hss

=HSS (Hyper Solid State)=

Definition:
HSS is a hybrid system that combines standard disk drive technology with random access memory in a design that maximizes performance and energy efficiency. This hybrid disk, which is both faster and more energy efficient than standard drives, is still your typical 3.5” form factor. This enables the drive to be slotted into existing machines and connected via the standard ATA interface. The drive also has its own internal back-up power source to prevent data loss.

Origin:
This technology was developed by [|Dynamic Network Factory (DNF)] which provides storage solutions for enterprises. HSS drives are used within their own product line and sold to partners. The drive was developed in response to a noticed need for high-speed processing with minimal power usage as well as a want for a Solid State Drive (SSD) that was affordable and thus competative with standard hard drives. At the time of release the estimated cost per drive was $2,500. These new drives could prove particularly useful for systems that undertake a high level of transactions.

Users:
Computer users. For example, a solid state drive would benefit users whose high-end programs require information retrieval to be much faster than traditional disk drives, or users whose computers already have the maximum amount of RAM installed. HSS in particular could prove very useful for systems that undertake a high level of transactions such as financial processing and high traffic websites.

Impacts:
Some of the impacts of an HSS Drive would be increased productivity, HSS drives report a 20-fold performance increase over current 15,000 rpm SAS, SCSI and FC technology. Power consumption is rated at 12.5 watts; that is 16% and 24% lower than 15,000 RPM SAS and 15,000 RPM Fiber Channel drives respectively.

Advantages:
Solid state drives (SSDs) have no moving parts, so they are far more rugged and reliable than conventional hard drives, and have excellent shock and vibration tolerance. SSDs use 85 percent less power than hard drives, are lighter weight, and can support a wider operating temperature range than hard drives.Currently, SSDs are practical for any application that requires high reliability; is subject to high shock, vibration, or varied temperature range; or requires very low power consumption or very fast access time. We believe the main markets for this currently are ruggedized laptops (laptops for military, Panasonic Toughbook, etc), embedded computing (single use industrial computers that don't require large storage space), and more mainstream mobile computing applications that don't require huge storage space. HSS Drives also have an advantage over regular SSDs in that they offer 15 times the storage capacity for approximately the same cost.

Disadvantages:
In terms of dollars per gigabyte, hard drives still have a huge advantage.

So SSDs currently only make sense in applications that are subject to shock and vibration or extreme temperatures, or where low power consumption or high reliability is paramount. SSDs are ideal for industrial computing, military, ruggedized notebooks, and mobile computers that don't require a vast amount of storage space. The relative expense is due to the fact that SSDs use flash chips. The cost of flash chips is currently around $15 per 1GB. So a 64GB SSD will cost around $1,000, just due to the cost of the flash chips. Flash chips are already in very high volume and are dropping in price by 50 percent every nine months. So these prices are coming down fast. There are also new flash technologies that will help bring the price down. MLC (multi-level cell) flash chips cost about 20 percent less, but are currently not usable for SSDs due to their slower performance. Over the next year or two, you can expect performance of MLC chips to improve and cost per GB to drop very sharply. The other components of cost (casings, PCBs and controllers) are high due to the low volumes. These costs will come down quickly too as volumes ramp up. So the cost per GB of SSDs will come down very sharply over the next one to two years. The write speed of solid state drives also varies immensely from that of its older counterparts. A higher-end hard drive will handle write speeds in the area of 50 mbps, while a SSD cannot attain even half of that speed when writing data. SSD's also have very little in the way of data recoverability. This meaning that in the event the chips are damaged, the data is lost permanently.



Mechanical Hard Drive Apple iPod currently uses Solid State Drives

Sources:
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=26414 http://www.superssd.com/spc.htm http://weblog.infoworld.com/tcdaily/archives/2007/01/dnf_drives_a_sf.html https://www.sap.info/index.php4?ACTION=noframe&url=https://www.sap.info/public/INT/int/index/Category-28813c6138d029be8-int/0/articlesVersions-1995045c710bbe82eb