microsoft-wants-pc-oems-to-put-a-bullet-in-hdd-boot-drives-and-go-all-in-on-ssds
Remember when floppy disk drives (FDDs) dominated the day earlier than USB flash drives rendered them out of date? Mechanical arduous disk drives (HDDs) have confirmed extra resilient within the wake of stable state drives (SSDs) making a speedy splash within the storage market, but when Microsoft has its method, OEM system builders will overlook all about HDDs within the close to future.
A report from Trendfocus, a knowledge storage market analysis and consulting agency, claims OEMs are being pressured by Microsoft to kick HDDs to the curb in favor of SSDs in pre-built Windows 11 programs. We haven’t seen the report ourselves, however in line with Tom’s Hardware, Microsoft has set a deadline to desert SSDs for 2023.
“The original cut-in date based on our discussions with OEMs was to be this year, but it has been pushed out to sometime next year (the second half, I believe, but not clear on the firm date),” Trendfocus vice chairman John Chen informed the positioning. “OMEs are trying to negotiate some level of push out (emerging market transition in 2024, or desktop transition in 2024), but things are still in flux.”
If correct, this might counsel that the system necessities for Windows 11 will probably be up to date to require an SSD for the first boot drive. That’s not the case without delay. As issues stand, that is what’s wanted to satisfy Windows 11’s minimal necessities…
  • CPU: 1GHs or sooner with 2 or extra cores on a appropriate 64-bit chip or SoC
  • RAM: 4GB or extra
  • Storage: 64GB or bigger
  • Firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot succesful
  • TPM: Version 2.0
  • GPU: DirectX 1 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver
  • Display: 720p+ decision, 8-bit shade channel
An web connection and Microsoft account are required as properly, although because it pertains to storage, there aren’t any present guidelines dictating the kind or pace, simply the capability. However, there are options in Windows 11 that do require an SSD. Namely, the DirectStorage API and Windows Subsystem for Android.
Both of these are non-compulsory options, nevertheless it’s attainable that Microsoft desires to make it obligatory that PCs assist each facet of Windows 11 within the close to future. It may also produce other SSD-specific options within the wings. We’re simply speculating although, as a result of solely Microsoft is aware of for certain.
If this turns into a requirement, it should not be a jarring transition for OEMs. As it stands, PCs that lean an HDD as the principle boot drive are the exception, not the norm. And for shoppers, having an SSD as the principle boot drive is mostly the higher choice. Even SATA-based SSDs are a lot sooner than HDDs and, at minimal, could make a Windows PC really feel sooner, snappier, and extra responsive.
The trade-off is value, because it pertains to the value per gigabyte. An OEM that ships a PC with a 1TB HDD as the principle drive could be taking a look at changing it with a 256GB SSD if being pressured to modify, to preserve pricing the identical or related.
Microsoft is just not commenting on the report, so we’ll simply have to attend and see.