A brief history of the SSDĭynamic RAM-based SSDs were already in use in the early 1990s, mainly for large-scale server centers. To understand what else is going on under the hood, let's consider the history of solid-state drives. There’s more to it than this basic summary. It then processes the information for the host computer to read. The flash controller reads that order by checking the charge of each cell. The memory chip is an enormous library of cells that holds millions of electrons captive in a specific order. The flash controller sends voltage down the wire to a group of cells in the memory chip, corralling the electrons into the correct gates. The main chips are the flash controller and the memory chip(s). Inside, an SSD looks like a circuit board with computer chips. The development of computer storage technology, from HDDs to SSDs. In fact, many SSDs offer tons of storage space at only a fraction of an HDD's size.
On the outside, an SSD looks just like an HDD - because it’s been made to be conveniently interchangeable with what most computers are already using. The only real downside is that SSDs are considerably more expensive to produce, and so they’re more expensive to buy.
The setup allows an operating system like Windows or macOS to load much more quickly than it otherwise would if stored on an HDD. No spinning disks or moving arms are needed - you just need to access the bit at row X, column Y. With everything organized into grids, information can be read much more quickly. That’s how we read and write data from an SSD. The gates can then read how many electrons are trapped there, providing a “1” or a “0” as an output. The transistors are set to specific electrical charges, which in turn are changed and preserved with “gates.”Ĭontrol gates and floating gates alter the current flowing through the transistors to trap electrons in specific places. The inside of an SSD is a system of microscopic transistor grids stacked on top of each other. What does an SSD do?Īn SSD counts ones and zeros using electrons - particles that are even smaller than atoms. You can think of an SSD like an extremely dense abacus.
But how can we squeeze trillions of those ones and zeros into a tiny phone that fits in the palm of our hand? How does solid-state technology work? Let’s dig into how SSDs get the job done. You probably know that all the data you've saved can be written as ones and zeros.