What Is SSD server storage?

Can you remember the spinning hard drive disks inside computers in the past? Those were HDDs (hard disk drives) which were electro-mechanical data storage devices that store and retrieve digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid quickly rotating platters coated with magnetic material, (sometimes also called “spinning rust”). But later came SSDs (solid-state drives) which were a storage device containing non-volatile flash memory, used in place of a hard disk because of its much greater speed. SSD is the new generation of storage device used in computers, faster than the bulky mechanical hard disks. 

In this article, we're going to explain what exactly is SSD server storage and why it’s one of the pillars of fast web hosting.

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What is SSD Storage?

SSD Storage was first developed by SanDisk in 1991. An SSD, or solid-state drive, is a kind of storage device used in computers. This non-volatile storage media stores persistent data on solid-state flash memory. SSDs are used in place of traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) in computers and they function just like a hard drive. The difference is that SSDs are notably faster. With an SSD, the device's OS will load more quickly, programs will load faster and files can be saved faster. SSDs have no moving parts to break or spin up or down and for this reason are more reliable than HDDs. 

SSD Function

Similar to a hard drive, SSDs store large amounts of data. The difference is that contrary to reading and writing data to a spinning platter like an HDD, SSDs store data on flash memory chips that are sometimes referred to as NAND flash memory. An SSD consists of a controller chip, too. This chip monitors the location of data on the device, and finds the requested data within the blink of an eye. Thus, they are incredibly fast.

Types of SSD Storage

Now that you've learned what SSD storage is, let's find out its types. There are two most common types of SSDs: SATA III and NVMe. SATA III is the older one. It has a legacy connector designed for HDDs from the start, and is therefore compatible with a wide range of devices. However, it is slower than the new standard, Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe), and is slowly being phased out. 

Non-Volatile Memory Express drives are faster, with lower latency and sustained read-write speeds of 2000MB per second, than SATA III drives which max out at 600MB per second. Also, NVMe drives connect to a computer through the PCIe interface rather than SATA. PCIe sockets transfer more than 25 times more data than the SATA equivalent.

Where are SSDs found?

SSDs have replaced many HDDs in desktop computers and laptops. SSDs are more expensive than HDDs (though the gap is continuously shrinking), so some computer manufacturers use smaller SSDs (combined with larger HDDs to store additional data). 

SSDs are also found in some servers. Here at A2 Hosting, we offer both SATA III and NVMe  SSD drive options.

Most of our plans offer SSD storage, but if you see the word Turbo attached to a plan name,  then it offers NVMe storage.