Workflow Design Fun!

Jim Andrada · October 23rd, 2007, 02:19 AM

I think the price difference will fall partly because of the amount of development that's going into the flash and partly because as flash falls in price, some volumes will start to shift to flash and away from HDD. 80GB or so is enough for most laptop users and flash is there now. Battery life is much improved with flash (although according to the vendors I talked to flash is only 20% to 30% less power consumption than HDD)

By the way, I was thinking of 2.5" disk when I was mentioning a ratio of 15 times - not 3.5". Flash seems to be going after the more expensive 2.5" market for portable drives first.

The G2 I hear is that 1.7TB drives will show up next year in the 3.5" space.

I also hear that a very large HDD maker is looking to sell off their business because there are no profits to be had. This would reduce competition and put somewhat less downward pressure on price.

The mechanics (for both tape and disk) tend to be more reliabile than the heads and electronics - not exactly what one would think, but true nevertheless I know this is the case for tape because I see the failure rates for a major brand of tape drives. I used to see the failure info for XXX disk drives when I worked in their disk drive division and it was similar even going back into the 60's and 70's. I've worked with tape and disk drives in one capacity or another since the late 50's.

Take a look at the following

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704...079TX1K0000995

Peter Ferling · October 23rd, 2007, 07:30 AM

Very interesting article. Technology again moves society forwards, while driving another nail into the coffins of obsolesence.

At the risk of going off-topic here...

Theres going to be some leveling of price, as HDD OEMs are either driven out of business, or switch to solid-state technolgy. Most likely offered at a premium due to innovation (and frankly to pay for their added research and retooling).

I assume it would be ok to build or buy a new workstation today using legacy HDD and realize ROI, and merely adapt or upgrade the drives as needed. You could ride out the change-over until competition drives the prices down.

It's going to be interesting to see how this affects the price and design of newer PCs. It would negate the need for large cases, cooling systems (other than the CPU), and power supplies. Can you imagine the impact on vendors and OEMs whom provide those devices? Adapt or die.

Carl Middleton · October 23rd, 2007, 09:03 AM

At that point, it sounds like the only reason for a full-size case would be expansion slots, your pci/pcie stuff in the back.... :)

Then that makes me wonder... what could I do with all those empty 3.5 slots in the front of the case.... bluray burners? hd-dvd(bah) burners? Maybe put a new USB/firewire panel where the floppy drive was once supposed to go? :)

At least then I wouldn't feel like I was wasting all that case real estate :D

C

October 23rd, 2007, 07:30 AM	#17
Peter Ferling Trustee Join Date: May 2005 Location: Wyomissing, PA Posts: 1,141 Images: 57	Very interesting article. Technology again moves society forwards, while driving another nail into the coffins of obsolesence. At the risk of going off-topic here... Theres going to be some leveling of price, as HDD OEMs are either driven out of business, or switch to solid-state technolgy. Most likely offered at a premium due to innovation (and frankly to pay for their added research and retooling). I assume it would be ok to build or buy a new workstation today using legacy HDD and realize ROI, and merely adapt or upgrade the drives as needed. You could ride out the change-over until competition drives the prices down. It's going to be interesting to see how this affects the price and design of newer PCs. It would negate the need for large cases, cooling systems (other than the CPU), and power supplies. Can you imagine the impact on vendors and OEMs whom provide those devices? Adapt or die. __________________ Pete Ferling http://ferling.net It's never a mistake if you learn something new from it. -------------------------------------------

October 23rd, 2007, 02:19 AM	#16
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	I think the price difference will fall partly because of the amount of development that's going into the flash and partly because as flash falls in price, some volumes will start to shift to flash and away from HDD. 80GB or so is enough for most laptop users and flash is there now. Battery life is much improved with flash (although according to the vendors I talked to flash is only 20% to 30% less power consumption than HDD) By the way, I was thinking of 2.5" disk when I was mentioning a ratio of 15 times - not 3.5". Flash seems to be going after the more expensive 2.5" market for portable drives first. The G2 I hear is that 1.7TB drives will show up next year in the 3.5" space. I also hear that a very large HDD maker is looking to sell off their business because there are no profits to be had. This would reduce competition and put somewhat less downward pressure on price. The mechanics (for both tape and disk) tend to be more reliabile than the heads and electronics - not exactly what one would think, but true nevertheless I know this is the case for tape because I see the failure rates for a major brand of tape drives. I used to see the failure info for XXX disk drives when I worked in their disk drive division and it was similar even going back into the 60's and 70's. I've worked with tape and disk drives in one capacity or another since the late 50's. Take a look at the following http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704...079TX1K0000995

October 23rd, 2007, 09:03 AM	#18
Carl Middleton Major Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Fernandina Beach, FL Posts: 562	At that point, it sounds like the only reason for a full-size case would be expansion slots, your pci/pcie stuff in the back.... :) Then that makes me wonder... what could I do with all those empty 3.5 slots in the front of the case.... bluray burners? hd-dvd(bah) burners? Maybe put a new USB/firewire panel where the floppy drive was once supposed to go? :) At least then I wouldn't feel like I was wasting all that case real estate :D C