In this video, I will look at Solid-State performance factors. Understanding what these are will help you when looking at the specifications of Solid-State Drives. This will assist you in getting the best performance for your needs. Download PowerPoint: https://itfreetraining.com/handouts/ap/3b30.pptx Data Transfer The first performance factor that I will consider is data transfer. This is essentially the speed data is transferred at. To understand this, consider that you are copying a file in Windows. When looking at the specifications for a Solid-State Drive, there are a lot of specifications that will give you an indication of how fast the Solid-State Drive is; however, the real question that you should be asking is, how long will it take to transfer data? When looking at this, the measurement that is normally used is Megabytes per second. You will notice that the transfer rate starts high and as time goes on the transfer rate slows down. This is for a number of different reasons; the main reason is the buffers on the Solid-State Drive fill up, thus it starts out transferring quickly and then will slow down. Depending on a number of different factors, the performance of your Solid-State Drive will differ in different situations. I will have a look at the different performance factors so you can get an idea of what to look for when purchasing a Solid-State Drive. Read/Write The first consideration is how fast the Solid-State Drive will read and write. In the performance specifications for the Solid-State Drive, it will list a number of specifications giving an indication of performance. It is important to understand what each of these performance specifications are in relation to. The first one to consider is sequential access. Sequential access is when the data is read in order; that is, the data is read in the same order it is laid out. The next one to consider is random access. This is accessing data that is not laid out in sequential order, so can be located anywhere, thus the name random. When looking at the specifications for a Solid-State Drive, sequential and random-access specifications will be provided; however, these will not give you a true indication of how well the Solid-State Drive will perform. To understand why, consider that in many devices, when you first access the device, you will have a sudden burst of speed which will quickly reduce. This is often referred to as burst speed. Burst speed is an initial short-term maximum speed that is not maintained for very long. When you access a storage device, the initial burst of speed may be much higher than normal because of features like buffering. Often, when looking at the specifications of Solid-State Drives, they will list this speed; however, this does not give you an indication of how fast it will run when under load for a period of time. To get an understanding of how fast the storage device will operate, look for specifications that give an indication of how the storage will perform under load. This may be referred to as sustained. Sustained is the performance a storage device can maintain when put under constant load. Manufacturers like to quote the burst speed to give the fastest speed the Solid-State Drive can achieve. However, if the system is under load for a period of time, this speed will quickly drop. Let’s have a look at some manufacturers’ specifications to get an idea of what to look for. Example Specifications To start with, I will look at a Western Digital 500 Gigabyte Solid-State Drive. The manufacturer is free to release any specifications they like, so the specifications you are given for your device may be different. Be careful when reading them; some specifications like a burst specification will only give you an idea of how the Solid-State Drive will initially perform and not when it is under load. Description too long for YouTube. Please see the following link for the rest of the description. https://itfreetraining.com/ap/3b30 References “The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1001)” Chapter 4 Paragraph 140-143 “CompTIA A+ Certification exam guide. Tenth edition” Pages 294 - 295 “WD SSD sn720” https://www.westerndigital.com/products/data-center-drives/cl-sn720-ssd “Picture: Jumping cat” https://pixabay.com/photos/cat-mieze-siam-siamese-siamese-cat-1504233/ “Video: Tachometer” https://www.videvo.net/video/car-tachometer-/2072/ Credits Trainer: Austin Mason http://ITFreeTraining.com/ Voice Talent: HP Lewis http://hplewis.com/ Quality Assurance: Brett Batson http://www.pbb-proofreading.uk/