Solid State Drives: The Next Big Leap

Over fifteen years ago, my father patiently explained both the concept and benefits of solid state storage devices to my younger self. I can vividly remember the conversation, it was the first time I had ever heard the word "volatile." His explanation was simple, there are two forms of memory. The first and most common type of memory is volatile; it will only hold information if it is powered by electricity. Your computer's RAM (Random Access Memory) is a perfect example of this, it forgets everything when you turn off your computer. The second and less common type of memory is non-volatile; it will hold information even without power. At the time, my father obviously referenced EEPROM as an example, but a more common example today would be flash drives.

Hard drive platters

That being said, hard drives do not store information on memory. Instead, the information is stored inside the drive mechanically on a few circular plates, known as "platters." In most common drives, these platters spin at speeds anywhere from 4,200 to 7,200 rotations per minute. In between each platter is a mechanical arm that slides back and forth to catch information as it passes. As you can imagine, if you open a file located on the other side of the platter, the arm has to physically move to get to the file. That is why your computer slows down right before opening a program; it has to actually find where the data is located before it can start to read it. This wasted time is called "seek time."

The technology to accomplish mechanical storage is so impressive that sometimes I wonder how it even works at all. There is so much movement and activity happening inside this device that has to be executed perfectly for everything to work. But, as you know, it doesn't always function as planned. This is due to the fact that the hard drive is still a mechanical device, and all machines are subject to wear and tear - eventually resulting in a hard drive crash.

The term "hard drive crash" is not just an expression; it is literally the description of what happens when one of the drive arms make contact with a platter. To say the least, scraping a drive head along a platter at the speed of 7,200 RPMs results in some pretty serious damage to your data. This most often happens for one of two reasons: either the drive dies prematurely due to excessive vibrations or it slowly wears out over time. An example of a premature death would be a laptop that is thrown, dropped, or otherwise moved too quickly. This vibration can cause the platters to smack against the drive head, resulting in a hard drive crash. But even if it doesn't die early, it will eventually die as the platters' lubrication breaks down over time. The lubrication keeps the platters spinning evenly and smoothly, but after the compound breaks down, the platters will wobble themselves right into a drive head.

Solid state storage "chips"

Non-volatile, solid state storage technology is not subject to any of the drawbacks of mechanical storage. It cannot ever crash, because it is simply a cluster of electronic chips. It doesn't really have "seek times", because information is directly called from whichever chip it is located. And, it is incredibly fast; current solid state drives are much faster than the fastest mechanical hard drives. So, why aren't we using it yet?

"Too expensive right now," is what my father told me when I asked him. No matter how great an invention, it is only feasible if it is economical. Fifteen years ago, you would be spending over $100,000 for a small amount of solid state storage. Ask the airline industry, they required that type of technology on planes since the vibrations would destroy a normal hard drive. While I couldn't afford the technology, I could still watch it evolve through the years. As time went on, the technology increased in storage capacity as well as speed, while slowly becoming more affordable. I even tested out some of the earlier solid state drives two years ago in custom built ITX systems and, while it worked great, decided that it wasn't yet ready for mainstream desktop or server applications.

Fortunately, times have changed. In the last few months, I have watched multiple products become available that are both affordable and realistic. Many computer hobbyists have already taken the plunge with this new technology, who can rationalize spending up to $300 for a drive with at least 128GB of storage capacity. (To put that in perspective, you can purchase a 2,000GB mechanical hard drive for around $150.) So, this morning, when I found out my mechanical hard disk drive was starting to go bad, I wasn't exactly upset. I immediately headed over to my favorite online electronic retailer and purchased the solid state drive that I had been ogling for months, the Crucial RealSSD C300. Not only am I fifteen years over due for this technology upgrade, but I never want to deal with another dead hard drive.

I have lived through many changes to the personal computer throughout my lifetime. Some of the more notable advancements have been the replacement of command line with a graphical interface, floppy drives with optical drives, 14.4K dialup modems with highspeed broadband, single-core processors with multi-core processors, and CRTs with LCD monitors.

Fifteen years ago, I could not have told you when we would have solid state drives. But looking at how far the technology has progressed, I can safely predict that most computer enthusiasts will have a solid state boot drive by 2012; all mainstream computer manufacturers, such as Dell, HP, and Apple, will offer solid state drives as the default boot drive in all models by 2015; and by 2020, solid state drives will almost completely eliminate mechanical disk drives as they will have surpassed them in storage capacity and beat them in price. At least in the field of computer science, solid state drives will be this decade's greatest achievement.

Dedicated to John Joseph Watt, Jr.
September 28, 1960 - March 5, 2007

When Laptops Overheat and Melt

Last month, a customer contacted me regarding their laptop overheating. It was an HP Pavilion dv9700 with an AMD processor. When I finally saw the laptop, I couldn't believe my eyes. The plastic was nearly melted off the bottom panels. Could a laptop really overheat this much?

While most laptops will never melt like the one pictured above, it seems almost all laptops overheat eventually. This could be due to a number of things, such as the dissipation of thermal compound, shoddy heat syncs, fans that go bad, degraded airflow conditions, and other anomalies. Proof of this phenomenon can be found by browsing any electronic retail store as they all sell "laptop cooling pads". If this wasn't a wide spread problem, these coolers wouldn't exist.

Is this problem fixable? In most cases, I believe it should be. However, where do you start? Should you take the entire laptop apart to replace the fans and thermal compound? Or could the problem be isolated to just a faulty power supply? While there are many unknown variables, they can all be eliminated and resolved if the technician is patient and knowledgeable.

This is good news for experts, who can fix this problem on their own, but bad for consumers. The cost of labor to pay someone to spend hours attempting to fix your laptop would well exceed just purchasing a new computer. Additionally, what if it isn't really fixed and starts overheating again? The whole situation would become a nightmare.

With a little research, you can prevent purchasing laptops prone to overheating. First, research the processors that can be installed in your laptop. All laptop manufacturers offer multiple processor options. Without sacrificing too much power, try to purchase the processor that runs coolest. Furthermore, you can search the web to see what others are saying about a particular laptop model using the make, model and keyword "overheating".

Obviously, there is nothing realistic that can be done to save the above laptop. But, this laptop could still turn on and function without feeling very hot. The evidence did not support overheating. After talking with the owner, it turns out this laptop was left on a bed, inches from a radiator heater, for an extended period of time. This laptop had overheated from the outside.

Memory Upgrades

DDR2 240-pin Memory Module

One of the most common mistakes when building or upgrading a computer is the memory. What type? How many pins? What speed? Registered or unregistered? Single or dual channel? Any skilled computer expert can tell you the answers to these. I'm going to show you how to do this yourself and how to save money at the same time.

Identify your current memory - One way to upgrade your computer's memory is to identify what is currently installed. I use a program called CPU-Z to do this. When you first open the program, be patient while it collects information about your computer. Once it has finished, view the Memory tab for a general overview about your RAM. Take note if your Memory is Single or Dual Channel (top right field).

The next tab to the right, SPD, will give you a breakdown of each individual module. The first thing to notice is the very top line, mine says DDR2. That's the type of memory. Next is module size. If you are replacing your memory, this is not important. Max Bandwidth is the speed of your memory, mine says PC2-6400. The program will also identify if your memory is registered/buffered. My values for registered/buffered are blank, which means I have unregistered/unbuffered memory. Otherwise, I would have to purchase registered/buffered memory.

The last thing to identify is the pin count or physical size of the RAM. Basically, you have two sizes for each type. Normal desktop size and laptop size. For my upgrade, DDR2, there is a 200-pin laptop module and a 240-pin desktop memory module. While laptops always use the 200-pin, you may want to double check your desktop. Certain desktop motherboards, especially those in smaller form factor systems, actually use the 200-pin style.

There are still two pieces of information missing, maximum memory and fastest speed supported by my computer. If I order more memory than my computer supports, the memory is not going to be compatible with my computer. Furthermore, while I could order memory the same speed as the current memory, there may be faster memory available. This faster memory would directly increase the speed of my system. But before we can solve these problems, we need to identify our motherboard.

DDR2 200-pin Memory Module

Identify your motherboard - To find your motherboard model number, open CPU-Z again. Navigate to the Mainboard tab and write down the Manufacturer and Model. Mine is a Dell 0GM819. A quick google search will reveal the motherboard specifications. Most motherboard specifications will flat out tell you everything, completely eliminating the need for using CPU-Z. Unfortunately, OEM motherboards can be vague. For instance, the only specification published about my motherboard regarding RAM is "4 Dual Channel DIMM Support for up to 8 GB of DDR2 memory".  Fortunately, this has revealed the overall maximum amount of memory my computer supports. However, I still have not identified the fastest speed supported by my motherboard. While I could very easily order less than or equal to 8GB DDR2 240-pin PC2-6400 Unregistered/Unbuffered Dual Channel RAM at this point, I may be missing out on faster memory modules which would improved the speed of my computer.

If all else fails (or how you should really be doing this) - If you still have missing information, such as the fastest speed supported by your system, there is one last method. Go to Crucial.com and use the drop down boxes to select your system. It will bring up a page much like this one. Find the section titled `Manufacturer Specifications`. The speeds supported by your motherboard will be listed in the box on the left. Apparently, my motherboard supports PC2-8500, PC2-6400, and PC2-5300. Had I not checked, I would not have ordered the fastest memory available for my computer.

To be completely honest, I always use Crucial.com to identify memory, and suggest you do as well. However, don't purchase memory directly from Crucial.com. Usually NewEgg and other online electronic stores sell it for much cheaper. While the CPU-Z method explains each aspect of the memory module, it takes more time and requires additional research. But now that you understand all of the factors involved with memory, use Crucial.com confidently, instead of fooling around with google searches and motherboard manuals.

How to purchase - After identifying your memory, head over to your favorite online electronic store and search. Based on our research, my search query would be `DDR2 PC2-8500 240-pin`. You can refine the search by including the size, such as 2GB. Before purchasing, make sure the memory module meets your computer's Single/Dual channel and Registered/Unregistered requirements. Good luck!

A warning regarding 32-bit memory limits - If you are running a 32-bit operating system, the maximum memory your computer will support is 4GB. You can install more without a problem, but your computer will not utilize it. In order to support more than 4GB of memory, please switch to a 64-bit operating system.

Preventing “Brown Outs”

Everybody has heard of a power surge, but most people will give you a funny look if you say brown-out. While a surge is a sudden jolt of extra electricity, a brown-out is actually a loss in electricity. And surprisingly, I have seen more damage to electronic equipment from brown-outs than from power surges. This may be due to the fact that surge protector power strips are cheap, while the hardware necessary to prevent a brown-out is not.

When a brown-out occurs, partial power is lost. This causes lights to dim and eventually "brown out" before power is completely lost. These few seconds of partial power can do serious damage to your computers, televisions, and other electronic equipment. Every component in your computer requires a specific amount of electricity to function. When full power is lost, the device shuts down fairly safely. But when partial power is lost, the device struggles to operate on limited power. Because it was designed for normal power, this scenario has a high chance of destroying the device. Imagine putting rubbing alcohol in a car engine. The device, in this case an engine, would be operating on a power source outside normal specifications. Result? Blown head gasket.

In order to prevent against brown-outs, use of various Battery Backup Systems is recommended. These systems, created mostly by APC and CyberPower, can protect your electronic equipment at a fraction of the cost to purchase a new computer. My personal preference is APC, but CyberPower is a little cheaper. To make things simple, both companies' sales teams will assist you by explaining their systems and which best suits you. The general rule of thumb is to pick up a ~400Watt system for a single desktop computer and monitor. If you are including extra equipment, such as a router and modem, allow for an extra ~50Watts. Make sure to purchase a model that comes with a USB cable and software, which will put your computer in Hibernation mode in the event of an extended power outage (these battery backups can run out of power if your main electricity goes down for too long.)

The product I use most often is the APC BE650G. At $89.99, you are not going to find a better buy for protecting your desktop computer and monitor. If you are running Windows XP, Vista, or 7, just plug in the USB wire and you are done; no need to even install the software. My second choice would be the CyberPower CP1000AVR. It only runs $79.99 for slightly more Wattage, but it uses a serial connection instead of USB.

Quick Tip: If you are using a laptop computer, you only need a simple surge protector power strip, not a battery backup.