SSD Guides

After NAND Flash and controller, DRAM is perhaps the most important component on an SSD. In our premier article of our newest ‘ Learning to Run with Flash 2.0’  entitled, ‘Understanding SLC, MLC, TLC and QLC NAND Flash‘ we provided an understanding of the different types of NAND and value of each in the SSD spectrum. Today, we’ll be taking …

Disk Optimization is a very simple process by which your PC  physically removes deleted and unnecessary data from your SSD in order to allow for better performance and longevity.  You can do this manually as we will demonstrate, but thankfully your PC has already set this up.  Drive Optimization is a beneficial and background process that occurs automatically with PCs.  …

Our last ‘Quick Hit’ in our Learning to Run With Flash 2.0 Series was titled, ‘Where is My New SSD?‘ and it did just that.  It explained why some appear to lose their SSD on installation and how to get on the right track once again.  In that, we tackled how to initialize ones disk, but not the specifics of …

You most likely arrived here one of two ways; sheer interest or you just installed your new SSD and cannot find it.  The latter is more common than most think and usually the after effect of installing a secondary SSD in your system.  After all, a migration of a former hard drive based system (which we NEVER recommend) wouldn’t cause …

Data storage in NAND flash memory is a complex process that is not only difficult to understand, but also challenging to explain. Humans are good at abstraction, and we use this skill to enhance technology, even if we are not aware of what is exactly going on at the level of matter. In the case of NAND flash, we understand …

Catch lines are everything.  If you are reading this, that title has done its job and it’s now in my hands to keep you here.  My name is Les Tokar and I am an SSD Reviewer.  I have worked in flash media since it rolled out to the public ten years ago and have written extensively on SSDs to the …

As you know, many people buy SSDs to not only speed up their computing experience, but also speed up the boot time of their machines. SSDs will sometimes cut minutes off boot times when compared to hard drives, however, more often than not, many people do not know how to properly configure, or even know that it is possible to …

Don’t miss out on a chance to upgrade your PC on the cheap. If this Thanksgiving and Black Friday wasn’t enough, there is still time to get some great deals on new SSDs this Cyber Monday. SSDs speed up everything from system boot time, to application loading. We’ve seen dramatic differences in old systems with just a simple SSD upgrade. …

It’s that time of the year again, when online retailers are dropping prices on products left and right. Over the past few days there have been some okay deals when it comes to SSDs in anticipation of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, today there are some very good deals on drives from all the big boys in the industry, …

Summer has come and gone, and over the past few months, there have been quite a few SSDs released into the market, and the question of, “Which SSD should I buy?” seems to still come up a lot around forums. Usually, there are some predetermined recommended favorite in each. Today we feel we should provide our own answer to the …