ICTworks

Back when Geekcorps was deploying Internet connectivity to rural radio stations in Mali – literally beyond Timbuktu – we opted for solid-state drives (also called SSD or flash drives) in our custom built computers to ruggedize them. The threat of dust was just too great to use spinning media. The pervasive Saharan sand would eat regular hard drives.

But outside of this rare, harsh location, do you really need a solid-state drive?

Now that I’m at Inveneo, I’ve noticed we’re no longer recommending solid-state hard drives in the majority of our deployments. We’re finding that hard disk drives (HDD or hard drives) can stand up to the unforgiving environment in rural areas much better than we expect.

We’re thinking that hard disk drives are now much more rugged thanks to the growth in laptop sales. Laptops present a very unforgiving use case to hard disk drives – constant shocks from dropping, frequent power changes, and high-heat operation inside small laptop form factors. The changes in hard disk drive design for laptops have made them much more durable in desktops as well.

The result is a lower storage media cost for ICT implementations in the developing world. Hard disk drives cost much less than solid-state memory, though the costs for both are constantly dropping.