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Samsung Deliver a Huge 16TB Solid State Drive

Apr 2016

You can never have enough storage on your PCs, so that’s why Samsung has now released a 16TB solid state drive (SSD) which is being called the biggest ever.

Samsung has decided that it’s time to solve all your storage issues with an integral SSD rather than investing in finicky cloud storage systems. The SSD – entitled PM1633a – has the business sector in its sights and is an impressive sign of intent by Samsung.

The PM1633a has such high density storage that it’s currently unparalleled in the PC market. It’s an exciting opportunity for businesses to get involved with premium storage, so it’s time you found out a little more.

What is the PM1633a?

SSDs are a relatively new form of storage system which has evolved from the traditional hard disk drive (HDD). The main benefit of SSDs over their HDD counterparts is the all important factor of speed. Whereas a HDD relies of mechanical parts to operate (hence all the whirring sounds), an SSD operates via flash memory, so is much faster and quieter.

Despite this edge in terms of speed, SSDs have traditionally been unable to match the huge amounts of storage real estate that HDDs have been capable of. However, Samsung’s PM1633a potentially signals the beginning of an era of dominance for SSDs by racing past HDDs.

The All Important Specs

The largest SSD storage capabilities currently available are around 8 – 10TB in size, but, in order to make a huge statement, Samsung has gone for 16TB with the PM1633a. This is close to double anything else currently available in the SSD market, but how has Samsung managed this?

In order to achieve such high storage, Samsung has really had to re-design the wheel. In the case of the PM1633a, Samsung has integrated their new 256GB V-NAND flash which has been stacked up in 48 layers. For comparison, Samsung’s previous foray into high storage SSDs was comprised of only 36 layers.

These figures are very impressive, but what exactly does it mean in terms of performance?

What Will The PM1633a Do For You?

Samsung’s new SSD will, rather obviously, provide huge amounts of storage for your business, but its magnificent benefits do not stop there. It will also provide the following:

A staggering 2 million input/output operations per second (IOPS). This is in stark contrast to the current average of 90,000 IOPS in SSDs. The higher the IOPS, the quicker you can save and access large files without your system grinding to a halt.
There is a high level of data protection on offer with the added bonus of a data restoration tool to protect against temporary blackouts and power issues.
The ability to write a total of 15.36TB of data every single day, so this is very attractive to businesses which process large amounts of data.

Is Samsung onto a Winner?

Samsung has predicted that there will be a huge demand for ultra-high storage and, when you take a look at the PM1633a’s specs, it’s difficult to argue against this.

The crucial difference with the PM1633a is not that it’s merely a behemoth of storage, it also promises to enhance your business operations by making PCs more productive. The smart money, therefore, is currently on Samsung to deliver a market leader in SSDs.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Are Solid State Drives Worth It?

hardwarehard drive, hardware, ssdOphtek, LLC

Aug 2015

Solid state drives are non-mechanical storage devices which reduce load times and replace hard drives. Are solid state drives worth it for a small business?

What is an SSD?

Traditionally, the hard drive of a computer has always been a hard disk drive (HDD) made up of spinning disks covered in a magnetic coating to allow data to be read/written.

An SSD, however, has no moving parts and is powered by Flash memory. Essentially it’s a giant USB memory stick. And we all know how much quicker they are than fiddling round with disks!

SSDs, therefore, have become increasingly popular due to the speeds offered. In fact, sales of SSDs are currently doubling each year as HDD sales fall.

But what is it about SSDs that make them so appealing?

The Benefits of an SSD

Increased Speed

We all get frustrated with the load up times for our computers and it’s even more irritating for business users who need to connect to numerous networks. However, by replacing an HDD with an SSD, users can find a 1 minute load time reduced to 15 seconds.

And it’s not just operating systems that receive this sprightly boost. Software such as Microsoft Office will also load in a fraction of the time.

Where SSDs really excel is their capacity to read and write data at speeds that are double that of an HDD. This results in a much quicker rate for creating and transferring files.

There are never enough hours in a business day, so anything which increases work time is a real bonus.

Better Data Integrity

A huge benefit of SSDs is that they’ll never crash and take all their data to silicon heaven. They simply stop writing data and preserve the current data load. Anyone who’s ever lost data to a hard drive crash will know that this is invaluable.

No Moving Parts

The fact that SSDs have no moving parts brings a number of benefits to your computer.

The main area of concern for a business is the process of wear and tear on an HDD due to the intense pressure the disk is put under by running at up to 7200rpm. An SSD, though, is never going to wear out and die.

No moving parts also make SSDs more energy efficient and help promote your business’ green image.

Is an SSD Worth the Extra Cost?

You’re probably getting quite excited over the prospect of SSDs, but they do have one drawback – the cost.

A 128gb SSD costs around $40 at the time of this writing, but a 160gb HDD can be as low as $15. This may not be a huge difference for a one off consumer, but if you’ve got a workforce of 50 computers then it begins to get pricey!

However, costs are dropping rapidly – as with all new technology – so SSDs are only going to become more affordable. You’re getting more bang for your buck with SSDs due to the increases in speed and reliability they offer.

For a small business, SSDs offer an exciting upgrade which will increase productivity and help your business reach the next level.