How do solid state drives (SSD) store and retrieve data?
In: Technology
There’s one really fascinating thing that the other very good explanation didn’t mention. If the data is stored as charge, why doesn’t it just leak out as soon as there’s no power to the computer to hold the charge in the cells (like what happens in RAM)? SSDs hold the charge in an impenetrable box from which there is no exit. But here’s the rub–if the box is going to be impenetrable and require no power to hold it closed, then it cannot have a “lid” or “door” which could come open when the power is off. As a result, there is no entrance to the box either. The only way the charge can get into the box is to kind of “teleport” through the wall of the box using a process known as Quantum Tunneling. Although the box is impenetrable with no openings, the charge is able to pass through the solid barrier and suddenly find itself on the other side, trapped inside the box.
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