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HDD to SSD Migration in Embedded Systems Slide 6

When implementing SSDs into a system, the end application needs to be considered in order to choose the best suitable Solid State Drive storage solution. There is no one-fits-all solution. There are many design factors to be considered when choosing a Solid State Drive solution. How much data is written to the SSD per day? Will the system be running constantly or is it powered off for longer periods? What is the expected temperature range the end application operates in? Is power loss protection required? Does the application design have space constraints? What is the best form factor/interface to design for the application? What are the speed, endurance and reliability requirements? Does the application require maximum endurance, data retention, or is the user looking for the maximum possible speed of the drive? There are significant differences between the SSDs available today in the market. For example, consumer applications such as notebook computers favor maximum speed, longer data retention, but focus less on TBW, and are not optimized for RAID operation. For enterprise applications such as servers, the SSD solution should be geared towards sustained performance, latency and TBW are critical, and the drive should be optimized for RAID mode, while data retention is not as important. For industrial applications the SSD solution is usually a ruggedized SSD featuring an industrial temperature spec, and offering the highest possible reliability and endurance rather than focusing on speed maximization. The Quality and type of SSD is mainly defined through two features within the drive - the architecture of the source NAND Flash used in the drive, and the firmware and controller set. For a drive featuring the highest possible endurance, performance, and reliability users should use a drive built with SLC NAND Flash. For the best cost to performance ratio, a drive featuring eMLC NAND Flash can be considered. The Controller & Firmware set are critical for reliability and performance of the SSD. The right firmware for the application optimizes internal processes such as wear leveling and garbage collection, resulting in higher reliability and longer lifetime of the SSD.

PTM Published on: 2014-01-09