufacturers also offer a 3-year warranty.

So, if you are on a budget, then your choice is SSD%0A%20%D1%91%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%8E%20%D0%B2%20 60-128%20%D0%93%D0%B1%0A"rel="noopener nofollow">SSD with a capacity of 60-128 GB for installing the system and frequently used applications. The type of memory is not so critical for home use - it will be TLC or MLC, the disk will become obsolete before the resource is exhausted. Other things being equal, of course, it is worth choosing MLC.

If you are ready to look into the middle price segment and value reliability, then it is better to consider MLC SSD 200-500 GB. For older models, you will have to pay about 12 thousand rubles. At the same time, the volume will be enough for you for almost everything that should work quickly on a home PC. You can also take even more reliable models with 3D%20NAND%0A" rel="noopener nofollow">3D NAND memory chips.

If your fear of flash wear and tear reaches panic levels, then you should look at new (and expensive) technologies in the form of 3D%20NAND%0A" rel="noopener nofollow"> 3D NAND drive format. Joking aside, this is the future of SSD - high speed and high reliability are combined here. Such a drive is suitable even for important server databases, since the write resource here reaches petabytes, and the number errors are minimal.

I would like to allocate SSD% 20% D0% BD% D0% B0% D0% BA% D0% BE% D0% BF% D0% B8% D1% 82% D0% B5% D0% BB% D0% B8% 20 into a separate group %D1%81%20%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%84%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BC %20 PCI-E" rel="noopener nofollow">SSD drives with PCI-E interface. They have high read and write speeds (1000-2000 Mb / s), and are on average more expensive than other categories. If you put speed at the forefront, then this the best choice. The disadvantage is that it occupies a universal PCIe slot; motherboards of compact formats can have only one PCIe slot.

Out of competition - SSD with NVMe logical interface, the reading speed of which exceeds 2000 Mb / s. Compared to the compromise logic for SSD AHCI, it has a much greater queue depth and parallelism. High cost on the market, and the best performance - the choice of enthusiasts or professionals.

Many computer users have come across the word SATA more than once, but not many people know what it is. Is it worth paying attention to when choosing hard drive, system fee or a ready-made computer? Indeed, in the characteristics of these devices, the word SATA is now often mentioned.

We give a definition

SATA is a serial data transfer interface between various storage devices, which has replaced the parallel ATA interface.

Start of work on the creation this interface has been organized since 2000.

In February 2000, at the initiative of Intel, a special working group was created, which included the leaders of IT technologies of those and present times: Dell, Maxtor, Seagate, APT Technologies, Quantum and many other equally significant companies.

As a result of two years of collaboration, the first SATA connectors appeared on motherboards at the end of 2002. They were used to transfer data through network devices.

And since 2003, the serial interface has been integrated into all modern motherboards.

To visually feel the difference between ATA and SATA, see the photo below.

Serial ATA interface.

New interface at the software level, compatible with all existing hardware devices and provide a higher data transfer rate.

As you can see from the photo above 7 contact wire has a smaller thickness, which provides a more convenient connection to each other various devices, and also allows you to increase the number of Serial ATA connectors on the motherboard.

In some models of motherboards, their number can reach as many as 6.

Lower operating voltage, fewer pins and microcircuits reduced the heat dissipation of the devices. Therefore, SATA port controllers do not overheat, which ensures even more reliable data transfer.

However, it is still problematic to connect the majority of modern disk drives to the Serial ATA interface, so everyone producing modern motherboards has not yet abandoned the ATA (IDE) interface.

Cables and Connectors

Two cables are used for full data transfer through the SATA interface.

One, 7 pin, directly for data transfer, and the second, 15 pin, power, for supplying additional voltage.

At the same time, a 15-pin power cable is connected to the power supply, through a regular 4-pin connector that outputs two different voltages, 5 and 12 V.

The SATA power cable provides an operating voltage of 3.3V, 5V, and 12V at a current of 4.5A.

Cable width 2.4 cm.

To ensure a smooth transition from ATA to SATA, in terms of power connections, on some models of hard drives you can still see the old 4-pin connectors.

But as a rule, modern hard drives already come with only a 15-pin new connector.

The Serial ATA data cable can be connected to the hard drive and the motherboard even when the latter are enabled, which could not be done in the old ATA interface.

This is achieved due to the fact that the ground leads in the area of ​​the interface contacts are made a little longer than the signal and power ones.

Therefore, when connecting, the ground wires first contact, and only then all the others.

The same can be said about the power 15 pin cable.

Table, Serial ATA power connector.

SATA configuration

The main difference between the SATA and ATA configurations is the absence of special switches and Master/Slave chips.

And also there is no need to choose a place to connect the device to the cable, because there are two such places on the ATA cable, and the device that is connected at the end of the cable is considered the main one in the BIOS.

The absence of Master / Slave settings not only greatly simplifies the hardware configuration, but also allows you to install operating systems more quickly, for example, .

Speaking of BIOS, the settings in it will also not take much time. You will quickly find everything and set it up there.

Transfer rate

The data rate is one of important parameters, for the improvement of which the SATA interface was developed.

But this indicator in this interface has been constantly increasing and now the data transfer rate can reach up to 1969 MB / s. Much depends on the generation of the SATA interface, and there are already 5 of them.

The first generations of the serial interface, version "0", could transfer up to 50 MB / s, but they did not take root, as they were immediately replaced by SATA 1.0. the data transfer rate of which even then reached 150 MB / s.

The time of the appearance of the SATA series and their capabilities.

Series:

1. 1.0 - debut time 01/07/2003 - the maximum theoretical data transfer rate is 150 MB / s.
2. 2.0 - will appear in 2004, fully compatible with version 1.0, the maximum theoretical data transfer rate is 300 MB / s or 3 Gb / s.
3. 3.0 - Debut time July 2008, start of release May 2009. Theoretical maximum speed is 600 MB/s or 6 Gb/s.
4. 3.1 - debut time July 2011, speed - 600 MB / s or 6 Gb / s. A more advanced version than in paragraph 3.
5. 3.2, as well as the SATA Express specification included in it - release date 2013. In this version, there was a merger of SATA and PCIe devices. The data transfer speed has increased to 1969 MB / s.

In this interface, data transfer is carried out at a speed of 16 Gb / s or 1969 MB / s due to the interaction of two PCIe Express and SATA lines.

The SATA Express interface began to be implemented in Intel 9-series chipsets and was still little known at the beginning of 2014.

If they do not take root in the jungle of IT technologies, then in a nutshell we can say this.

Serial ATA Express is a kind of crossover bridge that converts the normal signal transmission mode in SATA mode to a faster one, which is possible thanks to the PCI Express interface.

eSATA

eSATA is used to connect external devices, which once again confirms the versatility of the SATA interface.

More reliable connectors and ports are already used here.

The disadvantage is that to work external device You need a separate dedicated cable.

But interface developers soon solved this problem by introducing a power supply system directly into the main cable in the eSATAp interface.

eSATAp is a modified eSATA interface that uses USB 2.0 technology. The main advantage of this interface is the transmission of voltages of 5 and 12 Volts through wires.

Accordingly, there are eSATAp 5 V and eSATAp 12 V.

There are other interface names, it all depends on the manufacturer. You may come across similar names: Power eSATA, Power over eSATA, eSATA USB Hybrid Port (EUHP), eSATApd, and SATA/USB Combo.

See the interface below.

The Mini eSATAp interface has also been developed for laptops and netbooks.

mSATA

mSATA - implemented since September 2009. Designed for use in laptops, netbooks and other small PCs.

The photo above, as an example, shows two drives, one regular SATA, it is at the bottom. Above is a disk with an mSATA interface.

For those who are interested, you can get acquainted with the characteristics of mSATA drives.

Such drives are installed in almost every ultrabook.

The mSATA interface is rarely used in conventional computers.

mSATA to Serial ATA Converter.

Conclusion

From the above, it is clear that the SATA serial data interface has not yet fully exhausted itself.

Current development trends are such that the PCI Express bus should soon replace the SATA 6 Gb / s interface everywhere - this is already included in the SATA 3.2 specification version. Further development of SATA suggests that desktop SSDs will retain their usual design, but will be connected via a special SATA Express interface, which will introduce a new type of connectors and cables. At the same time, SATA Express combines two SATA 6 Gb / s interfaces (they are needed for backward compatibility with older drives) and several PCI Express lanes. The first generation SATA Express ports currently available on motherboards based on the Intel Z97 chipset (Figure 1) use two second generation PCI Express lanes, which means that the peak throughput of the current SATA Express implementation has increased to 1 GB / s .

The second option provided by the specification for connecting drives via the PCI Express bus is specialized M.2 slots (also known as NGFF), primarily aimed at mobile applications. These slots, which are relatively small and therefore ideal for thin and ultra-thin laptops, combine one SATA 6 Gb / s interface and several PCI Express lanes. In the first version, which is now widely used on motherboards based on ninth-generation Intel chipsets, again, two PCI Express 2.0 lanes are used. In other words, M.2 slots can be viewed as a simple mobile adaptation of the SATA Express interface.

Rice. 1. Updated Intel Rapid Storage Technology, supports M.2 and SATA Express PCIe drives (enables Intel® Rapid Storage Technology features with PCI Express* based SSDs).

In fact, SATA Express and M.2 are designed to solve the same problem - connecting high-speed drives via the PCI Express interface, for which SATA performance is no longer sufficient. However, the architecture of these interfaces is noticeably different.

SATA Express is designed with two standard SATA 3.0 ports and an additional four-pin connector - all combined into one connector. It is designed for drives used in conventional PCs; either two SATA drives or one high-speed SSD with PCI Express x2 interface can be connected to it, respectively. It is worth recalling that the SATA port has 7 pins, and for the operation of one PCI Express channel, 9 pins are required. Hence the need for an additional four-pin connector - two PCI Express lines need 18 pins, and this is exactly what the SATA Express connector provides: 7 + 7 + 4. Obviously, a special cable is required to use PCI Express x2. But there are no power lines in the PCI Express interface. The bandwidth of PCI Express x2 is 16 Gb / s - this is more than the total performance of two SATA 3.0 channels (12 Gb / s) and is more than enough for even the most modern and fast SSD. By the way, at the moment, drives with PCI Express interface are still exotic and inaccessible to the mass user.

Another thing is M.2 - serial devices with this interface have already been released enough. But if SATA Express is focused on desktop PCs and allows you to connect traditional SSD and hard drives, M.2 is intended for use in mobile devices such as laptops and tablets, together with drives designed as an expansion card and plugged directly into the connector. Like SATA Express, the M.2 interface provides backward compatibility with SATA, but since more than one device cannot be physically connected to it at the same time, only one SATA 3.0 channel is provided. But this made it possible to implement a larger number of PCI Express lines - M.2 devices have four such channels with a total bandwidth of 32 Gb / s. The interface also provides power to the plug-in expansion board, which, by the way, does not have to be a drive at all - M.2 allows you to connect Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controllers, GPS modules, NFC and other types of devices. It is also worth noting that, in addition to SATA 3.0 and PCI Express x4, the M.2 interface also provides USB 3.0, so it is not difficult to implement the devices listed above in the M.2 expansion card format.

The new Z97 chipset allows you to use physical contact lines in various configurations and, depending on the type of connected device, switch them to SATA, PCI Express or USB ports. The updated version of Intel Rapid Storage Technology is responsible for the operation of SSDs, including high-speed ones, guarantees the operation of standard and specialized functions, including as part of RAID arrays. In addition, the Z97 chipset provides compatibility with the next generation of processors (Haswell Refresh) without updating. motherboard BIOS fees.

Rice. 2. High-speed M.2 and SATA Express interfaces for storage subsystem. Wiring diagram for all slot and socket controllers to the Intel Z97 chipset.

For many users, the SATA Express interface appeared almost out of nowhere, rapidly breaking into the familiar environment of computer technology. And all thanks to Intel and its partners. The first one ensured its integration in Intel 9-series chipsets, and the second ones ensured its implementation in new motherboards created on the basis of these chipsets. It is noteworthy that until the spring of 2014, only computer enthusiasts and specialized specialists knew about the development of the SATA Express (SATA 3.2) specification. What is SATA Express? Where did it come from and what is its purpose? What should we prepare for in the future?

To give exhaustive answers to these questions, let's look into the history of ATA interfaces, because everything in our life is interconnected and any event is, on the one hand, the logical conclusion of the reasons that gave rise to it, and on the other hand, the reason for subsequent incidents.

So let's think back to 2003, when the first generation SATA interface specification, known as SATA 1.5Gb/s, was introduced. It replaced AT Attachment, later renamed Parallel ATA (PATA). Since AT Attachment at one time "grew" from the Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) standard developed by Western Digital, many people remember it as IDE. Why did it become necessary to replace the PATA interface? First, the problematic issue was the further increase in its throughput, which has increased from 16 to 133 MB / s over the history of its existence. Secondly, there was a rather complex and expensive implementation of cables, which used 40 or 80 lines. In addition, they were inconvenient when stacked in computer cases, taking up a lot of space. Thirdly, it should be recalled that PATA drives cannot be hot-swapped. Fourth, we should not forget about the problematic implementation of queue protocols in data processing. These and other reasons forced us to abandon the parallel interface and switch to a more compact and promising serial one.

The SATA interface evolved quite quickly and already in 2009 a version of SATA 6 Gb / s appeared with a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 600 MB / s or 4.8 Gb / s. In practice, speeds reach 550 MB / s, which is currently more than enough for most ordinary users, for example, to run SSD drives.

But almost the same reasons that once led to the abandonment of PATA and the transition to SATA, have become in the way of further development of this interface - the circle has closed and its life cycle has entered the final segment. When they started working on the next increase in SATA bandwidth (the SATA 12Gb/s specification, or SAS 3.0), they noticed that it was quite difficult to achieve the desired result. Firstly, the implementation of the logic becomes much more complicated, which leads to the need to integrate additional blocks, increase the area of ​​the controller and increase the cost of its production. Secondly, the complexity of the implementation of the operation protocol increases significantly. Thirdly, not all lines work stably when the data transfer rate increases to 12 Gbps. Another negative point was the increase in power consumption, which is absolutely unacceptable in modern realities, because energy efficiency is one of the priorities in the development of new devices. Ultimately for effective work at its performance limits, the SATA 12Gb/s interface would take a few more years, so its integration would hardly pay off in home systems.

What was the way out of this situation? Pretty simple: take a familiar and promising interface that has already proven itself well. We are talking about PCI Express. Recall that in the PCI Express 2.0 specification, one line provides information transfer at a speed of 500 MB / s in each direction, that is, we get a total figure of 1 GB / s, which is significantly higher than 600 MB / s for SATA 6 Gb / s. The number of involved lines can be increased, which guarantees excellent scalability in the future, and the transition to new versions of the standard will also increase speed performance. In particular, the PCI Express 3.0 version already assumes a speed of 985 MB/s in each direction (1970 MB/s in both directions). For PCI Express 4.0, this figure will already be at the level of 1969 MB / s (3938 MB / s in two directions). As you can see, the potential is huge.

What else can PCI Express offer? Firstly, a very wide integration, because absolutely all desktop processors have a controller for this bus. Secondly, it is quite energy efficient. Thirdly, the use of the Separate Reference Clock with Independent Spread Spectrum Clocking or SRIS architecture, which was developed and implemented by ASUS engineers, eliminates the use of a separate clock generator by the host controller. This provides a transition to cheaper PCIe cables and ensures correct recognition of SATA Express devices.

The sum of all these factors gives us the simplicity of the final implementation, the ease of increasing the level of performance, the relatively low financial costs for further development and sufficiently high energy efficiency.

And again, we note similar historical moments: for better compatibility, SATA Express is based on the SATA standard, just as SATA used the ATA base to more easily replace the PATA interface. Who said history doesn't repeat itself?

As you may have guessed, SATA Express is essentially just a "bridge" that translates computer equipment to the high-speed capabilities of the PCI Express interface, while maintaining compatibility with the traditional connector. That is why IT professionals define SATA Express primarily as a specification for a new type of connector that allows signal routing of PCI Express and SATA interfaces.

Along with SATA Express, the M.2 interface also actively entered the scene, which is just a reduced implementation of the same SATA Express, but with additional use USB 3.0 lines. However, the ultimate purpose of these interfaces is the same: to make the transition from the capabilities of SATA to the potential of PCI Express.

What do we have at the moment? The first motherboards use the SATA Express interface with two PCI Express 2.0 lanes. That is, their maximum throughput is 2 GB / s or 16 Gb / s. In practice, the indicator reaches only 10 Gb / s. ASRock's motherboard The ASRock Z97 Extreme6 used four PCI Express 3.0 lanes for the Ultra M.2 slot, theoretically increasing its throughput to 32Gbps. Potential, as they say, on the face.

As for the SATA 6 Gb / s interface, it will still be on the market for a long time, and will only be gradually replaced by the SATA Express interface or subsequent versions of PCI Express. For example, Western Digital stopped shipping PATA drives only at the end of 2013. That is, for another 5-7 years (or maybe more), the SATA interface will be an active component of computer systems.

Intel SSD DC P3700 Series with NVM Express

For the highest performance SSDs used in servers and cloud storage, the NVM Express interface has already been developed and is actively used. It is an optimized version of PCI Express exclusively for SSDs available as add-on cards and traditional 2.5-inch devices. At the same time, sequential read and write data speeds reach 2800 and 2000 MB / s, respectively. In the future, these solutions should also appear on the market for mass systems.

And now let's move on to the hero of this review, the drive (A256TU1D190004 SSD 256), and use it as an example to study the practical benefits of using the SATA Express interface.

Specification

Manufacturer and model		(A256TU1D190004 SSD 256)
Form factor
Interface
Controller used		ASMedia ASM1062R
Internal drives
		Memoright MS 801
	Quantity
	Total volume, GB
	Working mode
Dimensions, mm		100 x 70 x 9.5
Products webpage

Since the novelty is a kind of concept, it is not possible to find information about it on the official website. Therefore, we will consider the features of the tested solution as we get acquainted with it.

Appearance

We received the concept of the drive for testing, therefore, we will not be able to evaluate the information content of the package. Note that the box that ASUS HYPER EXPRESS comes in is quite large and perfectly protects it from external damage during transportation.

Inside the package is the media itself and the cable for data transfer and power supply. It is possible that a retail sample will also include instructions and some additional "bonuses" in the kit, but for most users this minimum set will be enough.

The drive has a nice appearance thanks to the sticker on the top cover, the pattern on which imitates brushed metal. The body of the novelty is indeed metal, but has the usual black matte finish. The reverse side of ASUS HYPER EXPRESS contains several stickers indicating its serial number and a list of received certificates. The inscription "Concept Edition" says that we are not dealing with an engineering sample, but the concept of a new device. Therefore, the retail version of the drive can still be significantly improved and improved.

The body of the novelty is made in a standard 2.5-inch format and has a thickness of 9.5 mm. At the same time, all mounting holes are also in the usual places, which makes it compatible with the corresponding bays for conventional SSDs.

One of the main features of the carrier is the data transfer interface introduced by the latest SATA Express. Next, we will consider it in more detail.

Internal organization

Unscrewing four screws allows us to access hardware drive. It is represented by a printed circuit board with elements placed on it, including two mSATA ports for installing drives of the appropriate form factor.

In the role of internal SSD, two Memoright MS 801 media (MRMAL5A256GTUM2C00) with a capacity of 256 GB each are used. Their technical specification is as follows:

Manufacturer and model		Memoright MS 801 (MRMAL5A256GTUM2C00)
Form factor
Interface		SATA 6Gb/s
Volume, GB
Controller used		Marvell 88SS9187
Memory type
Storage temperature, °C
Operating temperature, °C
Humidity, %
Maximum serial data transfer rate, MB/s
Maximum 4 KB random block transfer rate, IOPS
Time between failures, hours (MTBF)
Overall dimensions, mm
Products webpage

The central place in these drives is occupied by the Marvell 88SS9187 controller. Toshiba TH58TEG9DDJBA89 banks with a multi-level structure, manufactured using a 19-nm process technology, are used as memory chips. Chips are placed on both sides of the drives, and the volume of each of them is 64 GB. There is also the use of additional cache memory manufactured by Micron (marking 2TE12). New items support a number of certificates, among which are FCC, CE and RoHS.

Among the advantages of bundled SSDs, it should be noted a significant time between failures, which is more than 2,100,000 hours, which is very important, because these drives operate in RAID 0 mode, and the failure of one of them will lead to the loss of all information stored on them.

Note that the total capacity of the two drives is 512 GB, but 1/16 of this capacity (32 GB) is reserved by the system for effective use all memory cells thanks to special algorithms.

Inside ASUS HYPER EXPRESS, a printed circuit board of its own production is used, which is clearly hinted at by the inscription "ASUS COOPER".

A prominent place on the board is occupied by the ASMedia ASM1062R controller, designed to create a RAID 0 array with two installed drives. Judging by the numerous reviews on the net, it does not support TRIM technology, which is designed for complete removal information from memory cells and freeing them to write new data.

The trimcheck-0.6 utility confirmed this fact. It is difficult to say how much it will affect the operation of the drive, since the technology itself is designed to prevent a gradual drop in the speed of SSDs when deleting unnecessary data. Therefore, its absence can manifest itself only after some time.

On the one hand, the bundled cable has a SATA Express connector for connecting to the system board, and on the other, a corresponding interface for connecting a drive. Additionally, there is also a standard SATA connector for supplying power to the new product.

On the bench mother ASUS board Z97-DELUXE has two SATA Express interfaces. One of them (SATA Express_1) is controlled by the ASMedia ASM106SE controller and is combined with the adjacent M.2 interface, therefore, only one of them can work at the same time. The operation of the second connector, designated SATA Express_E1, is ensured Intel chipset Z97, while it is also combined with two USB 3.0 ports (USB3_E56) and a PCI Express x16 interface (PCIe x16_3). By default, the motherboard automatically detects which of the specified connectors the devices are connected to.

At the same time, in the lower right corner of the board there are also special connectors (SATA_E_1_CLK and SATA_E_E1_CLK), the closure of which allows you to indicate the use of the corresponding SATA Express interfaces. They allow you to avoid some unpleasant moments, for example, when a drive with a SATA Express interface is not detected by the system. Closing the contacts leads to the fact that a clock signal of a certain frequency is applied to the device, therefore, the BIOS of the board correctly recognizes the drive. The need for jumpers should soon be eliminated as the frequency generator will be placed directly on the printed circuit board drive (SRIS architecture). We will definitely check the speed performance of the novelty in the mode automatic detection and with the CLK jumper installed on the switch to find out which one is more preferable for the end user.

The HD Tune Pro utility confirms the absence of TRIM technology support, while noting that the drive supports the S.M.A.R.T monitoring system. and hardware NCQ command sequencing:

• NCQ (native command queuing) - hardware command queuing, which allows you to optimize the performance of the drive;
• S.M.A.R.T. (self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology) - a monitoring system that monitors the state of the drive, making it possible to predict the time of its failure.

File system

The memory capacity of the novelty is 447 GB or 480 billion bytes. The mismatch with 480 GB is due to the decimal conversion of memory units. Such a marketing ploy is used by drive manufacturers in the entire range of products.

Testing

To test the ASUS HYPER EXPRESS SSD, the following test bench was used:

Motherboard	ASUS Z97-DELUXE (Intel Z97, Socket LGA1150, DDR3, ATX)
CPU	Intel Core i7-4770K (LGA1150, 3.5 GHz, 8 MB L3 cache)
CPU cooler
RAM	2 x 4 GB DDR3-2400 TwinMOS TwiSTER 9DHCGN4B-HAWP
video card	AMD Radeon HD 6970 2 GB GDDR5
HDD	Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS, 500 GB, SATA-300, NCQ
optical drive	ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA
Power Supply	Seasonic X-660 Gold (SS-660KM Active PF), 650W, 120mm Fan
Operating system	Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit

The first conclusion that can be drawn from the ASUS HYPER EXPRESS test results is that the use of the SATA Express interface allows you to achieve truly outstanding performance. So, in our case, we are talking about operating speeds up to 690 - 820 MB / s (depending on the utility used), while even the most productive solutions with a SATA 6 Gb / s interface showed maximum results at about 500 MB / s.

Let's look at the results obtained in more detail. CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD Benchmark show very similar results. So, the read speed from the media was 616 - 674 MB / s, and the recording is even a little faster - at the level of 688 - 735 MB / s. In EVEREST, the linear read performance of the novelty is also high and amounts to 665 - 715 MB / s. Other SSDs in this test, as we see, do not exceed the mark of 500 MB / s.

Despite such high performance in many benchmarks, the record results of the tested drive were obtained in the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit utility. So, when recording video on ASUS HYPER EXPRESS, the copy speed was 769 - 820 MB/s. Slightly lower, but still impressive were the speeds of playing HD-video in 2 and 4 streams - from 689 to 742 MB / s. Thanks to such high performance, the average result of the novelty in Intel NAS PT was 467 - 513 MB / s, while the capabilities of conventional SSDs were in the range of 280 - 360 MB / s.

But the well-known HD Tune Pro utility is perhaps the only one whose results do not fit into the overall picture obtained using other programs. It is rather difficult to talk about the reasons for this circumstance, since each of the testing applications has its own algorithms. At the same time, the results of four other utilities clearly demonstrate the significant advantage of the novelty over conventional SSDs.

As for the CLK jumper, as testing has shown, it is best to close it, because in this mode, in most cases, there is a noticeable increase in performance.

findings

Familiarity with the drive allowed us to also explore the possibilities new version serial interface for data transfer - SATA Express.

The use of SATA Express in the test media allows you to achieve speeds up to 820 MB / s. This is not the maximum for this specification or for the drive, as the limiter in this case the capabilities of Memoright MS 801 mSATA solutions stand out. Therefore, the use of more efficient media inside ASUS HYPER EXPRESS will make it possible to create an even faster drive. But the result obtained during the testing process is very good, since under normal conditions it is achievable either when creating a RAID array, or in the case of using SSDs with a PCIe interface, which are now very expensive. Although for the sake of fairness, we note that the cost of the tested novelty also remains unknown.

Technologically, ASUS HYPER EXPRESS uses precisely RAID array 0 of two mSATA drives. Since ASUS does not release its own SSD this format, then the created device can be considered as a pocket for installing two compact media. Moreover, the network has information about the possible sale of new items without drives, therefore, the choice in this case already falls on users, which can only be regarded as a positive step towards the buyer.

As testing has shown, in the case of using a drive with a SATA Express interface, the mode with the SATA_CLK jumper installed will be more preferable, which will further increase the already considerable performance. In the future, the widespread integration of the SRIS architecture will eliminate the need to use this jumper.

So, we have learned in what direction interfaces for connecting drives will develop in the near future. Now it remains to be seen how quickly upcoming SSDs can exhaust the bandwidth of the SATA Express interface and require something even faster. It's hard to say how fast this will happen, we'll wait and see.

Advantages:

• high speeds, possible due to high throughput;
• pleasant appearance;
• using a standard 2.5-inch form factor with appropriate mounts.

Peculiarities:

• it is desirable to install a jumper on the system board (SATA_CLK);
• noiselessness of work;
• high reliability due to the absence of moving parts;
• low sensitivity to vibration;
• low power consumption.

Disadvantages:

• lack of support for TRIM technology.

We express our gratitude to the Ukrainian representative office of the company ASUS for the drive provided for testing.

We are grateful to companiesAMD , ASUS , Intel , Kingston and Sea Sonic for the equipment provided for the test bench.

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I recently purchased ASUS laptop K501UX, and on YouTube, and I was asked if it is possible to replace the usual HDD disk a modern, significantly more productive SSD drive? Of course you can, but why? Not in the sense that for some reason I am against new technologies, but, it seems to me, a stereotype of thinking has already formed: throw away the hard drive, install a solid-state drive in its place, and grace will come. So it is, but everything is a little more interesting. Installing an SSD in a laptop can be done in several ways. Let's figure it out. Consider laptop hard drive interfaces, their options and capabilities.

HDD vs SSD

Describe the benefits solid state drives there is no sense in front of ordinary hard drives. The merits and demerits of each are well known to anyone who distinguishes a "C note from an F note", or, in computer terms, a processor socket from a disk interface. I want to talk about something else. In order not to be unfounded, let's take for example a couple of modern SSDs belonging to different classes, from budget to top-end productive devices. Well, for the company - regular hard drive, just for comparison.

I’ll make a reservation right away that I will choose SSDs with a capacity of 256 GB, because I think that at the moment this is the optimal volume both in terms of money and enough space for installation operating system, desired programs. I'll take the Winchester with a capacity of 1 TB. For our conversation, the capacity of the disk is not important. I will immediately give some characteristics of each model, in particular, the peak read / write speed. The remaining parameters are of no interest to us at the moment.

Type	HDD	SSD
Model	HGST Travelstar 7K1000	SanDisk Plus	Samsung 850 EVO	PNY EP7011
Capacity, GB	1000	240	250	240
	120	530	540	525
	120	440	520	490
Estimated cost.	4600	3940	6700	14500

Have you noticed a pattern in all solid-state drives? The maximum read / write speed is almost the same for everyone. While the prices differ several times. Of course, other disk parameters, such as the controllers used, the type of flash memory installed, the speed of random read / write on blocks of different sizes, etc. will vary. Why is that?

The answer lies in the interface used to connect the drive, be it a hard drive or SSD for a laptop or desktop computer. Interfaces will be discussed further.

SATA, mSATA, M.2

Modern laptops, like desktop computers, have at least one, but more often several SATA connectors for connection. You can also find mSATA connector, or M.2. How do they differ, what can they offer in terms of speed performance and ease of use? A bit of theory.

I will warn you right away, I will operate with approximate figures that give a correct idea of ​​​​the capabilities of the interface, but do not complicate the calculations. For simplicity, we will consider 1000 bytes in kilobytes.

SATA

This interface has replaced the PATA, which has already gone down in history. Now there is a third version of this interface. Briefly mention the characteristics of each version:

1. SATA 1. The specification was introduced in 2003. The bus frequency on which the controller worked was 1.5 GHz. This made it possible to achieve a bandwidth of 1.5 Gb / s, or about 150 MB / s.
2. SATA 2. The bus frequency has been doubled to 3 GHz, which doubles the throughput to 3 Gb/s, or 300 MB/s.
3. SATA 3. The controller bus frequency increased again and reached 6 GHz. Bandwidth - 6 Gb / s, approximately 550-600 MB / s.

The question may arise, if there are 8 bits in a byte, then the bandwidth should be higher than indicated, because if you divide 6 Gb by 8, you get 750 MB / s. The fact is that when transmitting data, the coding system "8b / 10b" is used, in which each byte of data is accompanied by two bits of service information.

Given that SATA 3 is actively replacing older versions, it is he who is most interesting. If you take a closer look at the given throughput characteristics, you will notice one interesting thing: it is approximately equal to the read speed of SSD drives. Rather, it should be said the other way around - modern SSD drives have reached the ceiling of the SATA 3 interface capabilities during sequential read operations.

As for conventional hard drives, there are actually a lot of SATA 2 versions for them. No hard drive is able to reach its data transfer limit. What can we say about SATA 3. The expediency of using it is only when reading / writing to the hard drive buffer. Mechanics still does not allow to achieve such transmission speeds.

mSATA

This is a kind of modification of conventional SATA for use in laptops and other similar devices. It allows you to connect a compact SSD drive. Fundamentally no different from the same SATA 3, using the same controller with the same characteristics. Its presence in a laptop allows you to connect an additional solid state drive in a pair with a conventional hard drive or a 2.5-inch solid state drive that replaces it. Installing an SSD in a laptop of this form factor will still give a noticeable speed gain, and can be a very useful procedure for not the most modern computers.

M.2

Let's take a closer look at this drive connection interface. It replaced mSATA, has a different connector, and serves the same purpose - connecting compact SSD drives. By the way, not only them, this interface is suitable for installing expansion cards, for example, Wi-fi modules, Bluetooth adapters etc. Now we are interested in connecting disks.

And I'm interested because even though drives are connected to it, it differs significantly from SATA. And not just the plug. The beauty is that in addition to the SATA controller, the PCI-Express bus, which is more powerful in terms of speed characteristics, is also used. This bus has also reached the third version, which allows the M.2 interface to use 4 lanes of the PCI-Express bus.

If we translate this into numbers, then:

• PCI Express 2.0 with two lanes (PCI-E 2.0 x2) provides 8 Gb/s bandwidth, or approximately 800 MB/s.
• PCI Express 3.0 with four lanes (PCI-E 3.0 x4) gives 32 Gb/s, which corresponds to approximately 3.2 GB/s.

As you can see, a significant difference compared to SATA. True, it should be noted. The connected drive can use both the SATA interface and one of the PCI-Express options. In addition, it is important that the motherboard manufacturer ensures that the specifications for this interface are met.

Model	Plextor PX-256M7VG	Kingston HyperX Predator
Capacity, GB	256	240
Interface	SATA 3	PCI-E x4
Max. sequential read speed, MB/s	560	1290
Max. sequential write speed, MB/s	530	600
Estimated cost.	6100	11100

Let's explain the table. The Plextor drive uses the SATA interface, which imposes its own limitations on the speed of the drive's exchange with the controller. Opportunities are fully utilized. Kingston, on the other hand, works on a different bus, PCI-E, which significantly affects performance. Unfortunately, the price too, but that's another topic.

Continuing the conversation about the M.2 interface, one cannot but mention the differences in the connectors of this interface, which consist in the options for the location of the keys, i.e. cutouts. The connector format is as follows:

Key type	B key (M.2 socket2)	M key (M.2 socket3)
Scheme
Key location	Contacts 12-19	Contacts 59-66
Supported interfaces	PCIe ×2, SATA, USB 3.0, Audio, PCM, IUM, SSIC and I2C	PCIe ×4 and SATA

Accordingly, SSD drives also have several types of connectors:

Key type	b key	M key	M&B key
Scheme
Key location	Contacts 12-19	Contacts 59-66	Contacts 12-19 and 59-66
Supported interfaces	PCIe x2, SATA	PCIe ×4, SATA	PCIe x2, PCIe x4, SATA

As you can see, SSD drives are produced not only with B or M, but also with a universal M&B key, which allows you to install such a drive in any slot with a B or M key.

It immediately becomes clear why the M.2 connector is better than SATA, to which we are all accustomed. The name of the latter speaks for itself - there is only one interface for connecting disks, SATA, and there can be no options. At the same time, M.2, having all the characteristics of this interface, is also able to work on another bus, i.e. PCI-Express, and this, as they say, is completely different money. Rather, completely different speeds.

It should be said that the M.2 connector is very versatile, and is used to connect a wide variety of devices. The device type is determined by the location of the key, which prevents an unsupported device from being installed in this slot. For example, M.2 with key E (pins 24-31), as well as key A (pins 8-15) is used for WiFi connections and Bluetooth adapters, a number of other devices, but is not designed to connect SSD drives.

Moreover, the specification reserves keys that are not currently used, but may be in demand in the future. Key F is planned for use with future memory interfaces, keys C, D, G, etc. are also provided.

Finishing the marking, let's mention the following: the specifications of the connector on the motherboard often contain numbers, for example, "supports devices 2242, 2260, 2280". There is nothing wrong with this marking. Everything is simple. These are the dimensions of the disk for which there are fasteners, i.e. a platform into which a screw is screwed to fix the drive. It turns out that if support for 2280 drives is declared, this means that their dimensions should be 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.

Choosing and installing an SSD in a laptop

What to look for when choosing an M.2 SSD?

Firstly, on the type of key, although most models are offered with a universal M&B.

Secondly, the interface used by the disk. If this is SATA 3, then the exchange rate of approximately 550 MB / s is the ceiling. If PCI Express is used, then it is already more interesting, but also more expensive.

Questions about which controller is better, what memory is used, the availability of support for TRIM commands and other characteristics of specific drives are a topic for a separate discussion.

Conclusion

Let's summarize. Laptops, due to their compactness, do not provide a large choice in upgrading the disk system. It was always possible to replace the installed disk with a more capacious, productive one, or even replace it with a solid state one, losing in capacity, but gaining significantly in speed.

The presence of an M.2 connector in a laptop is a nice bonus, which gives an interesting opportunity to change the configuration and, most importantly, significantly increase the speed of exchange with drives. Several options are possible.

Option 1

Do not touch the hard drive, especially if it has a capacity of 1 TB or even higher, but install an M.2 (or mSATA) form factor SSD as a system drive. What do we get? After transferring the system to this disk, we have a fast bootable media with a full set of programs that are critical to the performance of disk operations. These can be graphics packages, video editing programs, and even "heavy" games. The hard drive remains as a file storage and for installing programs that do not need a high exchange rate with the drive. Thus, at the same time we save the resource SSD drive.

What are the disadvantages of this option? Oddly enough, increased power consumption. This is true for those who often work offline, without a network connection. It would seem that the SSD consumes a lot? A little, but it's different. The hard drive does not go anywhere, and still "eats" the battery. Replacing it with a solid state one slightly increases battery life. But it reduces the useful capacity of the disks.

In my opinion - the most optimal solution. Installing an SSD in a laptop is performed as an addition to the hard drive and also an SSD. That is exactly what I did.

Option 2

Use the smallest SSD for caching disk operations. A budget solution, a kind of half measure, but the computer will work faster.

Has the right to exist.

Option 3

Install an M.2 SSD, but do not make it a system one, but use it to run programs that need high performance disks.

M.2 may also be somewhat of a transitional phase in anticipation of the next generation of storage connectivity. In the meantime... For now, you should take advantage of what is available, use the M.2 connector to install an SSD drive, which is quite capable of overtaking the coolest 2.5-inch drive that can be put in place of a traditional hard drive. The interface allows it!