Windows 7: One Small Step for SSDs, a Giant Step for NAND-kind

Microsoft’s new Windows 7 is the first operating system to detect the presence of a solid state drive (SSD) in a system and then optimize the OS to boost performance and endurance of the drive’s NAND flash memory blocks.

Call it another sign the era of mechanical hard drive domination is ending. And another small step toward flash freedom.

“This is the first step, and as good as Windows 7 is for SSDs, it’s still a baby step with so much more potential ahead,” Dean Klein, Micron’s SSD guru and vice president of memory system development told me in an interview.

I wanted to talk to Dean for the SSD perspective on Windows 7 after last week’s conversation with Micron’s Matthias Buchner on what impact Windows 7 will have on DRAM.

Dean was kind enough to break away from his busy schedule developing Micron’s next generation RealSSD™ products to wax evangelical about the breakthrough that Windows 7 represents in designing operating systems that optimize SSD technology, rather than accommodate the shortcomings of the mechanical hard drive.

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Ready for Windows 7? Don’t Forget the Memory.

I had a chance to sit down with Micron’s Matthias Buchner, director of segment marketing for Micron’s DRAM product group, to talk about the launch of Windows 7, the memory impact and other trends in the industry.

Chris Smith: Thanks Matthias for talking with me. I was hoping you could give us some perspective on how the launch of Windows 7 today will impact DRAM demand?

Matthias Buchner:  Sure, happy to talk with you. It’s important that we first look at it from the OS perspective, and then I’ll touch on the DRAM impact. In general, consumers have been waiting for a reason to purchase an upgraded PC for years. Whereas Windows Vista was an evolutionary step, industry insiders believe that Windows 7 is the revolutionary catalyst that will bring would-be PC buyers off of the sidelines and into the PC market.  While I expect that Windows 7 memory content will increase to 4GB from 2GB, I also believe that the launch of Windows 7 will spur DRAM bit growth through increased PC unit sales. Unit growth should be driven by consumers in calendar 2010, followed by the enterprise applications in calendar 2011.

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XP or Vista…which one’s better for SSDs?

We’re pretty passionate around here about engineering SSDs that get the highest performance possible.   Part of that engineering effort is within the devices themselves—ensuring that our SSDs live up to the potential that our NAND flash offers.  That said, there are many variables outside of the SSD that impact performance—like the operating system or hardware interface.  After all, many of today’s SSDs are being asked to live in a world designed for HDDs.

The SSD group at Micron has done extensive research into the behavior of Windows XP and Windows Vista under different conditions.  To gather data, the SATA interface was analyzed and data captured while installing, booting, shutting down, and running Office productivity applications on both operating systems.

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