Is there a SSD (Solid State Drive) in your future?

How is a SSD different from a hard drive?

Like a memory stick or your camera's memory card, there are no moving parts to an SSD. Rather, information is stored in microchips. Conversely, a hard disk drive uses a mechanical arm with a read/write head to move around and read information from the right location on a storage platter. This difference is what makes SSD so much faster.
Folks that know me well, recognize that I enjoy using the latest and greatest when it comes to computer technology. From shortly after the time of the introduction of Windows NT (New Technology) in 1993, instead of buying factory-made computers, I have been having my favorite local computer tech build mine. That way I could get them exactly the way I wanted them. A little over two years ago, I decided to custom order from a small factory that sells their products online. That way I could pretty much get it done the way I wanted it.

They offered SSDs as options for storage in place of the traditional hard drive. Wow! Ever think about booting your computer from a solid state memory device? Talk about fast. That should be smokin'. And it is.

It's a fast computer boot if you're using an SSD for a boot drive. But just how reliable are they? Well, I recommend that you google 'ssd reliability' and read some articles on the subject. Here's my sad story on that topic:

Mine is a home computer not running anything fancy, just Windows 10 Pro and a rather large collection of software programs. Only one or two were actually running when the unattended compter experienced a power outage. That is someone planning to do an electrical repair in another part of the house started flipping breaker switches looking for the the circuit they needed. The unterruptible power supply (UPS) attached to the system should have saved it, but I guess the power was out long enough to discharge the battery.

The result was that my SSD boot device — although it's called a solid state drive, it's actually neither a drive nor a disk. — was no longer bootable. The technician could not recover anything that was on that device.

I had to start over! That means new boot drive — a standard hard drive this time. And reinstalling all 60 or 70 programs that I like to use.

If this happens to you, be sure that you have all your serial numbers, keys, and licensing information for all your software including your operating system. Thankfully, most of my data files were stored on another drive and not affected by the loss of power, that is, except my email and its address book.

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