http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/07/seagate-launches-the-600-ssd-as-its-first-client-side-ssd/

A new technology, nanotechnology, will be used to manufacture hard drive platters with roughly double the current density, which is 1TB per platter for new 3.5″ hard drives. The new technology uses various new methods of nanoimprinting and self assembling molecules, with each bit being about 50 atoms in size. This new tech will require all sorts of new chemistry to enable the surface to work correctly.

There are other technologies on the horizon such as HAMR and helium filled drives which also aim to increase the capacity of hard drives, but these focus on the recording and internal mechanics of the drive, where as nanotechnology focus on the platter medium itself. All of these new technologies will form some exciting times for the world of storage.

The success rate for a professional data recovery company should be in the region of 90%. When a hard drive fails the finger can be pointed at any number of components. PCB, head assembly, motor issues, media damage or degradation, contamination, firmware problems, the list goes on as there are so many components that make up a spinning drive. An SSD on the other hand has NAND storage and a controller mated to a PCB, and that’s it. This is an advantage for the most part as these drives run cooler and draw less power as there are no moving parts. They are also almost immune to the day-to-day knocks and bumps that could kill a spinning drive.

Consider the amount of components in a hard drive, all of which play a small role in the bigger picture of providing you with your data. One component fails, it’s repaired or replaced and this usually results in getting your data back. Because they have physical moving pieces they are large enough to work on. Take an SSD, however. There are 2 main components, the controller and the NAND flash. If the controller dies you have no access to your data – at all. The data remains on the NAND, but not in any readable format. The NANDs have to be desoldered, dumped and rebuilt – if possible. Throw in the chance that it might also be running encryption (Sandforce) and you face a hugely complex route to recovery. Or, let’s say your NAND is the component to go, as in the picture below. Well, that’s game over.

An SSD with major heat damage. Picture courtesy of The Register.

So when considering an SSD, keep in mind that data recovery from an SSD drive is many times more expensive than regular hard drive data recovery, and your chances of a successful recovery (if you’re willing to pay that much for it) are a lot less, too.

The price of SSDs is still coming down and their performance is unbeatable when compared to normal hard disk drives. However, from a capacity point of view, hard drives still rule the roost. With the new technology increasing storage capacity by 50% hard drives will expand on this advantage of storage capacity. With the new tech in mind it means that 2.5″ drives will be able to store 1TB of data per platter and 3.5″ drives will be able to store as much as 2TB per platter. Think of that in current terms and it will allow a normal height 9mm laptop drive to store 2TB of data and a desktop drive with 3 platters able to store 6TB, and even as much as 8TB if 4 platters can be squeezed in. Ultrabooks are becoming increasingly popular and require a 7mm high 2.5″ drive, which means that these machines can remain ultra thin and still be able to store 1TB of data.

2014 is the expected data at which this thermally assisted recording should be publicly available, so we should be seeing 6TB (and possibly 8TB?) within the next 2 years. A technology by Seagate, HAMR, might allow us hard drive of 60TB in future, but that technology is further down the road.

What does this mean for data recovery? Hopefully it means that users are able to make regular backups of larger amounts of data. However, when they forget to do so and a 6TB crashes, recovery pricing will be expensive if you consider the new technology.

Western Digital have lagged behind in this respect, but have now announced a 5mm thin hybrid hard drive which has between 8GB and 32GB of  NAND on-board. These 5mm drives will have an innovative SATA and power adapter, required due to the smaller size of the drive. 500GB will be available in 5mm and a 1TB version will come in at 7mm thick. There is no word yet on the architecture of the caching process.

When it comes to data recovery and hybrid drives, all of the data is stored primarily on the disc itself. Only a cached portion of the data is stored on the NAND, so this will not have any major negative impacts on the data recovery process.

If you’re struggling to find enough space to store all your important documents or are in need of an effective means of transporting files; consider purchasing an external hard drive. They have many benefits:

-  Backing up Files: It’s absolutely essential that you make second and even third copies of important documents, photographs or files. By using an external hard drive you’ll be able to back up all files and will have the peace of mind that data recovery services will be able to recover if it comes to it.

-  Additional Storage Space: External hard drives come in a range of sizes and are suitable for the storage of files, documents, photographs and videos. People often opt to use external hard drives for storage as it enables their computers to function at optimal speed.

-  Organising Media Files: Many professionals working in media, animation, design or even film choose to use external hard drives to store their files in an organised and structured manner. Not only do the devices enable documents and projects to be filed in format but also physically in a room or box (they are small and can be stacked to preference).

-  Sharing information: Hard drives are incredibly useful for transferring and sharing files. Popular amongst university students, large companies and when passing on confidential information.

-   Locking up important information: Due to their small size, hard drives can be easily locked away in a safety deposit box, filing cabinet or safe. Many people choose to remove all private and secret information from their computers, storing them instead on hard drives and placing them in safe spot until later required.

-   Reliability: external hard drives are an incredibly reliable means of storage and are praised for their stability. If you ever come across a problem or find that your hard drive is malfunctioning, know that you can make use or data recovery services to recover all your files again.

External hard drives are the most popular modern means of transferring information, storing documents, locking up confidential files and organising ones photographs and videos. Reliable and trustworthy, external hard drives easily fit into a hand bag or back pack, making your life easier, your computer faster and enabling you to easily access your files whenever needed.

There are 2 factors which have, and still do, limit the number of users who move across to SSD technology. Firstly, the issue of capacity – the amount of space available for you to store your operating system, applications and data. Modern HDDs are capable of storing up to 4TB of data if you consider the latest 3.5″ desktop drives, with 2.5″ laptop drives able to store up to 1TB of data in a much smaller package. Current consumer SSDs, such as offerings from OCZ, can be found in capacities up to 480GB, but expect to pay more than the value of your actual PC or laptop for an SSD of this size. The most common SSD found right now is 120GB, which is enough for your OS, a number of applications with some space left over for the average person’s documents and pictures. Feel the need to add some movies and music to that mix and you’ll hit a problem, your 120GB SSD will no longer cut it. There are ways around this, like adding a HDD to your system for storage whilst leaving the OS and applications on the SSD, but this falls outside the scope of this discussion.

The second obstacle facing those wishing to acquire an SSD is price. The price of a 240GB SSD? Between R2,500 and R3,000. Many, many times more than a 1TB HDD which holds more than 4 times the data. SSD prices have, however, decreased in price by about 65% over the last year. The opposite is true for the price of HDDs, which have actually increased since the floods in Thailand last year. Comparatively, SSDs are still many times more expensive on a Rand/GB basis than HDDs, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. In terms of pure storage capacity, HDDs are king. They offer many times the storage capacity at a fraction of the price.

As SSD prices continue to fall, the advantages of SSD technology are becoming increasingly attractive. A myth exists that SSD drives are almost immune from failure. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Although SSD drives have no moving parts, run very cool and are more robust that conventional HDDs, they most certainly do fail. From a data recovery perspective, SSDs are complex devices to recover data from. None of the usual HDD recovery techniques apply. SouthBit Data Recovery provides recovery services for SSDs, but expect the costs to be significantly higher than regular HDD recovery due to the complexity of these devices.