In the technology industry, often a newer technology replaces a well-established, entrenched technology. A case-in-point from the entertainment side of the technology industry is DVD technology replacing VHS tape-based technology. A similar example is when CDs ultimately came to replace cassette tapes and vinyl albums.
One of the recent technological trends that appears to be headed in a similar direction is that of Solid-State Drives (SSDs, also known as Solid-State Devices), including devices known as “thumb drives” or “flash drives.” With capacities now in the range of 64 gigabytes and larger, both thumb drives and SSDs are rapidly becoming the replacement technologies for archaic “floppy drives” as well as for mechanical, failure-prone hard disk drives (HDDs).
Most current HDDs range in capacity from 160 gigabytes to 2 terabytes in size. Recent advances in solid-state technology have allowed SSDs to reach sizes of 64 gigabytes to approximately 130 gigabytes. In addition to rapidly approaching comparable HDD size choices, the cost of SSDs has come down to a level of about one dollar per gigabyte – making SSDs an affordable alternative to HDDs.
Additionally, with the advent of the ability for computers to boot to USB media (thumb/flash drives), the technical support person no longer is required to utilize floppy disks for firmware updates; and SSDs now can be used for installing operating systems and related software.
Since SSDs have no moving parts, they require less power (consume less energy), they are cooler (generate less heat) than the mechanical-based HDDs; they also run quieter; and generate less operating noise than HDDs. In addition, both thumb drives and SSDs perform read and write operations faster than CDs and DVDs (considerably faster than floppy disks), making installation of firmware and operating systems faster and more efficient. SSDs provide overall faster data reads and writes, compared to HDDs; and are highly resistant to shock, vibration and effects of gravitational and positional forces. Such versatility makes SSDs an ideal choice for use in very demanding environments.
Can it be very long then, before solid-state drives, such as thumb drives and SSDs, completely replace conventional CDs, DVDs and mechanically-based HDDs? The arrival, growth and improvement in solid-state drive technology, coupled with its gradually-declining cost-per-gigabyte and its speed and versatility, would seem to be clear signs that the end of CDs, DVDs and HDDs may be more near than many in the industry are willing to admit.