10 Reasons Why SSDs Are Better Than Mechanical Disks

“Have you ever heard the terms, head crash or stiction? Better
yet, have you ever experienced either of them? These terms are just
two of the unhappy occurrences associated with mechanical disks.
What if disks didn’t spin? What if there were a way to create
rewriteable storage in such a way that there were no platters, no
spindles and no heads? You’d have a solid state disk with no moving
parts. Solid state disks (SSDs) are all the rage for server
vendors, SAN vendors, and appliance manufacturers. Why? Not because
they’re cheap — they’re not. SSDs have several advantages over
traditional mechanical (spinning) disks. Here are 10 of the most
frequently quoted advantages of SSDs over mechanical disks.

“1. Life Expectancy

“Mechanical drives have an average life expectancy of three to
five years. Many fail long before the lower end of the average, and
few last beyond the upper end of the average. At three years, you
should seriously consider a refresh. At five years, you’re skating
on ice so thin it’s really just very cold water. Alternatively,
SSDs have life expectancies reaching into decades, although
trusting the 1 million to 2 million hour SSD expectancy claims
seems as ridiculous as the 500,000-hour claims of mechanical drive
manufacturers. Expect your SSDs to last two to three times longer
than mechanical drives.

“2. Performance”

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