No Moving Parts
by Wally Beddoe
I sure do like the new 'hard drive' I installed in my laptop. Unlike traditional disk drives, this new drive (OCZ-Vertex 120GB) has no moving parts! Referred to as a "solid state drive" or SSD, these drives consist of memory chips, not rotating disks and spindles. 
Available for many years, but not cost-effective for consumer use until recently, these drives are becoming more affordable and it might be time to keep an open eye when shopping at your local computer store.
The benefits of the solid state drive are basically speed, power, and life.
Speed: No moving parts, the memory chips are lightning fast to return information to your screen. SSDs are faster at reading data than traditional hard drives so they make starting up your computer and starting application lightning fast. For example, when I start an application like Adobe Photoshop, what used to take about 60 to 90 seconds to start up, not takes about five seconds (actually, I just timed it, it took seven seconds). When I run Spybot Search & Destroy, which scans my computer for spy ware, instead of taking 17 minutes, it takes six. I can also run a large PowerPoint presentation without the obnoxious hourglass showing between slides. While the SSDs are fast at reading data, there is little improvement in writing to the drive but writing is as fast as with traditional drives, if not a little faster, so that's ok.
Power: No moving parts equals less power requirements which means batteries last much longer between charges. Everyone who regularly carries a laptop around understands the value of battery time.
Life: No moving parts means the life of the hard drive is exponentially increased. With no delicate or sensitive hardware to damage,the life and dependability of the drive are beyond anything we have experienced in the past. Risk of failure or data loss is also reduced significantly.
The solid state drives are much like the small key chain USB drives we all know and use, only in larger capacities. Booting from and running Windows from a memory drive is where the advantage is. The reason we don't see the SSD drives in all home computers is mainly a cost and capacity issue. Like all other technologies, prices do come down over time and become within reach of the consumer.
Maybe you will not see a solid state drive in the near future, but when you hear the term, you will know what they are talking about, and that is my objective. If you are interested, the best bet might be to have a solid state drive recommended and installed by a qualified technician.
Whatever your plans are, enjoy the day.
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