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Maxtor's "Sturdy" Hard Drive
robkill writes "PCWorld has this article on a new drive by Maxtor, using 1 platter, 1 head and
70% fewer moving parts. Using one side of a 30GB platter, the drive
holds 15GB and has a smaller height as well." Well, it's not huge, but it's sufficent size - and with more durability, putting it into mobile devices becomes easier to do.
Maybe it's just my lack of experince in the real world, but how many times, in all honesty, have you had a hard drive crash on you?
I reckon this would be good for office use. Hard drives might not crash that often, but if you're supporting 1000 users, you're going to get crashes, so the less common you can make them, the better. Also, the (relatively) small size of this HD is less of a problem in an office situation, where all important stuff should be saved on a fileserver rather than locally. I don't expect the average Slashdotter would want their pr0n & w4r3z collection limited to 15gig. :-)
Since when has Maxtor been fit for normal PC's? This would only make Maxtors on par with "real" HardDrives (WD, IBM...)
I wish they made beds like this. 50,000 on-off operations before mechanical failure would be lovely.
(damn I miss Deja)
Going on means going far
Going far means returning
Going on means going far
Going far means returning
I used to work at a computer store that custom built computers to specifications. I ended up testing returned merchandise. In my experience, Maxtors and Western Digital drives have had time frames and models that weren't as good as the rest. There was a time I wouldn't have bought a Seagate IDE drive of less than 4Gb because the smaller ones died way too quick but I would have bought any of their SCSI drives. The only brand I have seen that has been consistently good over the years is Quantum drives. They usually are a few dollars more but I have seen far fewer bad ones. I bought my last one before the merger so I can't comment on current models.
Finally! A Slashdot article on storage technology with a believable figure. 15GB is reasonable, and Maxtor is a real company.
Even more amazing, I can actually buy one of these. Even more more amazing, I might actually want to buy one of these.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Maybe it's just my lack of experince in the real world, but how many times, in all honesty, have you had a hard drive crash on you? With today's technology in back-ups and the such, it just doesn't seem to me that this needs to be an issue. I have been in the Computer/Network racket for about 3 years now, and I have only had two hard drives crash hard on me. One was on a RAID 5 server, so it didn't matter. I just think that this is a waste of time for the "Unsinkable Hardrive". Let's call it Titantic and watch her dive on her maiden voyage. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. (copyright Dennis Miller)
Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
I've been bitching about this for years. Ever since the density explosion began (~95-96), RPMs have gone up, and MTBF has gone waaaay down. In the lab I work in, we have to buy drives by the dozens. I was surprised to find that the mortality rate of our stock skyrocketed during the 97-98 timeframe. Every 4+ GB drive we bought (western digital, maxtor, ibm) would fail after a week or so of constant operation. That's why I at home I only use ancient 1.2GB Fireballs from six years ago.
But is one platter better? It seems like the heads would have to move more for just one platter. Fragmentation would make the problem even worse. But if it is as realiable as they claim, I can finally get rid of the noisy and oh-so manful 6 GB RAID array of Quantum FBs that I've been using...
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https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
That way you could get 30 gigs.
This would be a lot like LP's, an obsolete form of analog music reproduction. Ask your mom or dad about them.
I've had a hard drive fail before, too, but mine was a really lousy experience. It was a laptop hard drive and I lived in a city without a decent electronics store. The warranty replacement took a week to arrive, so I was high and dry until it got here; nevermind the fact that the drive started dying slowly well before it was apparent that the hard drive was dying (odd, my display driver seems a bit funky...huh. That file was fine yesterday...damn Windows, why are you crashing now?)
Bear in mind that the drives used in most decent network centers are already quite well designed and live in well-controlled environments. If you work on a laptop (or even a desktop in a hot, humid climate without air conditioning,) you really do want to have the Unsinkable Hard Drive. Imagine what might happen to your network disks if you went around the server room and gave them a good, sound bump once every few hours.
Yeah, a hard drive failure doesn't happen often, but it can really, really suck when it does happen; thus, having a good, sturdy hard drive in the first place is a nice thing.
First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Now when I get the blue screen o death and decide to chuck the box out a 10 story window, the hardrive might still work.
Patrick C. Lamoreux lamoreux@iastate.edu
It's nice to see some effort being put into durability rather than increasing data density. While high-density is great for certain apps, the idea of drop-testing an IDE or SCSI hd is a joke. Considering that hustle and bustle that most laptops get at the typical airport, this is going to become more and more important.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Not all mobile devices are made for annoying the piss out of someone on their day off (although I will admit that the cell-phone/beeper craze has bothered me on more than one vacation day). Now, if you are talking about something that would/could need fifteen GB of storage capacity, I don't really see that as a annoyance device. It would probably be (at a minimum) and entertainment device (like MP3 player, or maybe even movie storage device?) or a full-fledged laptop computer. Granted, a laptop can annoy you at times too, but I've used mine as a portable juke-box to listen to tunes with the wifey while having a picnic out in the middle of nowhere. I don't see every advance as a negative, and I'm having a tough time thinking of some annoyance device that would need fifteen GB of storage. Can anybody else come up with something?
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- 622M capacity using 14" platters
- weighs 163 lbs
- can be used as a bench or footstool
- has a locking air-cylinder to hold up the 'hood'
- Can be repaired using tools from your garage.
- Sounds very much like a radial arm saw
3/4" high disk considered sturdy? What is the world coming to?Back in '83 I was outside a computer room when a large drive like that had a head crash. The platter (still spinning) got ejected through the side of the case and embedded into the wall. Sounded like a bomb went off.
Best Slashdot Co
With it using only 1 side, I'll just break out my trusty old nibble-notcher and get me a dual-sided drive! Wooooooo!
I donate all spillover Karma to the charity of my choice... Ada was still a babe despite what people may say...
*looks in computer case*
*looks at sawzall*
Well shit, I can do that!
-Caino
Dont't touch my .sig there!
Each switch to a smaller form factor (8 inch, 5 1/4 inch, 3.5 inch, etc) actually LOWERED the price/performance ratio and didn't seem to make sense, but it allowed the drive to be used in new situations (minicomputers for 8 inch, desktops for 5 1/4, early laptops for 3.5, modern laptops for 2.5.)
Who cares if the drive only has 5 gigs if it'll fit in your palm pilot?
Rob
I work in the hard drive industry (scary) and there are a few monetary benefits to the company, hopefully passed on to the consumer...
Basically platter yield goes up. HD companies lose a certain % of platters when the two sides aren't parallel to each other within spec. With a one sided setup this doesn't matter and won't cut into yield. Also, since Si defects will always be there, you can gain some yield back when the defects are only on one side, and simply use the other side.