Frequently Asked Questions

An SSD (Solid State Drive) is basically a flash storage device, which is the next-generation equivalent of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). Where they differ greatly is an HDD contains spinning magnetic platters which are read and written to by heads floating on a cushion of air along with a series of guides known as ‘actuator arms’, while an SSD contains no moving parts, and instead of spinning platters uses a special type of memory known as NAND flash. The most important advantages of an SSD compared to an HDD are as below:The key advantage is that they are much faster than an HDD.

• An SSD contains no moving parts, so there is no mechanical wear.
• An SSD produces next to no heat at all.
• An SSD is silent, as it contains no mechanical parts.
• An SSD consumes much less power compared to an HDD.
• Robustness. Drop an HDD onto the floor and the chances of it still working are remote. Drop an SSD, and unless you are very unlucky, the SSD will not be damaged and should continue to function normally.
• An SSD has very much faster access times compared to an HDD.
• An SSD has much greater data throughput than an HDD.

• 2.5inch SSD  32GB-2TB (SLC/MLC/TLC/QLC)
• mSATA SATA2/SATA3 8GB-1TB (SLC/MLC/TLC/QLC)
• M.2 NGFF SSD 60GB-1TB (MLC/TLC/QLC)
• M.2 NVMe SSD 128GB-1TB (MLC/TLC/QLC)

One of the biggest differences between SSD and HDD is that SSD drives have no moving parts. Since there are no moving parts, SSD drives are significantly faster, quieter, and more resistant to shock and vibration.

• As we mentioned above an HDD has spinning magnetic platters to store the data, and that data is read or written by a series of read/write heads. Each platter has its own head, and the head is moved from the outside of the platter to the inside of the platter by the slide actuator assembly. The head can only be in one place at any one time, and it takes time to move that head from one location to another. Even if it’s only a 1mm away, it will still take a few milliseconds to move the head before reading or writing can recommence.
• An SSD reads and writes its data from NAND flash, and it’s not uncommon for the SSD controller to have eight channels to transfer data to and from the NAND. Also, the time taken to access the data can be 100 times faster than it is on an HDD. So as well as being capable of 8 times the throughput, it can also access the data much faster than an HDD.
• If we compare a few SATA 6Gbps SSDs with one of the fastest HDDs currently available, in a real-world multitasking test, you will find the fastest SSD is very nearly 10 times faster than the HDD.

Now there are two types of SSD Solid-state drives (SSDs) based on flash memory: MLC SSD, SLC SSD. TLC SSD and QLC SSD Generally, the SSDs can provide faster transfer speed, higher reliability, and lower power consumption rather than HDDs.

• A. Based on Nand Flash

1. SLC or Single Level Cell allows for the storage of one bit of information per NAND memory cell. SLC NAND offers relatively fast read and write capabilities, high endurance, and relatively simple error correction algorithms. SLC is typically the most expensive NAND technology. An SLC NAND Flash PE cycle is written as 100K times in its Datasheet while the read is unlimited. SLC drives are more suited for enterprise and digital recording systems environments because of frequently write operations.
2. MLC or Multi-Level Cell, technology in general is less robust than SLC as there are two bits stored in each cell. If one cell is lost two bits will be lost. An MLC NAND Flash PE cycle is written between 3,000 to 5,000 times while the read is unlimited. The drives are usually available in larger capacities and are usually cost-effective. MLC based SSDs are ideal storage devices for consumer and few write operation environments.
3. TLC flash (triple-level cell flash) is a type of NAND flash memory that stores three bits of data per cell. TLC is also known as MLC-3, 3-bit MLC, and X3. … The 3D NAND enables higher storage densities at a lower cost per bit and improves the endurance of the flash.
4. Quad-level cell (QLC) drives are the latest development of flash storage technology. As the name suggests, the technology stores four bits per cell. The way QLC flash and all other NAND flash stores data is essentially the same, using an electrical charge to determine whether each cell is a “0” or a “1”.

• Based on Host Interface

1. SATA SSD: SATA SSDs are based on the industry-standard SATA interface.
2. PCIe/ NVMe SSD: PCIe SSDs are based on the industry-standard PCIe/ NVMe interface.
3. PATA 44PIN: PATA SSD based on the industry-standard IDE interface

With regard to physically installing the drive, it’s actually more or less similar to installing an HDD.

1. If it’s a laptop, you just replace the HDD with an SSD (assuming that the laptop has a 2.5inch drive bay).
2. If it’s a desktop PC with a 3.5 inch HDD, then all you need is a 3.5 inch to 2.5inch converter bracket. The electrical connections are the same as a SATA HDD, but there some things that you should be aware of before you use the SSD.

• For technical reasons, that are incidental to this guide, the partition on an SSD needs to be aligned. This is to make sure that the NAND pages start at the correct offset. Failure to align the partition will result in lower performance and will induce higher wear on the NAND.
• Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 will align the partition correctly when you create the partition. Windows XP won’t. So if you are using XP, then perhaps it’s time to update.

For a new Windows 7 or 8 build.

• Simply connect the SSD then enter the system BIOS and set the SATA transfer mode to AHCI. IDE mode is not recommended for an SSD, as IDE mode can’t support NCQ (native command queuing).
• Place your Windows 7/8 DVD in your burner and boot from the burner. When you get to the installation screen, select the advanced options, then click on create a partition (selecting the SSD). The SSD will be initialized, and the partition will be automatically aligned when it’s created.

For an existing build.

• Connect the SSD to a spare SATA socket, start the system and when it boots to the desktop, right-click on the “Computer Icon”, and then select “Manage”, followed by “Disk Management” from the menu. If the SSD is new it will need to be initialized and a popup should appear. When it does, select the MBR option. The SSD will then be initialized.
• Once this is done the RAW partition should appear in the list. Right-click on the SSD and select “create a simple partition”. Select the default which would normally be NTFS, and make sure you select the quick format option (NEVER do a FULL FORMAT ON AN SSD).
• Once this completes you are ready to install the operating system on the SSD, or use it as a storage drive, if that’s what you prefer.

• Basically, this is down to the number of NAND chip packages on the SSD, and the density of these packages. Almost all modern SSDs have a controller that can use multiple channels to read and write to the NAND. NAND is rather slow on its own. SSDs get their speed from reading and writing to several NAND packages at the same time. The sweet spot will generally be SSDs with 8 channels addressing 16 NAND chip packages.
• Again we must go back to MLC NAND basics, and the read, modify, NAND block write method. But if the SSD controller is smart and fast enough, why just do one of these processes at a time? In actual fact, they don’t. While the SSD is busy doing the writing process on one block, it can also use another channel to do the read and modify. This is called interleaving, but unfortunately, 16 NAND chip packages are required to get the best out of this method with an SSD controller which supports 8 channels to the NAND array.
• This makes perfect sense on the larger capacity SSDs. For example for an SSD with 256GB of NAND, you can use 16GB NAND chip packages, and for a 512GB SSD, you can use 32GB packages in order to get the magic 16 NAND chip packages. Unfortunately trying to maintain these 16 NAND chip packages on small capacity SSDs would be prohibitively expensive and would result in small capacity SSDs being non-competitive.
• Things may change in the not too distant future. ONFI 3 NAND will soon be available, supporting speeds of up to 400MB/s per NAND die. So it is certainly possible that only 4 or 8 NAND chip packages are required to fully saturate the SATA 6Gbps system bus. If this should happen then smaller capacity SSDs, at least for sequential reading and writing could be every bit as fast as their larger counterparts.

S.M.A.R.T stands for “Self-Monitor and Report Technology”, which is built-in hard drives and solid-state drives to indicate the condition of drives. All DiskMFR SSD series support S.M.A.R.T, and DiskMFR provides SSD Dash, a free downloaded tool on DiskMFR official website to help users get S.M.A.R.T values easily. The S.M.A.R.T contains Average P/E Cycle Count, Total Power-on Time, Power-on Cycle Count, Total Host Writes/Read, and other specific information.

System cloning is the recommended way to transfer the operating system to SSD. It would keep all data, setting, drivers that needed for your computer. To clone your drive, DiskMFR recommends EaseUS Todo Backup as an assistant, please visit https://www.easeus.com/ to have more detail.

In SSD, lots of scattered data pieces will generate in use. The Garbage Collection (so-called GC) mechanism is to move these pieces into specific physical units and then to reuse the original units to store new data. Garbage Collection is necessary and results in the overall performance of SSD. DiskMFR optimizes the algorithm for highly efficient GC to ensure SSD works smoothly.

TRIM is an OS (Operating System) command set, which was started supporting Windows 7. When the user deletes a file, OS sends TRIM to inform SSD about the operation, then SSD marks the specific storage units to the invalid state. Once the GC operates, GC could be more precise and efficient to erase the storage unit without unnecessary reallocation of data in flash memory.

M.2 is known as NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor), enables expansion, contraction, and higher integration of functions onto a single form factor specification. SSD is one of the devices that adopt M.2, and it offers slim, compact-sized to be flexible in different devices.

1. Testing values vary with different benchmark tools.
2. The version of tools also has an impact on testing results.
3. The platforms could influence the result as well. Generally, the performance would be better on a high-end platform.
4. If SSD was used before and contains data inside, it could get a bit slower. Every single test has little different results even in the same condition.

M.2 slot may only support the SATA protocol. Please contact the service center or visit the websites of your PC/laptop/motherboard manufacturer to realize the specification details before purchasing M.2 PCIe SSD.

SSD has a mechanism, wear leveling. This mechanism ensures every single physical storage units get the same P/E cycle. It aims to extend working life. Defragmentation is not required.

Modifying or tampering with your SSD drive without our confirmation will void your warranty.

No, please verify your laptop or desktop if support NVMe SSD Drives.

The useful life of an SSD is governed by three key parameters: SSD NAND flash technology, capacity of the drive, and the application usage model. In general, the following life cycle calculator can be used to figure out how long the drive will last.

• Life [years] = (Endurance [P/E cycles] * Capacity [physical, bytes] * Overprovisioning Factor) / (Write Speed [Bps] * Duty Cycle [cycles] * Write % * WAF) / (36 *24* 3,600)

1. Parameters: Endurance, NAND P/E Cycle: 100K SLC, 30K eMLC, 3K MLC
2. Capacity: Usable capacity of the SSD
3. Overprovisioning Factor: Over provision NAND percentage
4. Write Speed: Speed of write-in Bytes per second
5. Duty Cycle: Usage duty cycle
6. Write %: percentage of writes during SSD usage
7. WAF: Controller Write Amplification factor

Yes, will be able to supply you with the software according to ordered item to modify the series number.

It is usually a compatibility problem, and you can try to re-open the card with a new version of the software, which usually resolves the problem.

It is usually a contact problem. You only need to remove and insert the SSD interface to effectively contact the computer interface.

The overall performance of SSDS is determined by the hard disk interface (SATA, IDE, PCI-E, etc.), the Controller IC (scheme), the efficiency of the loss-balancing algorithm (firmware), the raw flash bandwidth, and the circuit design and manufacturing process of the PCB version.

For SSDs, performance has little to do with how much data is stored. Whether empty or nearly full, the flash memory’s wear-leveling management algorithm will work as usual. Some common file systems such as NTFS and FAT32 may experience performance degradation when running out of space, but this is a software issue and has nothing to do with whether or not you are using solid state storage is not relevant. In the future, when file systems specifically for SSDs become available, there may also be examples of how the amount of data stored on the drive affects performance. The example of the performance impact of how much data is stored on the drive may also occur in the future when file systems specifically for SSDs are available.

Solid-state drives are physically indistinguishable from FLASH drives, memory cards, and flash memory in mobile phones, so you don’t have to worry about x-rays.

The answer to this question is complicated. Solid-state disks (SSDS) store data in different ways from traditional disks. For example, SSDs use a “loss balancing” mechanism to prevent rapid aging caused by frequent reads of a storage unit, which averages the number of reads and writes to each block. Current operating systems are not prepared for this either. The main principle of disk defragments is to put data that needs to be read frequently in a place that can be accessed at high speed, while data that needs to be accessed rarely is stacked in the corner. Solid-state drives, by their very nature, can find any piece of data very quickly. Current disk-titration tools do little to optimize SSD file systems. Therefore, it is recommended that SSD users disable automatic disk defragmentation and do not manually defragment.

None of the current file systems are optimized for solid-state drives. The computer industry has spent decades targeting rotating media storage for optimizations, but the advent of solid-state drives has completely nullified those optimizations. Fortunately, with the current speed of SSDs, following the requirements of older file systems to work like traditional hard drives working as they do, it doesn’t take much to lose. In the near future, however, we will certainly see file systems optimized for SSDs. Microsoft in Windows 7 will be optimized for SSDs, and the system will disable automatic disk defragmentation when using SSDs. One of the commands, ATA trim, can notify the SSD The ATA trim command, which notifies the SSD that a block is no longer in use, allows the SSD to reclaim its space and incorporate it into the next “wear balance” operation.

Over the life cycle of an SSD, many factors can affect its performance. One of the most important is the issue of data fragmentation. Unfortunately, there is no way to externally measure the impact of data fragmentation on SSDs. As stated above, test programs may be able to detect the performance difference between an SSD’s internal storage striping with or without performance differences, but this does not significantly impact the user experience. Optimization of the SSD file system will further address this issue in the future.