TECHNOLOGY

How Each Type Works And What It Means For You

Published

2 years ago

April 1, 2022

How Each Type Works And What It Means For You

Are you running out of storage space lately?

Or perhaps your hard disk slowed to a crawl? Or are you simply looking to experience optimal computer performance? Well, if you endure these three problems on your computer, it may be time for a hardware upgrade.

But should you go for a cheaper hard disk drive or a faster SSD? A drive is a drive, right? Not at all. This brief article will go through all the notable differences between HDDs and SSDs in terms of capacity, cost, lifespan, and what it means for you and your computer.

SSD vs. HDD: What’s The Difference?

The primary and most significant difference between a hard disk drive (HDD) and a solid-state drive (SSD) is actually how data is stored and accessed. While the HDD is the conventional storage device that uses mechanical spinning platters and a moving head to access data, SDDs are faster, newer drives that store data on instantly accessible memory chips.

An enclosure contains a series of platters concealed by a ferromagnetic coating in an HDD. Here, the direction of the magnetization represents the individual bits. Data is written and then read by a fast-moving head, similar to how vinyl albums work. And because all of these pieces are mechanical, the hard disk is usually the slowest and most fragile component of every computer.
On the other hand, SDDs are newer storage disks that store data on flash memory, consisting of individual memory cells storing bits that are instantly accessible by the controller.

Why Are SSDs Better For Laptops?

So, suppose you currently have an older version laptop that starts to get slow and sluggish because it works on an HDD and consider making the switch to an SSD. In that case, you should know that SSDs are often the better solution for laptops simply because they are non-mechanical.

Why_Are_SSDs_Better_For_Laptops .jpeg

In addition, SSDs require less power, which, of course, translates to better battery life. Nowadays, while lower-priced laptops still come with traditional HDDs, most mid-range to high-end laptops come with an SSD for a reason.

Furthermore, while HDDs have moving parts, SSDs are 100% shock-resistant. So, if you accidentally drop your laptop while the read/write head of the HDD is in motion, it could result in data failure. This can’t happen with SSDs.

In the end, there are also “hybrid” laptops that have both drive types inside them. In a hybrid laptop, the OS, apps, and the most-utilized files are installed on an SSD, while all other data sits on an HDD, which is typically larger and cheaper. In fact, using your SSD to run your operating system is a fantastic way to increase your laptop’s speed and performance.

Just like most other markets, the market for flash storage is volatile and varies based on current supply and demand. Nevertheless, although SSDs are much cheaper than they used to be, there’s still a considerable price difference between the two. While a 1 TB HDD costs roughly $70, a 1 TB internal SSD costs somewhere around $150.

If you’re concerned about how much data you can store on each type of drive, don’t worry, as there are no differences in storage capacity at all. You can get SSDs and HDDs in similar sizes, from as small as 128 GB up to 50 TB or more. However, keep in mind that larger SSDs are truly expensive.

For the moment, if you need to free up some space on your drive instantly, you can format your hard drive, whether it’s internal or external, no matter if it’s an SSD or HDD.

While there’s truth in the fact that SSD cells have a limited lifespan, this isn’t really an issue today. In fact, the myths surrounding SSD life spans are based on assumptions from the 90s and early 00s.

Theoretically, the more data is written to a cell, the faster it can wear out. A present SSD cell can handle around 3,000 write cycles, which doesn’t sound like much at first. However, thanks to the principle of wear leveling, the SSD spreads write processes evenly across all cells to minimize cell cessation and extend the lifespan of the SSD.

Furthermore, modern-day SSDs come with spare cells that replace dead cells. This is called bad block management; it’s the reason why the larger the SSD is, the longer its lifespan.

So, if you’re still unsure whether an HDD or SSD is the best fit for your machine, let’s review how both stack up against each other. SSDs are faster, more compact, quieter, more durable, and consume way less energy. On the other hand, HDDs are more price-friendly and may offer easier data recovery in the event of damage.

As long as the price isn’t your determining factor, SSDs come clearly out on top, mainly since modern SSDs are just as reliable as HDDs.

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TECHNOLOGY

Next-gen chips, Amazon Q, and speedy S3

Published

5 months ago

December 1, 2023

Max

AWS re:Invent, which has been taking place from November 27 and runs to December 1, has had its usual plethora of announcements: a total of 21 at time of print.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the huge potential impact of generative AI – ChatGPT officially turns one year old today – a lot of focus has been on the AI side for AWS’ announcements, including a major partnership inked with NVIDIA across infrastructure, software, and services.

Yet there has been plenty more announced at the Las Vegas jamboree besides. Here, CloudTech rounds up the best of the rest:

Next-generation chips

This was the other major AI-focused announcement at re:Invent: the launch of two new chips, AWS Graviton4 and AWS Trainium2, for training and running AI and machine learning (ML) models, among other customer workloads. Graviton4 shapes up against its predecessor with 30% better compute performance, 50% more cores and 75% more memory bandwidth, while Trainium2 delivers up to four times faster training than before and will be able to be deployed in EC2 UltraClusters of up to 100,000 chips.

The EC2 UltraClusters are designed to ‘deliver the highest performance, most energy efficient AI model training infrastructure in the cloud’, as AWS puts it. With it, customers will be able to train large language models in ‘a fraction of the time’, as well as double energy efficiency.

As ever, AWS offers customers who are already utilising these tools. Databricks, Epic and SAP are among the companies cited as using the new AWS-designed chips.

Zero-ETL integrations

AWS announced new Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon Relational Database Services (Amazon RDS) for MySQL integrations with Amazon Redshift, AWS’ cloud data warehouse. The zero-ETL integrations – eliminating the need to build ETL (extract, transform, load) data pipelines – make it easier to connect and analyse transactional data across various relational and non-relational databases in Amazon Redshift.

A simple example of how zero-ETL functions can be seen is in a hypothetical company which stores transactional data – time of transaction, items bought, where the transaction occurred – in a relational database, but use another analytics tool to analyse data in a non-relational database. To connect it all up, companies would previously have to construct ETL data pipelines which are a time and money sink.

The latest integrations “build on AWS’s zero-ETL foundation… so customers can quickly and easily connect all of their data, no matter where it lives,” the company said.

Amazon S3 Express One Zone

AWS announced the general availability of Amazon S3 Express One Zone, a new storage class purpose-built for customers’ most frequently-accessed data. Data access speed is up to 10 times faster and request costs up to 50% lower than standard S3. Companies can also opt to collocate their Amazon S3 Express One Zone data in the same availability zone as their compute resources.

Companies and partners who are using Amazon S3 Express One Zone include ChaosSearch, Cloudera, and Pinterest.

Amazon Q

A new product, and an interesting pivot, again with generative AI at its core. Amazon Q was announced as a ‘new type of generative AI-powered assistant’ which can be tailored to a customer’s business. “Customers can get fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, generate content, and take actions – all informed by a customer’s information repositories, code, and enterprise systems,” AWS added. The service also can assist companies building on AWS, as well as companies using AWS applications for business intelligence, contact centres, and supply chain management.

Customers cited as early adopters include Accenture, BMW and Wunderkind.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

TECHNOLOGY

HCLTech and Cisco create collaborative hybrid workplaces

Published

5 months ago

November 29, 2023

Max

Digital comms specialist Cisco and global tech firm HCLTech have teamed up to launch Meeting-Rooms-as-a-Service (MRaaS).

Available on a subscription model, this solution modernises legacy meeting rooms and enables users to join meetings from any meeting solution provider using Webex devices.

The MRaaS solution helps enterprises simplify the design, implementation and maintenance of integrated meeting rooms, enabling seamless collaboration for their globally distributed hybrid workforces.

Rakshit Ghura, senior VP and Global head of digital workplace services, HCLTech, said: “MRaaS combines our consulting and managed services expertise with Cisco’s proficiency in Webex devices to change the way employees conceptualise, organise and interact in a collaborative environment for a modern hybrid work model.

“The common vision of our partnership is to elevate the collaboration experience at work and drive productivity through modern meeting rooms.”

Alexandra Zagury, VP of partner managed and as-a-Service Sales at Cisco, said: “Our partnership with HCLTech helps our clients transform their offices through cost-effective managed services that support the ongoing evolution of workspaces.

“As we reimagine the modern office, we are making it easier to support collaboration and productivity among workers, whether they are in the office or elsewhere.”

Cisco’s Webex collaboration devices harness the power of artificial intelligence to offer intuitive, seamless collaboration experiences, enabling meeting rooms with smart features such as meeting zones, intelligent people framing, optimised attendee audio and background noise removal, among others.

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, HCLTech, Hybrid, meetings

TECHNOLOGY

Canonical releases low-touch private cloud MicroCloud

Published

5 months ago

November 28, 2023

Max

Canonical has announced the general availability of MicroCloud, a low-touch, open source cloud solution. MicroCloud is part of Canonical’s growing cloud infrastructure portfolio.

It is purpose-built for scalable clusters and edge deployments for all types of enterprises. It is designed with simplicity, security and automation in mind, minimising the time and effort to both deploy and maintain it. Conveniently, enterprise support for MicroCloud is offered as part of Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro subscription, with several support tiers available, and priced per node.

MicroClouds are optimised for repeatable and reliable remote deployments. A single command initiates the orchestration and clustering of various components with minimal involvement by the user, resulting in a fully functional cloud within minutes. This simplified deployment process significantly reduces the barrier to entry, putting a production-grade cloud at everyone’s fingertips.

Juan Manuel Ventura, head of architectures & technologies at Spindox, said: “Cloud computing is not only about technology, it’s the beating heart of any modern industrial transformation, driving agility and innovation. Our mission is to provide our customers with the most effective ways to innovate and bring value; having a complexity-free cloud infrastructure is one important piece of that puzzle. With MicroCloud, the focus shifts away from struggling with cloud operations to solving real business challenges” says

In addition to seamless deployment, MicroCloud prioritises security and ease of maintenance. All MicroCloud components are built with strict confinement for increased security, with over-the-air transactional updates that preserve data and roll back on errors automatically. Upgrades to newer versions are handled automatically and without downtime, with the mechanisms to hold or schedule them as needed.

With this approach, MicroCloud caters to both on-premise clouds but also edge deployments at remote locations, allowing organisations to use the same infrastructure primitives and services wherever they are needed. It is suitable for business-in-branch office locations or industrial use inside a factory, as well as distributed locations where the focus is on replicability and unattended operations.

Cedric Gegout, VP of product at Canonical, said: “As data becomes more distributed, the infrastructure has to follow. Cloud computing is now distributed, spanning across data centres, far and near edge computing appliances. MicroCloud is our answer to that.

“By packaging known infrastructure primitives in a portable and unattended way, we are delivering a simpler, more prescriptive cloud experience that makes zero-ops a reality for many Industries.“

MicroCloud’s lightweight architecture makes it usable on both commodity and high-end hardware, with several ways to further reduce its footprint depending on your workload needs. In addition to the standard Ubuntu Server or Desktop, MicroClouds can be run on Ubuntu Core – a lightweight OS optimised for the edge. With Ubuntu Core, MicroClouds are a perfect solution for far-edge locations with limited computing capabilities. Users can choose to run their workloads using Kubernetes or via system containers. System containers based on LXD behave similarly to traditional VMs but consume fewer resources while providing bare-metal performance.

Coupled with Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro + Support subscription, MicroCloud users can benefit from an enterprise-grade open source cloud solution that is fully supported and with better economics. An Ubuntu Pro subscription offers security maintenance for the broadest collection of open-source software available from a single vendor today. It covers over 30k packages with a consistent security maintenance commitment, and additional features such as kernel livepatch, systems management at scale, certified compliance and hardening profiles enabling easy adoption for enterprises. With per-node pricing and no hidden fees, customers can rest assured that their environment is secure and supported without the expensive price tag typically associated with cloud solutions.

Tags: automation, Canonical, MicroCloud, private cloud