SSD PCI-E Vs. SATA
Solid-state drives, or SSDs, have a significant performance advantage over traditional mechanical hard drives. SSDs are available for the PCI-Express interface, also known as PCIe, as well as the Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, or SATA, interface used for traditional hard disks. The SSDs with the PCIe interface offer speed and packaging benefits over their SATA counterparts.
Other People Are Reading
-
SSD
-
In place of the magnetic platters used to store data in hard disk drives, solid-state drives use flash memory, a type of semiconductor memory that retains its data when you turn the power off. Flash memory has no moving parts and is significantly faster than a hard drive, particularly for reading files already on the drive. Traditional hard drives have a lower cost per byte and greater storage density than solid-state drives, though many computer users find the performance benefits of SSDs compelling enough to justify their higher prices.
Form Factor
-
PCIe-type solid-state drives come in the form of a board that slides into the PCIe edge connector. A related format, mini-PCIe, has a smaller size that fits the slender insides of notebook computers. SSD drives also come in standard 1.8-inch, 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch cases that fit the standard desktop PC or notebook drive bay. A PCIe SSD drive has the advantage of not taking up a standard drive bay, giving you the flexibility to mix and match different types of drives, solid-state and traditional, in your computer. On the other hand, you can purchase a standard form-factor SSD drive knowing it will fit in virtually any computer; older systems, especially, may not have a PCIe slot.
-
Speed
-
The SATA III interface is capable of transferring data at a rate of 6 gigabits per second -- sufficient for most individual users and commercial commuting applications, especially when using traditional hard disk drives. SSDs, however, are capable of higher transfer rates, so in some instances, SATA limits an SSD’s performance. The PCIe interface transfers data at rates of from 1 to 2 gigabytes per second, roughly two to four times the speed of SATA.
Capacity
-
At the time of publication, SSD drive capacities range from 30 GB to 960 GB; manufacturers offer most drive capacities for either SATA or PCIe formats. The smaller form factor for mini-PCIe currently limits these SSD drives to under 100 GB. Flash chip technology tends to improve every few years; as the storage density of flash chips increases, the capacity of SSD drives of every size and form factor improves.
-
