1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,600 If you're in the market for an SSD or solidstate drive, chances are that 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,960 you're thinking about things like capacity and speed. But if you've ever 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:15,519 read a more in-depth review of an SSD, you've probably seen talk about drive 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:20,800 controllers and how they have the potential to make or break a drive's 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:24,720 overall performance. But what exactly is a drive controller? Well, think of it 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:29,760 this way. If you were to go to the local hardware store and just buy a toolbox, 7 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:34,079 it's not very useful unless you're putting stuff in it. And while it's 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:38,239 possible to use your toolbox just by dumping stuff in it willy-nilly, you'll 9 00:00:36,399 --> 00:00:42,960 get a lot more out of your general toolbox experience by sorting your 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:47,120 pliers and nails and whatnot into the little compartments. So, it'll be easier 11 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:51,120 to find stuff when it comes time to tackle your next big project. This 12 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:55,440 process of sorting your stuff in a storage container is very similar to 13 00:00:52,640 --> 00:01:01,120 what an SSD controller does. Just like a toolbox can't sort the tools itself, the 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:05,920 flash cells on your SSD that store data need something that can fill them up 15 00:01:02,879 --> 00:01:08,080 sensibly with ones and zeros and talk to 16 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:12,560 the rest of your computer. The SATA data connector on your SSD is wired directly 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:16,560 into your SSD's controller, which processes the data and then sends it to 18 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:20,960 your drive's flash memory. So, because the controller is responsible for 19 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:26,080 actually putting data onto the SSD, lower-end ones can create a bottleneck 20 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:28,240 or even be less reliable due to hardware 21 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:32,479 and/or firmware differences. Unfortunately, the reasons behind why 22 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:36,159 one controller is better than the other aren't always clear because 23 00:01:34,479 --> 00:01:41,119 manufacturers treat controller designs like trade secrets. So, it's a little 24 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:46,479 hard to analyze Sandforce's signature blend of 11 herbs and spices compared to 25 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:52,000 Samsung's secret sauce that actually just turns out to be Thousand Island. 26 00:01:49,439 --> 00:01:57,520 But what we can tell you is that nicer controllers in higherend drives are 27 00:01:54,399 --> 00:01:59,920 connected to many memory cells at once 28 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:04,960 for faster throughput. A little bit like how GPUs contain many compute cores that 29 00:02:02,799 --> 00:02:08,879 work in parallel to help you get higher frame rates. But what are some of the 30 00:02:06,799 --> 00:02:13,520 other important ways a controller keeps data flowing smoothly? Well, one of 31 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:16,879 these is wear leveling. Unlike a traditional mechanical hard drive that 32 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:22,720 will generally last until the moving parts wear out, SSD flash cells can only 33 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:27,760 be written and rewritten so many times. So, imagine a shelf. Instead of always 34 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:32,720 putting data on the lowest, easiest to reach one, the controller will try to 35 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:37,760 write all cells evenly to extend the usable life of the drive as a whole. 36 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:42,720 Controllers also handle a couple very important features called garbage 37 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:44,319 collection and trim. Unlike hard drives 38 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:49,440 where data can just be overwritten at will, SSDs store data in blocks that 39 00:02:46,959 --> 00:02:54,000 must first be erased before new data can be written. Garbage collection handles 40 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:59,200 this by marking certain parts of data within the block as stale if they're 41 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:03,760 okay to be replaced with newer data. Moving the remainder of the still good 42 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:08,239 data to a new block, then finally erasing the old one. The problem with 43 00:03:06,159 --> 00:03:13,360 this is that when you go to delete a file, garbage collection doesn't mark 44 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:19,040 the deleted data as stale. So, garbage collection actually keeps copying this 45 00:03:15,519 --> 00:03:22,000 data to new blocks, needlessly using up 46 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:26,239 write cycles. This is where trim comes in. An operating system command that 47 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:31,280 tells your SSD controller which pieces of data within a block are actually 48 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:36,080 parts of deleted files so they won't stick around. both improving performance 49 00:03:33,599 --> 00:03:41,360 and increasing the lifespan of your drive, which is critical if you want 50 00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:44,080 your SSD to last the four years it needs 51 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:49,120 to so it can store an entire election cycles worth of dank memes. Speaking of 52 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:53,760 that, Squarespace, simple, powerful, beautiful 24/7 live chat support and 53 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:57,280 email if you need help setting up your website that you can get for $12 a 54 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:00,879 month. And if you buy a year, you get a domain thrown in with that website as 55 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:05,519 well. 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