Traditional Hard Disk Drive

Solid state drives (SSD) are data storage devices that are used to store persistent data. In terms of function SSD’s serve the same purpose as your typical hard disk drive (HDD) but are much faster. The difference between solid state drives and hard disk drives is that hard disk drives are electromechanical, meaning that they have moving parts. In a HDD there is a magnetic disk that spins and a moving read/write head. Hard disk drives must initiate these movements before they can save information or read files.  The time that it takes to initiate these movements is called Seek Time.

Solid State Drive

In contrast, solid state drives have no moving parts.  Much like a USB flash drive, they store information in microchips,
and they can instantly start saving information or reading files, making their seek time virtually zero.  SSD technology has a promising future in the world of optical disc publishing.

 

SSD’s have other advantages oer traditional HDDs.  In addition to being overall faster than traditional HDDs, they are also more energy efficient and run much cooler.  This coupled with the fact that they are more rugged and lighter than HDDs make them perfect storage devices for laptops.  That doesn’t mean that only mobile computers can take advantage of SSDs.  Desktop computers and workstations also take advantage of almost all of the benefits of SSDs.  And though, like most new technologies, the prices of SSDs are a bit higher per storage capacity and storage capacities are limited compared to those of HDDs, their cost of ownership is actually lower and we are seeing their costs dropping rapidly.

Microtech Employs SSDs for Increased Throughput

For volume cd/dvd disc production systems, the Microtech flagship model Xpress XL with an 800 disc capacity and the Xpress XP with a 600 disc capacity have been upgraded to the new 2^nd Generation Intel® Core™ Quad-Core Processors boosting their performance over 15% versus previous models.  The new processing horsepower provides noticeable improvements in recording speed across all models of recorders, allowing formats like Blu-ray Disc™ to reach maximum speeds for increased disc throughput.  This upgrade also includes the latest in Solid State Drive technology from Intel featuring speeds over twice as fast as conventional hard disk drives and data loss protection from unexpected power loss. Microtech Systems is the first vendor in this market to incorporate the new SSD, providing extremely fast boot up times, the benefits of lower power consumption, heat generation, and data protection.  The Microtech X³ and X⁶ have always enjoyed the benefits of SSDs.

The 2^nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processor has also been incorporated into the Xpress XE platform. This upgrade provides an improvement of over 50% in processing power over the earlier generations.  With twice the memory, and a larger SATA 6Gb/s enterprise hard disk, the XE capabilities have been extended to also support the highest speed Blu-ray Disc™ writing along with a very snappy response.

All Microtech Automated Disc Publishers and Duplicators use SSDs to achieve the industry’s faster performance.