Units SSD have replaced the HDD units as main storage unit for their good performance and performance. We can find in the market a large number of units at a good price, especially Chinese units. Let’s see what characteristics these units have and the positive and negative points of Chinese SSDs on Aliexpress.
Index of contents
- What is an SSD
- Features of a Chinese SSD from Aliexpress
- The controller
- NAND Flash memories
- Cache
- Other Savings From Aliexpress Chinese SSD Manufacturers
- The brand
- Shipping methods
- customs
- Positive and negative points of Aliexpress SSDs
- Positive aspects
- Negative aspects
- Final words on Aliexpress SSDs
What is an SSD
It is a type of storage unit for computer equipment based on NAND Flash memory chips . SSDs are characterized by offering very good reading and writing performance, being silent (lacking moving parts), having great resistance to shocks and having a very low consumption.
The SSD can use the SATA interface and also PCIe interface . Initially the usual format of these units was 2.5 inches, but they are being replaced by the M.2 formats . The M.2 SSD is characterized by being installed directly on the motherboard and making use of the PCIe interface.
These storage units make use of NAND Flash memories that allow data to be stored without power being present. We can find different types of NAND Flash memories on the market, which depend on the number of bits stored per cell.
Features of a Chinese SSD from Aliexpress
Are SSD drives from Aliexpress and are the same as other brands, but normally manufactured in China. Physically these units have the same elements as the units from Samsung, Kingston, Corsair, etc. The difference lies in the components used to build these units, which are usually old. Controllers, NAND Flash memories and caches are usually used , which we could consider obsolete.
The controller
The first of the differences between an SSD from Aliexpress and an SSD from a well-known brand is on the controller. Units of Chinese origin usually have “old” controllers . These older controllers are no longer used by major manufacturers because there are better solutions. So the manufacturer of these controllers has a large amount of stock that they want to sell.
A Chinese SSD manufacturer has at this point access to a large batch of controllers that no one wants anymore for a very low price . This supposes a reduction of costs and therefore, they can offer more economic solutions.
We must bear in mind that we can find SSDs from Aliexpress with controllers that may not include write management technologies . Modern controllers allow to improve the handling of writing on NAND Flash memory.They avoid the massive writing of a cell and distribute the writing for all the cells , lengthening the life of the memories. It may be that this technology is not present in a Chinese SSD controller because it is very old.
NAND Flash memories
Currently most SSD manufacturers make use of TLC and QLC type NAND Flash memories . TLC memories allow you to store 3 bits per cell and QLC memories allow you to store 4 bits per cell. But we must also bear in mind that these memories have different layers and are manufactured in different lithographic processes.
Normally Chinese SSDs from Aliexpress make use of SLC memories , which allow to store two bits per cell. This type of memory is no longer in demand by large manufacturers, so a manufacturer that has excess stock may want to get rid of the excess.
We can also find a Chinese SSD with TLC memories. They are typically based on “older” NAND Flash chips with fewer layers and based on older lithographic processes . This means that the total capacity of the chip is lower and the consumption could be higher than that of other units.
Cache
SSD drives have an additional memory chip that acts as a cache. This memory can be soldered onto the PCB or integrated into the controller. The manufacturers like Samsung , PNY or Crucially, among others, often use memory DDR4 as a cache . They use these memories because they offer very good performance and are very fast.
Usually Chinese SSDs from Aliexpress usually use DDR3 memory and can even use DDR2 memory. These cache memories are logically slower than DDR4 memories. As the standards for DDR3 and DDR2 memory are already considered obsolete and have hardly any market , there may be an unsold carryover. It allows manufacturers to purchase a large quantity of memory for an extremely low price and thus reduce costs.
Other Savings From Aliexpress Chinese SSD Manufacturers
There are not only savings in the components, there are also other points where you save.
The brand
Another saving point is precisely in the brand and in what surrounds the brand. Companies like Corsair, Samsung, Kingston, Crucial, etc., have a website, marketing teams, offer review units, have quality control teams, etc.All this involves a large amount of costs that ends up impacting the price of the units.
The notable difference is that the brands that make these Chinese SSDs from Aliexpress are largely lacking of these elements . They usually lack a website, lack a marketing team, do not routinely supply products for review and elsewhere. They usually have a team that manufactures the units, a small team that distributes them and who manages the Aliexpress page, Amazon, etc.
Shipping methods
These goods usually have quite long delivery periods. This is because large packages are usually made with other products, which saves shipping costs. Additionally, they are usually sent by ship, something that requires more time but is cheaper than sending packages by plane.
customs
Another point where Chinese companies that sell SSDs in Aliexpess save is in customs . Normally these companies do not declare the merchandise to avoid paying tariffs or they declare other merchandise. As large packages are normally made with different products, they are usually passed through customs as the range of products that pay the least tariffs. This is a truly tax evasion mechanism that is more or less allowed.
Positive and negative points of Aliexpress SSDs
Positive aspects
- They have a lower price than other unitsof recognized brands
- They offer a good price / performance ratio
- They are a great option to breathe new life into old desktops and laptops
- They typically offer durability similar to well-known brands
Negative aspects
- The hardwarethey use is outdated
- Lower performancethan other brands
- Marks that can appear and disappearwith great ease
- Processing the guaranteecan be quite difficult
- Contacting the brand can be tricky
- It can be retained in customsand the Tax Agency requires us to pay the corresponding fees
Final words on Aliexpress SSDs
The first premise that we must be clear about is that cheap is usually expensive. This type of marking is fine for an old computer that we want to give a new life to, even to mount it on a Raspberry Pi or for Chia mining . For a new computer, it is better to opt for an SSD drive from a recognized brand and preferably bought in Spanish stores or on Amazon, where processing the guarantee can be very simple.
We recommend the best SSDs on the market
As we have highlighted, the Chinese SSDs from Aliexpress do not use bad hardware, what happens is that it is several generations behind the hardware used by well-known brands . In addition, these new brands save on all possible labor costs that they can, to offer economical solutions. We can also find problems when processing the guarantee, since it can be difficult or impossible, because the brand may no longer exist.
If you have a Chinese SSD bought on Aliexpress (or another platform) tell us about your experience and the performance of this unit
