Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make?

~~pawn3d~~ · 02-14-2009, 03:12 PM

Or are they just getting over on us, taxing consumers because it's "new technology"? Because to me, they seem like they'd be cheaper to make. There's no spinning platters or moving parts.

Note to Satan: I'm sorry but I have morals. I'll pay 50-75 cents per gigabyte, so I refuse to buy a solid state hard drive until your price is lowered. And by the way, it's not "new technology", it's now just internal.

How long until they are as cheap as spinning hard drives?

**asidman** · 02-14-2009, 03:42 PM

Read an article in a local version of PC Format magazine on how to make your own for about 1/4 price. In our terms, cost R1200 to make 32GB while 32GB SSD costs about R4300

**asidman** · 02-14-2009, 03:51 PM

Sorry bit wrong with prices there...sorry. 8GB homemade=R1100, 4gb (little slower) = R600
The article was written Dec 08, so prices may have changed.
It involved getting hold of a Kingston High speed (266x) Compact Flash card, SATA CompactFlash adapter and some mounting the homemade SSD onto a spare backplate.
The drive managed speeds of up to 43MB/sec

**raptor_pa** · 02-14-2009, 09:30 PM

As cheap as HD's - umm probably never.... seriously... a lot more technology inside an SSD. Wear leveling itself in an SSd is an algorithm that I don't want to tackle. OK so eventually they probably will become cheaper than an platter based HD, but I don't see it in the near future. Will SSd's ever completely replace Platter based drives?? Not for a while. they both have fail points - and it really is a LOT cheaper to build a platter based drive. Of course my first computer had 4 kilobytes of ram and loaded programs from a cassette tape too .. LOL my first RAM upgrade was on my second computer.. it went from 16 kB to 64 kB and cost me about $180.00 and that was CHEAP. I remember magazine covers that were screaming about the first 1 GB ( yes that is ONE GIGABYTE ) drives that were selling for under $1000 ( I think it was $990.00 ) and that was in 1996. So yes, eventually they will get cheaper, but not in the immediate future.. check with me in 10 years or so....( and yesss, my beard is ALMOST as white as my avatar's LOL )

**asidman** · 02-15-2009, 11:00 AM

Ok maybe not as extreme as your side but the first PC i worked on was one of the first IBM built MS DOS machines. It had 640kb of RAM, and 100mb HDD. Dont even ask what processor, think it was a 286.
The first PC i owned in was 1997. It was a pentium 1 32Mhz with MMX. Along with that i had 64mb simm RAM. I think i had a 2gb HDD with that. AT that stage, it was the best that money could buy. Cost more than $2500 without the monitor

**raptor_pa** · 02-15-2009, 08:49 PM

Proof positive, that stuff eventually gets cheaper!! And we wonder why today's $100 hard drives don't last five years LOL....

**asidman** · 02-16-2009, 12:06 AM

Also remember i bought one of the first 2x cd writers...cost more than a BD-R costs now....and that was about 10yrs back.
So SSD's will def drop in price. And although you say it could take a while...I think it will be quicker than we think.
Technology is improving exponentially thanks to Moores law which still stands. Okay that applies to CPU's but arent they the driving force behind PC's. Esp with the big boys like Intel now making the likes of the X80 (which is a awesome SSD...even the top one at the moment?) it wont be long i think before the SSD is supreme. Ok its not infallible i agree, but speed & less power consumption make it a very viable platter drive replacement. Gen 1 SSD's are still full of faults but they will dissapear or become a negligible problem in the next generation.
Thats my opinion anyway and another viewpoint. Dont take it to much to heart.

**raptor_pa** · 02-16-2009, 08:47 AM

I think Moore's law is invalid moving too fast LOL ( not really maybe it just seems like the 18 month time has been compressed to 8 LOL ) Probably the biggest barrier right now to the price break is we know how to make cheap platters that wear well, semiconductors that wear well ( and yes they do wear ) are still in process. It probably will be sooner than we think, but I doubt it is in the next two to three years. Will be interesting to watch that is for sure!! And the way the industry is moving, someone could announce a price competetive product in April...

**asidman** · 02-16-2009, 10:14 AM

Maybe we need to also look outside the traditional PC box although still in very early stages. DNA computers & Quantum computers for example.
There are also new optical technologies - HVD & 3D optical storage which are both in this article about this list of emerging technologies
But who knows when we will see these becoming reality. Like you say it will definitely be interesting. Looking at the list in the last link, we are entering a new very intersting era for humanity that is for sure!

02-14-2009, 03:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
~~pawn3d~~ Troubled Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: New Orleans Posts: 34 OS: xp	Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Or are they just getting over on us, taxing consumers because it's "new technology"? Because to me, they seem like they'd be cheaper to make. There's no spinning platters or moving parts. Note to Satan: I'm sorry but I have morals. I'll pay 50-75 cents per gigabyte, so I refuse to buy a solid state hard drive until your price is lowered. And by the way, it's not "new technology", it's now just internal. How long until they are as cheap as spinning hard drives?

02-14-2009, 03:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
asidman Will rule the World Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Port Elizabeth Posts: 4,537 OS: XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7 RC My System	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Read an article in a local version of PC Format magazine on how to make your own for about 1/4 price. In our terms, cost R1200 to make 32GB while 32GB SSD costs about R4300 __________________ Submit New Articles Here Try before posting \| Read before posting \| Advice to New Visitors How to post a Screenshot \| Posting system specs \| Posting images (VERY NB)

02-14-2009, 03:51 PM	#3 (permalink)
asidman Will rule the World Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Port Elizabeth Posts: 4,537 OS: XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7 RC My System	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Sorry bit wrong with prices there...sorry. 8GB homemade=R1100, 4gb (little slower) = R600 The article was written Dec 08, so prices may have changed. It involved getting hold of a Kingston High speed (266x) Compact Flash card, SATA CompactFlash adapter and some mounting the homemade SSD onto a spare backplate. The drive managed speeds of up to 43MB/sec __________________ Submit New Articles Here Try before posting \| Read before posting \| Advice to New Visitors How to post a Screenshot \| Posting system specs \| Posting images (VERY NB)

02-14-2009, 09:30 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,934 OS: XP	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? As cheap as HD's - umm probably never.... seriously... a lot more technology inside an SSD. Wear leveling itself in an SSd is an algorithm that I don't want to tackle. OK so eventually they probably will become cheaper than an platter based HD, but I don't see it in the near future. Will SSd's ever completely replace Platter based drives?? Not for a while. they both have fail points - and it really is a LOT cheaper to build a platter based drive. Of course my first computer had 4 kilobytes of ram and loaded programs from a cassette tape too .. LOL my first RAM upgrade was on my second computer.. it went from 16 kB to 64 kB and cost me about $180.00 and that was CHEAP. I remember magazine covers that were screaming about the first 1 GB ( yes that is ONE GIGABYTE ) drives that were selling for under $1000 ( I think it was $990.00 ) and that was in 1996. So yes, eventually they will get cheaper, but not in the immediate future.. check with me in 10 years or so....( and yesss, my beard is ALMOST as white as my avatar's LOL ) __________________ Last edited by raptor_pa; 02-14-2009 at 09:32 PM.

02-15-2009, 11:00 AM	#5 (permalink)
asidman Will rule the World Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Port Elizabeth Posts: 4,537 OS: XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7 RC My System	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Ok maybe not as extreme as your side but the first PC i worked on was one of the first IBM built MS DOS machines. It had 640kb of RAM, and 100mb HDD. Dont even ask what processor, think it was a 286. The first PC i owned in was 1997. It was a pentium 1 32Mhz with MMX. Along with that i had 64mb simm RAM. I think i had a 2gb HDD with that. AT that stage, it was the best that money could buy. Cost more than $2500 without the monitor __________________ Submit New Articles Here Try before posting \| Read before posting \| Advice to New Visitors How to post a Screenshot \| Posting system specs \| Posting images (VERY NB)

02-15-2009, 08:49 PM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,934 OS: XP	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Proof positive, that stuff eventually gets cheaper!! And we wonder why today's $100 hard drives don't last five years LOL.... __________________

02-16-2009, 12:06 AM	#7 (permalink)
asidman Will rule the World Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Port Elizabeth Posts: 4,537 OS: XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7 RC My System	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Also remember i bought one of the first 2x cd writers...cost more than a BD-R costs now....and that was about 10yrs back. So SSD's will def drop in price. And although you say it could take a while...I think it will be quicker than we think. Technology is improving exponentially thanks to Moores law which still stands. Okay that applies to CPU's but arent they the driving force behind PC's. Esp with the big boys like Intel now making the likes of the X80 (which is a awesome SSD...even the top one at the moment?) it wont be long i think before the SSD is supreme. Ok its not infallible i agree, but speed & less power consumption make it a very viable platter drive replacement. Gen 1 SSD's are still full of faults but they will dissapear or become a negligible problem in the next generation. Thats my opinion anyway and another viewpoint. Dont take it to much to heart. __________________ Submit New Articles Here Try before posting \| Read before posting \| Advice to New Visitors How to post a Screenshot \| Posting system specs \| Posting images (VERY NB)

02-16-2009, 08:47 AM	#8 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,934 OS: XP	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? I think Moore's law is invalid moving too fast LOL ( not really maybe it just seems like the 18 month time has been compressed to 8 LOL ) Probably the biggest barrier right now to the price break is we know how to make cheap platters that wear well, semiconductors that wear well ( and yes they do wear ) are still in process. It probably will be sooner than we think, but I doubt it is in the next two to three years. Will be interesting to watch that is for sure!! And the way the industry is moving, someone could announce a price competetive product in April... __________________

02-16-2009, 10:14 AM	#9 (permalink)
asidman Will rule the World Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Port Elizabeth Posts: 4,537 OS: XP SP3, Vista SP1, Windows 7 RC My System	Re: Are Solid State Harddrive (SSD) More Expensive to make? Maybe we need to also look outside the traditional PC box although still in very early stages. DNA computers & Quantum computers for example. There are also new optical technologies - HVD & 3D optical storage which are both in this article about this list of emerging technologies But who knows when we will see these becoming reality. Like you say it will definitely be interesting. Looking at the list in the last link, we are entering a new very intersting era for humanity that is for sure! __________________ Submit New Articles Here Try before posting \| Read before posting \| Advice to New Visitors How to post a Screenshot \| Posting system specs \| Posting images (VERY NB)