If you have ever visited a state owned institution where they utilize computers, you will be familiar with this response; apologies, I am just waiting for the system to respond. It reminds me of the sloth scene in the animated movie Zootopia; you can have a look at this clip for reference: Speed of the sloth
The same goes for mobile and landline service providers whenever you report a fault. One can easily grow a beard while waiting for someone to answer your call. After waiting for their system (computer) to respond, you often find yourself at the wrong department and need to call another number, wasting hours of your life.
Even more frustrating, is that this delay has become acceptable!
Time is precious in a world flooded with mobile technology and Internet connectivity, rapidly expanding daily. Being able to work 24/7 means something completely different in this day and age, compared a few years ago. The world is in a constant state of insomnia and people want instant response. If computer systems are not in sync with this mind-set, life can become extremely stressful.
Every few years I upgrade my computer. Usually you get a flashy new operating system, with more memory, processing power and overall Woema. Everything seems faster than before and I am set for the next few of years.
I initially wanted to migrate to Windows 10 and experience Microsoft’s latest edition to the family, but instead of purchasing a new laptop, I only upgrade the hard drive on the laptop, which is already more than 3 years old.
Enter Solid State Technology
For those of you not up to speed, a solid state hard drive has no moving parts, resulting in performance that feels 10 times faster than a standard hard drive. The standard hard drive that you are familiar with works like an old record player on steroids. There is a disk with a needle running over it, which finds the information you need.
Solid state hard drives can be compared to a USB flash drive. While the drive is physically much lighter and faster, the major drawback is that data recover will not be as simple as before, therefore backups are essential!
My world changed instantly…
Processes that usually took hours, suddenly completed within minutes, and those taking minutes changed to seconds.
What I find most interesting, is that I didn’t realize how much time I was wasting before, just waiting for my computer to respond.
Below are some practical examples:
| Action | Standard Hard Drive | Solid State Hard Drive |
| Start-up Windows | 1 minute | 12 seconds |
| Log-in load all applications | 30-40 seconds | 3 seconds |
| Open Outlook | 20-30 seconds | 3 seconds |
| Open and load browser | 8 seconds | 1 second |
| Installing Office | 50 minutes | 15 minutes |
While the technology is also available for servers, it is currently rather costly.
If you are running anything other than fairly large database structures, you won’t need it for the moment.
Solid State drives are fairly affordable for desktop & laptop systems, and with the amount of time that you and your employees save, it will be money well spent!
Published By : Andre Britz