Hey, thanks for checking out my review page for Reliabox web hosting. At the time of this post it is the only third-party Reliabox review on the Web that I’m aware of. If I’m wrong, please let me know so I can stop making that claim! My writing skills are limited to whatever flows from my mind according to what I know, so please excuse any lack of information or details that you might expect. The best thing to do is contact me with questions, or click here visit the Reliabox website.
Previous posts talked about my reasons for creating this blog, and what makes good and reliable Web hosting. There is much more to everything I’ve talked about, but I think I’ve touched on the most important things, and given you a solid idea of what to look for when shopping for a Web hosting provider. After this post you should be armed with enough information to make a solid and informed decision.
I also promised in my previous post that I would address the topic of server quality in a Web host. A server is basically a computer on steroids. It has a hard drive just as your own personal computer does, but it’s configured to do one specific job – store all the files of your website, and perform other magic tricks in order to keep your site alive, secure, and accessible to the world.
Websites as we know them cannot exist without servers, and a high quality server is a very important part of reliability. It absolutely needs to be in top shape in order to deliver on all the promises that a Web host gives. Without it, everything else suffers: uptime, backup integrity, speed, etc. Even the freedom to expand your site as it grows is dependent on the quality of the server.
Now here’s where the rubber meets the road. Even though all servers do the same basic job, all servers are not created equal! They vary in processing power and speed; they have different load tolerances and configurations; they’re even at the mercy of the manufacturer! And… they come in different formats, which is what I want to tell you about. Now this might get a little too geeky for some of you, but bear with me. :)
Server Types
PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) Disk Drive
(Pronounced “payta” or “patta”, depending on your upbringing.)
These drives are also called IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) and EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics). It all relates to the kind of interface that connects the disk drive to the motherboard. The magnetic disks inside it spin at around 7200 RPM. It’s an older type of drive found in older computers, is slower, and is superseded by…
SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) Disk Drive
(Pronounced “sayta” or “satta”)
These drives also use spinning magnetic disks, but they’re thinner and have faster data transfer than PATA. SATA disks are available that spin as fast as 10,000 RPM. They’re also more efficient, and use less power.
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) Disk Drive
(Pronounced “scuzzy” – Yes, really!)
SCSI drives are similar to IDE drives, but the magnetic disks within it spin at a still higher rate than IDE and SATA drives (up to 15,000 RPM). This type of drive also requires a controller between it and the computer’s motherboard; the others are directly connected.
In all three disk formats above, higher RPM means faster data access, but it can also mean faster breakdown! Wouldn’t you break down faster if you spun 15,000 RPM instead of 7200? Well think how a hard disk feels. And all the data is hanging on for its life!
So when a web host uses servers with these types of drives, no matter how well maintained the equipment is kept, those spinning disks are running 24/7/365, and the data – your website files – is constantly being spun around mega fast, and the magnetic particles that make up the data that make up your website get fragmented over time. (Such an occurrence is unavoidable on any typical hard drive, even on your own computer. That’s why we have the Defrag function to run periodically.) Eventually, though, one or more of those spinning disks is going to say “Enough!”, and call it day, bringing everything to a screeching halt.
You can lose your website that way, especially if it’s the backup server that kicked the bucket. Not what I consider reliable hosting.
Mankind has gotten along pretty well all these years with spinning disks, but what if there was one more type of hard drive that greatly lessened or even eliminated the potential for spinning disk death? Would you continue to look at the above options when choosing a Web host? Personally, when I heard of this next format I completely wandered away from my current host to one that gave me more confidence and security in keeping my website safe in all respects.
Reliabox uses this more stable format. It’s called…
SSD (Solid State Drive)
(Pronounced “ess ess dee” – hehe, sorry, couldn’t resist)
This type of drive serves the same purpose as the above formats; the difference being that, instead of all your website files spinning mercilessly at up to 15,000 RPM on a magnetic disk, a Solid State Drive holds your data in calm, cool, stationary memory chips. Can you feel the relief already? Just the thought of my data not getting dizzy makes me feel better.
And THAT… is why I moved my web hosting over to Reliabox. Click here to check them out yourself. There’s more details there than I can write about here.
Hosting my websites on SSD technology provides three huge advantages for me. Like I said in my last post, these three things are also important to good Web hosting services, and with solid state drives in the mix I can be more confident than ever of the reliability factor as well.
The Big Three advantages of SSD technology over traditional hard disks:
- Even More Speed – Spinning magnetic disks are limited by their physical state, and commonly causes data bottlenecks on servers. Solid State Drives don’t have this limitation, however, and so are 100 times faster than your average hard disk drive. This also means faster page load speed. And it’s a well-known fact that fast-loading web pages translates to higher visitor retention – which in turn can mean more sales or whatever action you want your visitors to take.
- No Disk Failure – Solid State Drives have no moving parts to break or go bad, which gives them a much longer lifespan than standard disk drives. Longer lifespan = more uptime = happier visitors.
- Total Reliability – Less power is consumed with SSD technology, therefore giving off less heat. So you have very little worry about the server getting overheated, which can cause problems with other parts of the server.
The SSD element alone is what tipped the scales in favor of Reliabox for me. I value my data, the website files I worked so hard to create. There are tons of Web hosts out there, and I’m sure some have SSD servers as well, but Reliabox happened to the be first one I came across that does so – or at least makes it known! So that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. I hope this Reliabox review was useful to you. Whether you’re shopping for reliable Web hosting services right now, or you will in the future, keep this company in mind when making a final decision.
Thanks for reading!
This candid and unsolicited