Softpedia
 

NEWS CATEGORIES:



NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
MEET THE EDITORS >>
Home > News > Technology and Gadgets > Storage

January 16th, 2008, 08:51 GMT · By Bogdan Botezatu

How Reliable Are Eee PC's Solid-State Drives, After All?

SHARE:

Adjust text size:


A solid state drive has a limited number of write cycles
Enlarge picture
The Eee PC sold great last year, and continues to sell even better. Many sub-notebook fans can hardly wait for the next-generation of Asustek's ultra-mobile Eee. While the Asus Eee PC is getting
more and more popular, rumors regarding the premature wearing out of its different hardware components are frightening its users.

It seems that the newest target of these rumors is the computer's solid-state drive and it's alleged short lifespan. The SSDs are not only hard to find as compared to the common hard-drives, but they are also very expensive, so having to replace the beloved drive is not quite a thing one might willingly do.

Most of the users are aware that the solid-state drives provide important advantage over the conventional spinning platters, such as speed or shock resistance, but there are categories of users who panic at the thought that their drive will constantly wear out until it gets completely useless. Here we come to shed some light over the new technology and dismantle these gloomy, rumor-based fears.

According to a report from storagesearch.com, the vast majority of the solid-state drives that are currently available on the market are estimated to support between 1 to 5 million write cycles before failure would occur due to the limitations inherited from the Flash-based NAND technology. Moreover, the fastest solid-state drive can deliver a maximum write speed of about 80 MB/s. The solid-state drive inside the Asustek PC is estimated to write at a maximum speed of 3MB/s due to its hardware limitations.

A simple math operation would show that it would take more than 84 years of constant writing for the PC's SSD to fail. Moreover, the official wiki estimates that the total lifespan for a Eee PC solid-state drive varies around 100,000 - 200,000 write cycles, which translates in about 25 years of operation alleging a 6-hour per day average use time.

There is enough reason to stop whining and enjoy the latest gadget in the storage world, that provides enhanced reliability over the hard-disks. And remember that, although the drive costs around $400, we are sure that you will upgrade your actual configuration several times until 2033, when your drive is scheduled to irreparably wear out.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

7,276 hits · 3 comments · Link to this article · Print article · Send to friend · Subscribe to news

MUST-READ RELATED ARTICLES:


New Member in the Eee Family - the Green 8G

CES 2008: Asustek's Next-Gen Eee PC Failed to Show Up

512 GB Solid-State Drives: The Revolution Has Begun!

EMC to Move Enterprise Storage to the SSD Battleground

BiTMICRO to Boast 832GB SATA 2.5-inch SSD at CES

READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: Fluked on 06 Mar 2009, 23:24 UTC reply to this comment

When I first saw this cute little computer I just had to have one, so much so that I encouraged my three children to also purchase one. So we all went out and brought one. The kids love it because it's small enough to take everywhere. But there is a problem. The only place they go on the web is to MySpace.com so therefore all their input is contained on that web-site. They don't have to worry about loosing or having their entries exploited. Me on the other hand is a massive web surfer. Since this net book also has Windows installed I have the general problems associated with Windows. They send binary codes to my net book, ssh commands, and prevent my use of the web. I am using my daughters net book at this moment. Mines is completely useless. I now have to return it to the retailer and purchase a real Linux based computer.


Comment #2 by: Louis M on 10 Mar 2009, 12:34 UTC reply to this comment

Mine just broke, after 6 month. i have the eee 701 model. windows wont start. the solid state drive refuse to format, saying that the drive isnt properly connected to the board. but it is SOLDERED to the board. i can't even replace it. how inconvenient. now i'm trying to boot on USB key


Comment #3 by: robert on 10 Apr 2009, 19:51 UTC reply to this comment

Actually, one is soldered to the board. The other, the 16gb disk, is not soldered and can become detached or be replaced. At least that's how my EEE is configured.

Copyright © 2001-2012 Softpedia. Contact/Tip us at

WindowsGamesDriversMacLinuxScriptsMobileHandheldNews

SUBMIT PROGRAM   |   ADVERTISE   |   GET HELP   |   SEND US FEEDBACK   |   RSS FEEDS   |   UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE   |   ROMANIAN FORUM