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Is it possible to disassemble an ssd drive? SSD for fast processors. What to do with an old hard drive

On budget computers, even with a good processor and other components, manufacturers sacrifice speed to save money hard drive, betting on volume.

Replacing the HDD in a laptop with an SSD will speed up the computer and, if desired, you can get additional storage if you purchase a special adapter.

What you need to know

Before making a replacement, you can worry about transferring the system. If you are planning to install a new OS, you can skip this point. Just transfer important files to a cloud service or flash drive.
If you want to change the drive while preserving the system, then the new memory storage must be large enough to accommodate all the necessary information.
If you have new laptop with a valid warranty, then after opening the laptop yourself you will lose it.

How to save a copy of Windows

When replacing an old HDD with a new SSD in a laptop, many users think about how to transfer the system to a new drive. For this purpose, special programs have been developed from laptop manufacturers.

Some of them:

Acer provides the “Acer eRecovery Management” utility;
at Sony – “VAIO Recovery Center”;
The Samsung company has “ Samsung Recovery Solution 5";
Toshiba satellite – “Recovery Disc Creator”;
HP Recovery Manager;
Lenovo solution center;
Asus has a "Backtracker" program;
MSI Recovery Manager;

Over time, the list may grow. You can find and download new versions of programs from official websites.

You can also use universal ones: Macrium Reflect Free, Macrium Reflect. They are supported on all Windows operating systems.

For each program there is detailed instructions on the developers’ website, but basically all the functionality is the same: you launch the program, choose what and where to copy, wait until the process is completed. After replacing the disk, you will see the desktop as it was.

Let's start replacing the hard drive

Below we will look at an example of replacing a hard drive with an SSD in Asus laptop. If your laptop is from another manufacturer, it’s okay; the principle is always the same for most models.

Before you begin disassembling your laptop, be sure to turn it off and remove the battery. And when working, try not to touch the components on the motherboard with a screwdriver or your hands; even the slightest scratch can damage it.

Let's start work:

If you decide to install a new system after replacement, then use Windows 7 and higher; Windows xp and Vista are not designed to work on an SSD drive and you may experience a drop in write speed. Also, versions 10 and 8 of the system are most optimized for running on a solid-state drive.
Otherwise, after you have installed the SSD, installing the OS will be no different from normal.

What to do with an old hard drive

1) The HDD drive can be installed as additional data storage instead of a DVD drive. They have long lost popularity and are practically not used.

To do this, you will need a special adapter that is inserted into the drive position. When choosing, pay attention to its height and width, since the dimensions disk drive depends on the thickness of the laptop itself. Also, the width of the adapter can also be different. The discrepancy between the dimensions will not hurt work hard disk, but if you are a perfectionist, then this drawback will get on your nerves.

Connecting a hard drive instead of a drive is not difficult; usually the adapter comes with instructions and the necessary tools. This method of use will be optimal for replacing the hard drive without reinstalling the system.

2) Or, you can buy an external case with a USB adapter and use HDD as a portable storage device.

First, let's look at what an SSD is. SSD is a solid-state drive (English SSD, Solid State Drive or Solid State Disk), a non-volatile, rewritable storage device without moving mechanical parts using flash memory. An SSD completely emulates the operation of a hard drive.

Let's see what's inside the SSD and compare it with its close relative USB Flash.

As you can see, there are not many differences. Essentially an SSD is a large flash drive. Unlike flash drives, SSDs use a DDR DRAM cache memory chip, due to the specifics of the operation and the data exchange speed between the controller and the SATA interface that has increased several times.

SSD controller.

The main task of the controller is to provide read/write operations and manage the data placement structure. Based on the block placement matrix, which cells have already been written to and which have not yet, the controller must optimize the write speed and ensure maximum long term SSD disk services. Due to the design features of NAND memory, it is impossible to work with each cell separately. The cells are combined into 4 KB pages, and information can only be written by occupying the entire page. You can erase data in blocks that are equal to 512 KB. All these restrictions impose certain responsibilities on the correct intelligent algorithm of the controller. Therefore, properly configured and optimized controller algorithms can significantly improve the performance and durability of an SSD drive.

The controller includes the following main elements:

Processor – usually a 16 or 32 bit microcontroller. Executes firmware instructions, is responsible for mixing and aligning data on Flash, SMART diagnostics, caching, and security.

Error Correction (ECC) – ECC error control and correction unit.

Flash Controller – includes addressing, data bus and control of Flash memory chips.

DRAM Controller - addressing, data bus and management of DDR/DDR2/SDRAM cache memory.

I/O interface – responsible for the data transfer interface to external SATA, USB or SAS interfaces.

Controller Memory – consists of ROM memory and a buffer. The memory is used by the processor to execute firmware and as a buffer for temporary data storage. In the absence of an external RAM memory chip, the SSD acts as the only data buffer.

On this moment The following controller models are used in SSDs:

Indilinx "Barefoot ECO" IDX110MO1

Indilinx "Barefoot" IDX110M00

Intel PC29AS21BA0

Marvel 88SS9174-BJP2

Samsung S3C29RBB01-YK40

SandForce SF-1200

SandForce SF-1500

Toshiba T6UG1XBG

Flash memory.

SSDs, like USB Flash, use three types of NAND memory: SLC (Single Level Cell), MLC (Multi Level Cell) and TLC (Three Level Cell). The only difference is that SLC allows you to store only one bit of information in each cell, MLC - two, and TLC - three cells (using different levels electric charge on a floating gate transistor), which makes MLC and TLC memory cheaper relative to capacity.

However, MLC/TLC memory has a lower resource (100,000 erase cycles for SLC, on average 10,000 for MLC, and up to 5,000 for TLC) and worse performance. With each additional level, the task of recognizing the signal level becomes more complicated, the time required to search for a cell address increases, and the likelihood of errors increases. Since SLC chips are much more expensive and their volume is lower, MLC/TLC chips are mainly used for mass solutions. At the moment, MLC/TLC memory is actively developing and is approaching SLC in speed characteristics. Also, low speed Manufacturers of SSD drives compensate for MLC/TLC with algorithms for alternating data blocks between memory chips (simultaneous writing/reading to two flash memory chips, a byte each) similar to RAID 0, and low resource by shuffling and monitoring the uniform use of cells. Plus, part of the memory capacity is reserved in the SSD (up to 20%). This is unavailable memory for standard write/read operations. It is needed as a reserve in case of cell wear, similar to magnetic HDD drives, which have a reserve for replacing bad blocks. The additional cell reserve is used dynamically, and as the primary cells physically wear out, a replacement spare cell is provided.

How does an SSD drive work?

To read a block of data in a hard drive, you first need to figure out where it is located, then move the block of magnetic heads to the desired track, wait until the desired sector is under the head and read it. Moreover, chaotic requests to different areas of the hard drive have an even greater impact on access time. With such requests, HDDs are forced to constantly “drive” their heads over the entire surface of the “pancakes”, and even reordering the command queue does not always help. But in SSD everything is simple - we calculate the address of the desired block and immediately get read/write access to it. There are no mechanical operations - all the time is spent on address translation and block transfer. The faster the flash memory, controller and external interface, the faster access to the data.

But when changing/erasing data in an SSD drive, everything is not so simple. NAND flash memory chips are optimized for sector-based operations. Flash memory is written in 4 KB blocks and erased in 512 KB blocks. When modifying several bytes inside a block, the controller performs the following sequence of actions:

Reads the block containing the block being modified into the internal buffer/cache;

Modifies the required bytes;

Performs a block erase on a flash memory chip;

Calculates a new block location according to the requirements of the shuffling algorithm;

Writes the block to a new location.

But once you have written information, it cannot be overwritten until it is cleared. The problem is that the minimum size of recorded information cannot be less than 4 KB, and data can be erased in at least 512 KB blocks. To do this, the controller groups and transfers data to free an entire block.

This is where OS optimization for working with HDD comes into play. When deleting files, the operating system does not physically clear sectors on the disk, but only marks the files as deleted and knows that the space they occupied can be reused. This does not interfere with the operation of the drive itself, and interface developers were not previously concerned about this issue. While this removal method helps improve performance when working with HDDs, it becomes a problem when using SSDs. With SSDs, like traditional hard drives, data is still stored on the disk after it has been deleted by the operating system. But the fact is that the solid-state drive does not know which of the stored data are useful and which are no longer needed and are forced to process all occupied blocks using a long algorithm.

Read, modify and write again in place, after clearing the memory cells affected by the operation, which from the OS point of view have already been deleted. Therefore, the more blocks on an SSD contain useful data, the more often you have to resort to the read>modify>clear>write procedure, instead of direct write. This is where SSD users are faced with the fact that the performance of the disk noticeably decreases as they fill up with files. The drive simply does not have enough pre-erased blocks. Clean drives demonstrate maximum performance, but during their operation real speed gradually begins to decline.

Previously, the ATA interface simply did not have commands to physically clear data blocks after deleting files at the OS level. They were simply not required for HDDs, but the advent of SSDs forced us to reconsider our attitude towards this issue. As a result, the ATA specification introduced a new DATA SET MANAGEMENT command, better known as Trim. It allows the OS to collect information about the driver at the driver level. deleted files and transfer them to the drive controller.

During periods of inactivity, the SSD independently cleans and defragments blocks marked as deleted in the OS. The controller moves the data to obtain more pre-erased memory locations, freeing up space for subsequent writes. This makes it possible to reduce delays that occur during work.

But to implement Trim, this command must be supported by the drive firmware and the driver installed in the OS. At the moment, only the latest SSD models “understand” TRIM, and for older drives you need to flash the controller to enable support for this command. Among operating systems, the Trim command is supported: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Linux 2.6.33, FreeBSD 9.0. For other operating systems, you need to install additional drivers and utilities.

For example, for SSDs from Intel there is special utility SSD Toolbox, which can perform synchronization with the OS on a schedule. In addition to optimization, the utility allows you to perform SSD diagnostics and view SMART data of all computer drives. Using SMART, you can estimate the current degree of wear of the SSD - parameter E9 reflects the remaining number of cleaning cycles of NAND cells as a percentage of the standard value. When the value, decreasing from 100, reaches 1, we can expect the rapid appearance of “broken” blocks.

About the reliability of SSDs.

It would seem that there are no moving parts - everything should be very reliable. This is not entirely true. Any electronics can break, SSDs are no exception. The low resource of MLC chips can still be dealt with somehow by ECC error correction, redundancy, wear control and shuffling of data blocks. But the biggest source of problems is the controller and its firmware. Due to the fact that the controller is physically located between the interface and the memory chips, the likelihood of it being damaged as a result of a failure or power problems is very high. In this case, the data itself is in most cases saved. In addition to physical damage, which makes it impossible to access user data, there are logical damages, which also impair access to the contents of memory chips. Any, even minor, error or bug in the firmware can lead to complete loss of data. Data structures are very complex. Information is “spread out” across several chips, plus interleaving, making data recovery quite a difficult task.

In such cases, the controller firmware with low level formatting, when service data structures are recreated. Manufacturers are constantly trying to improve the firmware, correct errors, and optimize the operation of the controller. Therefore, it is recommended to periodically update the drive firmware to eliminate possible failures.

SSD Security.

In an SSD drive, as in a HDD, data is not deleted immediately after the file has been erased from the OS. Even if you rewrite the top of the file with zeros, the physical data still remains, and if you take out the flash memory chips and read them on the programmer, you can find 4kb file fragments. Complete data erasure should wait until an equal amount of data has been written to the disk. free space+ reserve volume (approximately 4 GB for 60 GB SSD). If a file lands on a “worn out” cell, the controller will not soon overwrite it with new data.

Basic principles, features, differences in data recovery from SSD and USB Flash drives.

Recovering data from SSD drives is quite a labor-intensive and time-consuming process compared to portable flash drives. The process of finding the correct order, combining the results and selecting the necessary collector (an algorithm/program that completely emulates the operation of the SSD drive controller) to create a disk image is not an easy task.

This is primarily due to the increase in the number of chips in the SSD drive, which increases the number many times possible options actions at each stage of data recovery, each of which requires verification and specialized knowledge. Also, due to the fact that SSDs are subject to much more stringent requirements for all characteristics (reliability, performance, etc.) than mobile flash drives, the technologies and methods for working with data used in them are quite complex, which requires an individual approach to each decision and the availability of specialized tools and knowledge.

SSD optimization.

1. In order for the disk to serve you for a long time, you need to transfer everything that changes frequently (temporary files, browser cache, indexing) to the HDD, disable updating the time of last access to folders and directories (fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1). Disable file defragmentation in the OS.

2. Before installing Windows XP on an SSD, when formatting the disk, it is recommended to “align” the partitions to a power of two (for example, diskpart utility), otherwise the SSD will have to do 2 reads instead of one. In addition, Windows XP has some problems with supporting sectors larger than 512 KB (SSDs use 4 KB by default) and resulting performance problems. Windows Vista, Windows 7, latest versions Mac OS and Linux already align disks correctly.

3. Update the controller firmware if old version does not know the TRIM command. Install latest drivers to SATA controllers. For example, if you have an Intel controller, you can increase performance by 10-20% by enabling ACHI mode and installing the Intel Matrix Storage Driver in the operating system.

4. You should not use the last 10-20% of the free space of the partition, because this may adversely affect performance. This is especially important when TRIM is running, since it needs space to rearrange the data: for example, defragmentation utilities seem to work, because they also need at least 10% percent of the disk space. Therefore, it is very important to monitor this factor, because due to the small volume of SSDs, they fill up very quickly.

Benefits of SSD.

High speed of reading any data block, regardless of physical location (more than 200 MB/s);

Low power consumption when reading data from the drive (approximately 1 Watt lower than that of the HDD);

Reduced heat generation (internal testing at Intel showed that laptops with SSDs heat up 12.2° less than those with HDDs; testing also found that laptops with SSDs and 1 GB of memory are not inferior to models with HDDs and 4 GB of memory in common benchmarks);

Quietness and high mechanical reliability.

Disadvantages of SSD.

High power consumption when writing data blocks; power consumption increases with increasing storage capacity and the intensity of data changes;

Low capacity and high cost per gigabyte compared to HDD;

Limited number of write cycles.

Conclusion.

Due to the high cost SSD drives and with a small amount of memory, it is impractical to use them for storing data. But they are perfect as a system partition on which the OS is installed and on servers for caching static data.

1 - SATA interface

SSD drives exchange data with the computer via the SATA interface. Therefore, for tuning, the SATA hard drive in a PC or laptop can be replaced with a faster SSD drive. The version of the interface is important: most older models have a SATA 2 connector, which theoretically provides a maximum speed of up to 300 MB/s. Modern SSDs typically offer a SATA 3 interface (also called SATA 6 Gb/s) with a maximum data rate of 600 MB/s.

2 - Controller

The controller is the “brain” of the SSD; it controls the exchange of data between the SATA interface and memory modules. The more powerful the controller, the faster the SSD drive. For example, Marvell 88SS9174 can read or write up to 500 MB of data per second. To prevent premature wear of the SSD, the controller distributes write operations so that all memory cells are used as often as possible.

3 - Buffer memory

To increase speed, SSDs have an intermediate buffer that is several times faster than flash memory. In most models, the buffer memory ranges from 256 to 512 MB and, like PC RAM, consists of DDR3 modules. Frequent write operations to the same memory areas are taken over by the cache memory. This reduces the number of flash writes and increases the lifespan of the SSD.

4 - Flash memory

Each memory module in an SSD contains billions of memory cells made using flash technology. Tiny structures in the memory chip (for example, current-carrying paths for transporting data) are only 34 nm wide. For comparison, human hair is on average two thousand times thicker. To ensure high read and write rates, data from many memory modules is requested simultaneously. Thanks to this, the data transfer rates of individual chips are summed up.

Much has been written about SSD drives as the next generation of hard drives. And now, due to the floods in Thailand, I think the SSD position will be pumped to the limit.

Since I have experience in repairing computers and components, I will consider the operation of this device from a practical point of view, that is, taking into account all the convenience of using an SSD plus problems and their solutions when the device malfunctions.

SSD is an abbreviation of the English Solid State Drive, which means solid state drive. It has no mechanical parts, which cannot classify it as a drive or hard drive. It is commonly said that this device has three main advantages over a conventional hard drive.

The first advantage is speed. SSD is on average three times faster at boot operating system, when accessing programs such as Photoshop and when working in the programs themselves.

Second: it is completely silent.

And finally, third: it is less energy-intensive compared to a regular hard drive.

Let's take a closer look at these advantages. Based on the first, I can say that the speed is mainly felt when loading the operating system. Indeed, the system boots on an SSD about three times faster.

When accessing programs it is also fast, but not so much, about twice as fast, and this is felt when loading heavy programs such as Photoshop, AutoCAD and others.

When loading other programs, the force of habit probably plays a role: we are so accustomed to distracting ourselves with something while the program is loading that the difference is practically not felt.

But the speed of operation in the program itself is not discussed because the SSD is subject to rapid wear, and no one wants to use the drive in programs again.

Moreover, the wear and tear of a regular hard drive is not so bad compared to the wear of an SSD. If the HDD wears out or fails, there are many utilities that allow you to programmatically restore a damaged disk or its individual sectors.

There are many ways, starting from regular defragmentation - an option built into the operating system itself Windows system, up to the extreme case of mechanical damage, when the only remaining option is mechanically transferring the disks to another casing.

Thus, in 90% or even more cases, damaged and even lost information from an HDD can be restored, which is almost impossible on an SSD.

Only the operating system and the Program Files folder are suitable for using an SSD. All other information, file and data base, as well as intensive work with programs, it is better to remain on a regular mechanical hard drive HDD.

The advantage in terms of energy intensity is an important thing - this is, of course, the lower power consumption of SSDs, but given that in the event of a power failure the possibility of irretrievable loss of information is very high, this advantage also becomes, to put it mildly, very controversial.

And finally, the financial side, the price of the issue, so to speak: an SSD is expensive, a normal 120 GB drive costs about $240 in Moscow. There are no such prices in the regions. In addition, if the price of hard drives is inversely proportional to updates, upgrades and capacity increases, then in the case of SSDs it is exactly the opposite.

For example, there are two types of controllers in SSDs. This is a programmable chip for power supply and distribution of work and information in the SSD. The Sand-Force and JMicron controller software handled these functions extremely poorly. They recorded information very unevenly (for HDDs this issue is solved by conventional defragmentation).

When one storage cell deteriorates, the entire drive fails. By the way, a damaged HDD cell is the simplest defect that has a bunch of solutions, from software “bypassing” the cell (moving it to quarantine) to software magnetization of the disk.

So, to solve this problem, the Trim command was invented for SSDs, which should ensure uniform wear of the drive. Oddly enough, along with this innovation, the SSD has risen in price, when according to all the canons of business and logic it should have been the other way around.

Due to flooding in Thailand, 80% of hard drive production has been suspended. It is unlikely that even minimal work to restore production will begin until spring. Stores selling computers are no longer selling HDDs separately from computers. Not to mention the fact that HDD prices have doubled.

So what is an SSD?

Translated from English, solid-state drive means “a disk without moving parts.” A solid-state drive is a storage device whose operating principle is based on the use of rewritable chips and a controller. Often users confuse the terminology and call SSD a hard drive. This is wrong, because technical features solid disks. Distinctive feature The advantage of this type of media from HDD is that when reading data from an SSD there is no need to perform mechanical operations, all the time is spent only on transferring the address and the block itself. Accordingly, the faster the memory of the device and controller itself, the faster the general access to the data.

However, the process of changing or erasing data on SSD drives is not so simple. This is due to the fact that memory is written in 4 KB blocks and erased in 512 KB blocks.

When modifying blocks, the following sequence of actions occurs:

1. The block containing the changes is read into the internal buffer.

2. The necessary modification of the bytes is performed.

3. The block is erased from flash memory.

4. The new location of this block is calculated.

5. The block is written to a new location.

When deleting files, they are not physically deleted, but are only marked by the system as deleted, but the SSD does not know which data is user data and which is deleted, and in fact all blocks have to be processed according to the above-mentioned scheme. This system leads to the fact that with a large amount of data on the disk, the total operating time increases significantly, which slows down all work.

SSD Security and Reliability

If we talk about the possibility of recovering data from an SSD, we can note the following points:

The data is not deleted immediately, as in the HDD, even if you overwrite the file on top with other data.

The process of data recovery is quite labor-intensive, due to the fact that it is necessary to select the correct order, combine the results, and also select the necessary algorithm that emulates the operation of the media controller.

The reliability of an SSD directly depends on the reliability of the controller and its firmware, since it is the controller that is located between the interface and memory chips and the likelihood of it being damaged in the event of power problems is very high.

Rules for working with solid media to extend their life cycle and increase overall speed:

All data that changes frequently (various temporary data, swap files, etc.) should be transferred to a regular HDD.

Disable disk defragmentation.

Periodically update the controller firmware.

Keeping about 20% of your disk partition free at all times will improve overall performance.

Advantages of SSDs over hard drives:

Very high data block reading speed, which is actually limited only by throughput controller interface.

Low power consumption.

Silence.

There are no mechanical parts, which leads to fewer possible breakdowns.

Small overall dimensions.

High temperature resistance.

Disadvantages of SSD:

Limited number of memory cell rewrite cycles (from 10,000 to 100,000 times). Once the limit is reached, your drive will simply stop working.

High price. Compared to the price of a HDD for 1 GB (about 1.6 rubles/GB for a 1 TB HDD versus 48 rubles/GB for a 128 GB SSD).

Low disk capacity compared to HDD.

Problem of compatibility with some versions of operating systems (some operating systems simply do not take into account the specifics of solid-state media, which leads to very rapid wear of the media).

Companies and SSD manufacturers you can safely trust:

Intel, Kingston, OCZ, Corsar, Crucial, Transcend, ADATA.

Hard drive device

The design of the hard drive itself consists not only of direct information storage devices, but also of a mechanism that reads all this data. This is the main difference between hard drives and floppy disks and optical drives. Moreover, unlike random access memory(RAM), which requires constant power, the hard drive is a non-volatile device. The data on it is saved regardless of whether the computer's power is turned on or not - this is especially important when you need to recover information.

A little about the hard drive design. The hard drive consists of a sealed disk block filled with ordinary dust-free air under atmospheric pressure, and a board with electronic circuit management. The block contains the mechanical parts of the drive. One or more magnetic disks are rigidly fixed on the spindle of the disk rotation drive motor.

There is also a preamplifier-commutator for magnetic heads. The magnetic head itself reads or writes information from the surface of one of the sides of the magnetic disk, the speed of which reaches 15 thousand revolutions per minute.

HDD internal device

When the power is turned on, the hard drive processor tests the electronics, after which the spindle motor turns on. When a certain critical rotation speed is reached, the density of the air layer flowing between the disk surface and the head becomes sufficient to overcome the force of pressing the head against the surface.

As a result, the read/write head “hangs” above the wafer at a distance of 5-10 nm. The operation of the read/write head is similar to the principle of operation of a needle in a gramophone, with only one difference - our head does not have physical contact with the plate.

When the computer's power is turned off and the disks stop, the head is lowered onto a non-working area of the platter surface, the so-called parking zone. Early hard drive models had a special software, which initiated the head parking operation.

In modern HDDs, the head moves into the parking zone automatically when the rotation speed drops below the nominal value or when the power is turned off. The heads are brought back into the working area only when the rated engine rotation speed is reached.

Naturally, the question may arise - how sealed is the disk block itself and what is the likelihood that dust or other small particles will leak into it? After all, they can lead to a malfunction of the hard drive or even to its breakdown and loss of important information.

The disk block with the engine and the heads are located in a special sealed housing - a hermetic block (chamber). However, its contents are not completely isolated from the environment; it is necessary to move air from the chamber to the outside and vice versa.

This is necessary to equalize the pressure inside the block with the outside to prevent deformation of the housing. This balance is achieved using a device called a barometric filter. It is located inside the hermetic block.

The filter is capable of capturing particles whose size exceeds the distance between the read/write head and the ferromagnetic surface of the disk. In addition to the above-mentioned filter, there is another one - a recirculation filter. It traps particles that are present in the air flow inside the unit itself. They can appear there from the shedding of magnetic pollination of disks. In addition, this filter catches those particles that its barometric “colleague” missed.

HDD connection interfaces

Today, to connect a hard drive to a computer, you can use one of three interfaces: IDE, SCSI and SATA.

Initially, in 1986, the IDE interface was developed only for connecting HDDs. Then it was modified into an extended ATA interface, to which you can connect not only hard drives, but also CD/DVD drives.

The SATA interface is faster and more productive than ATA.

In turn, SCSI is a high-performance interface that is capable of connecting various types of devices. This includes not only information storage devices, but also various peripherals. For example, faster SCSI scanners. However, when the USB bus appeared, the need to connect peripherals via SCSI disappeared.

SCSI interface

Now a little about connecting to the IDE interface. The system can have two controllers (primary and secondary), each of which can connect two devices. Accordingly, a maximum of 4 devices: primary master, primary slave and secondary master, secondary slave.

After connecting the device to the controller, you should select its operating mode. It is selected by installing a jumper in a specific location in the connector on the device (next to the connector for connecting the IDE cable).

It should be remembered that the faster device is connected to the controller first and is called master. The second is called slave. The last manipulation will be to connect the power, for this we need to select one of the power supply cables.

DE interface

Connecting a SATA drive is much easier. The cable for it has the same connectors at both ends. The SATA drive does not have jumpers, so you will not need to select the operating mode of the devices. Power is connected to the SATA drive using a special cable (3.3 V). However, it is possible to connect via an adapter to a regular power cable.

SATA interface

Let's give one helpful advice: if friends often come to you with their hard drives, and you are already tired of spinning them all the time system unit, we recommend purchasing a special pocket for the hard drive (called Mobile Rack). They are available with both IDE and SATA interfaces. To connect another hard drive to your computer, simply insert it into your pocket and you're done.

SSD drives - a new stage in development

The next stage in the development of information storage devices is now beginning. To replace drives with hard drives a new type of device is coming - SSD. Next we will tell you about it in more detail.

So, SSD (Solid State Disk) is a solid-state drive that works on the principle of USB flash memory. One of its main distinguishing features from hard drives and optical drives is that its device does not include any moving parts or mechanical components.

Drives of this type were originally developed for military purposes, as well as for high-speed servers, since the good old hard drives were no longer fast and reliable enough for such needs.

We list the most important advantages of an SSD over a hard drive:

Firstly, writing information to and reading from an SSD is much faster (tens of times) than from a HDD. The operation of the hard drive is slowed down by the movement of the read/write head.

Secondly, due to the simultaneous use of all memory modules installed in an SSD drive, the data transfer speed is much higher than that of a hard drive.

Thirdly, they are not so susceptible to shock. While hard drives may lose some data when hit or even fail altogether.

Fourthly, they consume less energy, which makes them convenient to use in battery-powered devices.

Fifthly, this type drives make virtually no noise when operating, whereas when hard drives are operating, we hear the rotation of the disks and the movement of the head.

Perhaps there are two lack of SSD– 1) for its certain capacity you will pay much more than for a hard drive of identical memory capacity; 2) SSD drives have a relatively small limited number of read/write cycles.

A typical solid state drive is a printed circuit board with a set of chips installed on it. This set consists of a NAND controller chip and, in fact, NAND memory chips.

Square printed circuit board The solid state drive is used to its fullest. Most of it is occupied by NAND memory chips.

As you can see, there are no mechanical parts or disks in an SSD drive - only microcircuits.

Types of memory in SSD.

Now that we have understood the structure of SSD drives, let's talk about them in more detail. As already mentioned, an ordinary SSD consists of two interconnected parts: memory and controller.

Let's start with memory.

To store information, SSDs use memory cells that consist of a huge number of MOSFET transistors with a floating gate. Cells are combined into 4 kB pages (4096 bytes), then into blocks of 128 pages, and then into an array of 1024 blocks. One array has a capacity of 512 MB and is controlled by a separate controller. This multi-level drive design model imposes certain restrictions on its operation. For example, information can be erased only in blocks of 512 kBytes, and recording is possible only in blocks of 4 kBytes. All this leads to the fact that a special controller controls the recording and reading of information from memory chips.

It is worth noting here that a lot depends on the type of controller: read and write speed, resistance to failures, reliability. We'll talk about what controllers are used in SSDs a little later.

SSDs use 2 types of NAND memory: SLC and MLC. SLC (Single-Level Cell) type memory uses single-level transistors (they are also called cells). This means that one transistor can store 0 or 1. In short, such a transistor can only remember 1 bit of information. It won't be enough, won't it?

Here big-headed men “scratched their turnips” and figured out how to make a 4-level transistor cell. Each level represents 2 bits of information. That is, on one transistor you can write one of four combinations of 0 and 1, namely: 00, 01, 10, 11. That is, 4 combinations, versus 2 for SLC. Twice as much as SLC cells! And they called them multi-level cells - MLC (Multi-Level Cell). Thus, on the same number of transistors (cells) it is possible to record 2 times more information than if SLC cells were used. This significantly reduces the cost of the final product – SSD.

But MLC cells have significant disadvantages. The lifespan of such cells is shorter than that of SLC and averages 100,000 cycles. For SLC cells this parameter is 1,000,000 cycles. It is also worth noting that MLC cells have longer read and write times, which reduces the performance of the solid-state drive.

Also considered are options for using three-level cells (Triple-Level Cell) in SSDs, which have 8 levels, and, therefore, each TLC cell can store 3 bits of information (000, 001, 011, 111, 110, 100, 101, 010).

Comparison table of flash memory types: SLC, MLC and TLC. Characteristics of NAND SLC MLC TLC

Bits per cell 1 2 3

Rewrite cycles 100 000 3000 1000

Read time 25 µs. 50 µs. ˜75 µs.

Programming time 200 - 300 µs. 600 - 900 µs. ˜900 - 1350 µs.

Erasing time 1.5 - 2 ms. 3 ms. ˜4.5 ms.

The table shows that the more levels are used in a cell, the slower the memory based on it works. TLC memory is clearly inferior, both in speed and in “lifetime” - rewrite cycles.

Yes, by the way, USB flash drives have long been using TLC memory, which, although it wears out faster, is also much cheaper. That is why the cost of USB flash drives and memory cards is steadily decreasing.

Despite the fact that SSD drives are produced by various companies under their own brand, many people buy NAND memory from a small number of manufacturers.

NAND memory manufacturers:

Toshiba/SanDisk;

Thus, we learned that SSD drives come with two different types memory: SLC and MLC. Memory based on SLC cells is faster and more durable, but expensive. Memory based on MLC cells is noticeably cheaper, but has a lower resource and performance. Only SSD drives based on MLC flash memory can be found on the market. Disks with SLC memory are almost never found.

SSD drive controllers.

At the time of writing, the following controllers were most widely used:

SandForce controllers.

One of the most common SandForce controllers is the SF2281. This controller supports the SATA-3 interface and is found in SSD drives Silicon Power, OCZ Vertex 3, OCZ Agility 3, Kingston, Kingmax, Intel (Intel 330, 520, 335 series).

Marvell controllers.

Marvell 88SS9174. Used in Crucial C300, M4/C400 SSDs, as well as Plextor M5. This controller has established itself as one of the most inexpensive, reliable and fast.

Marvell 88SS9187. This controller is used in Plextor M5 Pro, M5M series solid-state drives, as well as the updated M5S. New features include a DRAM controller with support for up to 1 Gb DDR3. Also implemented modern system ECC error correction and reduced power consumption.

LAMD controllers (Hynix).

LAMD (Link A Media Devices) is a division of Hynix. LAMD's LM87800 controllers are used in Corcair's Neutron and Neutron GTX series drives. The LM87800 controller itself is eight-channel and supports the SATA 6Gb/s interface.

Indilinx controllers.

Everest. Since Indilinx is a subsidiary of OCZ, it is not surprising that the Everest2 controller is the basis of such SSDs as OCZ Vertex 4, OCZ Agility 4. The advantage of the Indilinx controller is its high write performance. It is also worth noting good balance - read and write speeds are almost the same.

Barefoot 2. The controller is based on the ARM Cortex-M0 core. This SATA II controller supports eight memory access channels such as MLC and SLC. LPDDR and DDR memory can be used as buffer memory. The capacity of solid-state media based on this controller can reach 512 GB.

Barefoot 3. The latest chip, made using a 65 nm process technology and independently developed by OCZ. The controller is based on an ARM core and an Aragon co-processor (32-bit, 400 MHz). Thanks to support for special RISC commands for working with solid-state drives, this controller is a leader in performance. The Barefoot 3 controller is eight-channel and supports SATA 6 Gb/s interface. Based on this controller, OCZ produces a line of SSD drives under the OCZ Vector brand.

Samsung controllers.

Samsung uses the Samsung MDX controller in its SSDs. For Samsung 840 Pro and Samsung 840 drives, an eight-channel MDX controller based on a 3-core ARM Cortex-R4 chip (300 MHz) is used.

About installing Windows on an SSD.

It is not recommended to install Windows XP on an SSD, since this operating system is not designed to work with SSDs. In Windows 7 and 8, SSD support is fully present. True, for more durable and “correct” operation of the SSD with this system, it is recommended to configure some parameters of this OS.

The PC processor is the main component of the computer, its “brain”, so to speak. It performs all logical and arithmetic operations specified by the program. In addition, it controls all computer devices.

The structure of a computer processor - what a modern processor is.

Today, processors are manufactured as microprocessors. Visually, a microprocessor is a thin plate of crystalline silicon in the shape of a rectangle. The area of the plate is several square millimeters, and it contains circuits that provide the functionality of the PC processor. As a rule, the record is protected by a ceramic or plastic flat case, to which it is connected via gold wires with metal tips. This design allows you to connect the processor to system board computer.

What does a PC processor consist of?

address buses and data buses;

arithmetic-logical unit;

registers;

cache (fast small memory 8-512 KB);

program counters;

mathematical coprocessor.

What is PC processor architecture?

Processor architecture is the ability of a processor to execute a set of machine codes. This is from a programmers point of view. But developers of computer components adhere to a different interpretation of the concept of “processor architecture.” In their opinion, processor architecture is a reflection of the basic principles of the internal organization of certain types of processors. Let's say architecture Intel Pentium designated P5, Pentium II and Pentium III - P6, and not so long ago the popular Pentium 4 - NetBurst. When Intel company closed P5 to competing manufacturers, AMD developed its K7 architecture for the Athlon and Athlon XP, and K8 for the Athlon 64.

What is a processor core?

Even processors with the same architecture can differ significantly from each other. These differences are due to the variety of processor cores, which have a certain set of characteristics. The most common differences are different system bus frequencies, as well as the size of the second level cache and the technological characteristics by which the processors are manufactured. Very often, changing the core in processors from the same family also requires changing the processor socket. And this entails problems with motherboard compatibility. But manufacturers are constantly improving kernels and making constant, but not significant changes to the kernel. Such innovations are called kernel revisions and, as a rule, are indicated by alphanumeric combinations.

What is a system bus?

The system bus or processor bus (FSB - Front Side Bus) is a set of signal lines, which are combined by purpose (addresses, data, etc.). Each line has a specific information transfer protocol and electrical characteristics. That is, the system bus is the connecting link that connects the processor itself and all other PC devices (hard drive, video card, memory and much more). Only the CPU is connected to the system bus itself; all other devices are connected through controllers located in the north bridge of the system logic set (chipset) motherboard. Although in some processors the memory controller is connected directly to the processor, which provides a more efficient memory interface to the CPU.

What is processor cache?

Cache or fast memory is a mandatory component of all modern processors. The cache is a buffer between the processor and the controller is quite slow system memory. The buffer stores blocks of data currently being processed, and the processor does not need to constantly access slow system memory. Naturally, this significantly increases the overall performance of the processor itself.

In processors used today, the cache is divided into several levels. The fastest is the first level L1, which works with the processor core. It is usually divided into two parts - the data cache and the instruction cache. L2, the second level cache, interacts with L1. It is much larger in size and is not divided into an instruction cache and a data cache. Some processors have L3 - the third level, it is even larger than the second level, but an order of magnitude slower, since the bus between the second and third levels is narrower than between the first and second. However, the speed of the third level is still much higher than the speed of system memory.

There are two types of cache: exclusive and non-exclusive.

An exclusive type of cache is one in which information at all levels is strictly separated from the original.

A non-exclusive cache is a cache in which information is repeated at all cache levels. It is difficult to say which type of cache is better, both the first and the second have their own advantages and disadvantages. Exclusive cache type used in AMD processors, not exclusive - Intel.

What is a CPU socket?

The processor connector can be slotted or female. In any case, its purpose is to install central processor. The use of the connector makes it easier to replace the processor during upgrades and remove it during PC repairs. The connectors can be intended for installing a CPU card and the processor itself. Connectors are distinguished by their purpose for certain types of processors or CPU cards.

The advantages of SSD drives over traditional hard drives are obvious at first glance. These are high mechanical reliability, no moving parts, high read/write speed, low weight, lower power consumption. But is everything as good as it seems?

We disassemble the ssd.

First, let's look at what an SSD is. SSD is a solid state drive. SSD, Solid State Drive or Solid State Disk), a non-volatile, rewritable storage device with no moving mechanical parts using flash memory. An SSD completely emulates the operation of a hard drive.

Let's see what's inside the SSD and compare it with its close relative USB Flash.

ssd controller.

The main task of the controller is to provide read/write operations and manage the data placement structure. Based on the block placement matrix, which cells have already been written to and which have not yet been written, the controller must optimize the write speed and ensure the longest possible lifespan of the SSD drive. Due to the design features of NAND memory, it is impossible to work with each cell separately. The cells are combined into 4 KB pages, and information can only be written by occupying the entire page. You can erase data in blocks that are equal to 512 KB. All these restrictions impose certain responsibilities on the correct intelligent algorithm of the controller. Therefore, properly configured and optimized controller algorithms can significantly improve the performance and durability of an SSD drive.

The controller includes the following main elements: Processor– usually a 16 or 32 bit microcontroller. Executes firmware instructions, is responsible for mixing and aligning data on Flash, SMART diagnostics, caching, and security. Error Correction (ECC)– ECC error control and correction unit. Flash Controller– includes addressing, data bus and control of Flash memory chips. DRAM Controller- addressing, data bus and management of DDR/DDR2/SDRAM cache memory. I/O interface– is responsible for the data transfer interface to external SATA, USB or SAS interfaces. Controller Memory– consists of ROM memory and buffer. The memory is used by the processor to execute firmware and as a buffer for temporary data storage. In the absence of an external RAM memory chip, the SSD acts as the only data buffer.

Currently, the following controller models are used in SSDs: Indilinx "Barefoot ECO" IDX110MO1 Indilinx "Barefoot" IDX110M00 Intel PC29AS21BA0 JMicron JMF602 JMicron JMF612 Marvel 88SS9174-BJP2 Samsung S3C29RBB01-YK40 SandForce SF-1200 SandForce SF-1500 To shiba T6UG1XBG

Flash memory.

SSDs, like USB Flash, use three types of NAND memory: SLC (Single Level Cell), MLC (Multi Level Cell) and TLC (Three Level Cell). The only difference is that SLC allows you to store only one bit of information in each cell, MLC - two, and TLC - three cells (using different levels of electrical charge on the floating gate of the transistor), which makes MLC and TLC memory cheaper relative to capacity.

However, MLC/TLC memory has a lower resource (100,000 erase cycles for SLC, on average 10,000 for MLC, and up to 5,000 for TLC) and worse performance. With each additional level, the task of recognizing the signal level becomes more complicated, the time required to search for a cell address increases, and the likelihood of errors increases. Since SLC chips are much more expensive and their volume is lower, MLC/TLC chips are mainly used for mass solutions. At the moment, MLC/TLC memory is actively developing and is approaching SLC in speed characteristics. Also, SSD drive manufacturers compensate for the low speed of MLC/TLC with algorithms for alternating data blocks between memory chips (simultaneous writing/reading to two flash memory chips, a byte each) similar to RAID 0, and the low resource - shuffling and tracking uniform use of cells. Plus, part of the memory capacity is reserved in the SSD (up to 20%). This is unavailable memory for standard write/read operations. It is needed as a reserve in case of cell wear, similar to magnetic HDD drives, which have a reserve for replacing bad blocks. The additional cell reserve is used dynamically, and as the primary cells physically wear out, a replacement spare cell is provided.

I'll show you how to change a HDD hard drive to a high-speed SSD drive. I bought a 250 GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD. and installed it on my laptop. Then I installed Windows and all programs on the new SSD drive.

I bought my SSD drive Samsung 850 SSD EVO 120 GB SATA III on AliExpress . At first I wanted to order this Samsung 750 SSD EVO 120 GB SATA III (it is 120 GB and cheaper), but in the end I ordered 250 GB, although I could have done with 120 GB. The Samsung 850 EVO SSD arrived after about 12 days (the fastest product that came from AliExpress).

The parcel is well packed and sealed with polystyrene foam. Inside the box is plastic, and in it is an SSD drive.

Here are the specifications of this SSD drive. My reading speed tests, notes at the bottom of the page.

1. Copy all the information you need from your disk

If you, like me, have only one hard drive space in your laptop, then first copy all the information from your hard drive to yours. external drive or to another computer. Or buy . So that you can then connect your removed HDD drive via USB and download everything you need from it to your new SSD drive.

Here is a visual video of this adapter.

2. Remove the hard drive and install the SSD

Turn off the laptop, unplug the laptop from all wires, turn it over and remove the laptop battery. Now on back cover laptop, look for the inscription HDD - this is the place where your hard drive is installed. On my Samsung NP-R560 laptop it is on the bottom left. The hard drive is closed with a cover with two screws.

We unscrew these two screws securing the laptop hard drive.

Remove the cover covering the hard drive. There should be arrows on it showing in which direction you need to pull to move the cover.

Here is the hard drive of my laptop. It has an aluminum lid to help dissipate heat and has a pull tab to make it easier to remove. Simply grab this tab and pull it to the left to disconnect the hard drive from the connector.

Done, the hard drive is disconnected from the laptop and connectors. We lift it and put it aside.

This is what a laptop looks like without a disk.

Now insert the SSD drive into place HDD drive.

Carefully insert it in place of the old HDD drive. I also installed an aluminum plate from the old HDD on the new SSD.

Close the hard drive cover.

Tighten the screws of the lid.

Ready. Now we turn the laptop over, insert all the wires into it, put the battery back and turn on the laptop.

3. Install Windows on the new SSD

There is nothing on the new SSD drive and there is no OS (Windows) either, so now you need to install Windows on it. You will receive this error when you try to boot from a new SSD disk that does not yet have a Windows operating system.

Partition table invalid or corrupted. Press any key to continue…

You need to insert your bootable USB flash drive and boot from it.

If you don’t have a bootable USB flash drive yet, it’s time to make one.

Here is a video on how to configure the BIOS for Windows installations from a bootable flash drive.

Now that there is bootable flash drive and loading occurs from it, then install Windows on the new SSD. We select our SSD, it will be marked as “Unallocated space on disk 0” and click “Next” and install Windows.

Copying will begin. Windows files, then prepare for installation, install components, install updates, complete. The computer will restart several times. After the first reboot, you can remove the bootable USB flash drive.

If you have never installed Windows via BIOS, then you will find a video on this topic.

After installing Windows on the new SSD drive, change the boot priority in the BIOS so that first Windows boot loader I searched on the SSD drive. Although if everything loads and works, then you don’t have to change anything. I'll go to BIOS, Boot - Boot Device priority.

And using the F5 or F6 key I will move the SSD disk to the very top, so that the boot sector on the SSD disk is first searched, and then on the other disks, if it is not found on the SSD.

4. Comparison of SSD speed with HDD and USB drives

Using the CrystalDiskMark 3 program, I measured the writing and reading speed of my HDD drive even before removing it and replacing it with an SSD. The reading speed from it was approximately 100 MB/sec. when reading and writing sequentially.

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