When purchasing a Solid state drive To expand the storage available on our desktop or laptop, if we do not want to make a mistake, we must take into account a series of factors, since not all SSDs are the same in terms of performance nor are they all compatible with all. motherboards.
The only factor not to consider when purchasing an SSD is the storage spacesince it depends on the amount of money we want to spend. The larger its capacity, the more it will cost.
How to buy an SSD without making a mistake
What we need to take into account when buying an SSD and not make mistakes are the sections that we show you below.
Format
If we talk about SSD units, we are talking about two types. On the one hand, there are the units of 2.5 incheswith smaller size than traditional 3.5 inch hard drive. It is the most common on the market and is compatible with any desktop and laptop PC.
In addition to the 2.5 inch format, we can also find smaller units called M.2. This one has a longer, thinner form factor that connects directly to a PCI port. These types of drives are the newest and are not compatible with all PCs and laptops.
Interface
Another aspect that we must take into account is the interface. SSDs use an interface SATA III which offers a maximum read and write speed of approximately 500 MB/s.
M.2 format units have arrived on the market to offer greater reading and writing speed. To do this and bypass the limitation of the SATA III interface, they use the PCIe port. The fastest SSDs available on the market reach 12,000 MB/s.
PCIe version
Related to the above, not all SSDs support the same version of PCIe. The higher this number, the higher the read and write speed. If you use a motherboard with PCIe 4.0 and purchase a PCIe 4.0 compatible SSD, you will be able to take advantage of the maximum speed it is capable of offering.
If you use an SSD that supports PCIe 5.0 on a motherboard that only supports PCIe 4.0, you will only experience the speed offered by PCIe 5.0. This is one of the reasons why you should take into account PCIe version of SSD and the motherboard before purchasing it in order to benefit from all the speed it is capable of offering.
Read/write speed
On the market we can find SSDs that use the same version of PCIe but with different speeds. This is due to the type of memory used in manufacturing. The maximum speed it is capable of offering is related to the price.
Sustainability
In addition to everything listed above, there is also the durability of the SSD to consider. This figure is indicated by all manufacturers through the TBW (Terabytes written). The higher the number, it means it is designed to deliver a greater number of write cycles.
This number is indicative, as in the speed section, of the type of memory (SLC, MLC, TLC among others) that was used since not all are designed to offer the same resistance to use and the cells are different. .
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