Download Maximum PC - Holiday 2015

Super-Speed Storage
Super-Speed
Storage
What’s the best storage option for you?
nce upon a time, there
was just one simple
solution when it came
to computer storage. The everreliable, infallible spinning hard
drive. That signature sound of
those platters whirring into life
undoubtedly roused the spirit
of many a gamer, knowing that
within mere tens of minutes they
would be sitting comfortably,
ready to load their favorite 32bit game. It was a technology
that, although archaic by
today’s standards, developed
exponentially for its time. First
there was IDE, then there was
SATA, then the second generation
of SATA, and finally SATA revision
3.0, the pinnacle of SATA
O
By Zak Storey
38
MAXIMUMPC
HOL 2015
maximumpc.com
technology. An interconnect
designed and developed to help
support and provide compatibility
for all future storage devices and
drivers, for the next generation of
HDD devices.
But something happened, an
event that would shape mankind
throughout the ages. An event we
like to call SSD-Gate. Actually,
no, that was a lie. A bad one. We
just made that up. But still, it was
pretty revolutionary. In 2008,
Intel released the X25-M SSD,
one of the first commercially
available SSDs. Featuring mindblowing speeds of up to 250MB/s
read and 100MB/s write, PC
enthusiasts were hooked, and
so the craze began. Soon we
would all be running the typical
combo—as SSD storage was
so ridiculously expensive at the
time, the most common setup
was to use an SSD for your OS
and a traditional hard drive for
all your games, media, and other
files. However, even SATA 3 had
its limits. Eventually SSD speeds
would overtake that now aging
platform, decrepit well ahead of
its time, forcing the powers that
be to find new and inventive ways
around this annoying problem.
Fast-forward to 2015, and
the nature of the beast has
changed entirely. It turns out
that manufacturers don’t like
bottlenecks. Indeed, they hate
them. We now live in a time
when there are RAID 0 arrays,
M.2 drives, PCIe cards, and all
sorts of future tech right around
the corner that makes the
revolutionary SSD look as good
as Donald Trump’s “hair.” Forget
Moore’s law, let’s talk about SSD
speed and capacity acceleration.
And which wonderful and lovely
storage options are available to
you today? Which one should you
choose? And how much bang are
you getting for your buck? Read
on to find out more....