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15k RPM IDE Hard Drives?

Posted by Cliff on from the better-hope-your-HD-hamsters-don't-go-on-strike dept.

OutRigged asks: "SCSI hard drives have had speeds in excess of 10,000RPM for years, yet IDE has always been stuck at 7200RPM. Is there some kind of technical reason IDE drives don't go above 7200RPM? I can't imagine cost being that big of an issue, and the connection is certainly not a problem, with Parallel ATA capable, at least theoretically, of speeds over 100MB, and Serial ATA capable of even more. With hard drives now reaching sizes in excess of 300GB, don't you think we need a speed increase?" If you are wondering what the terms "Parallel ATA" and "Serial ATA" refer to, check out this article.

3 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Ceramic Heater? by Hadlock · · Score: 5, Funny

    maybe i should just start selling ceramic heaters in a regular hard drive profile, attach a 512mb compact flash card, and claim it's a half-gig 20,000 rpm drive. people'd probably believe me, too!

    :)

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  2. Re:Who the hell wants these at home. by Epsillon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mine are at any rate! A Compaq with 4X10K RPM U-W SCSI disks and an external array with five more. Sounds like a jet plane taking off as the controller starts the drives one-by-one :)

    But I can see the appeal. True geeks don't give a rat's about noise. Gimme the speed!
    --
    Resistance is futile. Reactance buggers it up.
  3. Target Audience? by jasonditz · · Score: 3, Funny

    The major issue here isn't "can't" so much as "shouldn't".

    IDE is targetted at the "at home" user, whereas SCSI is now almost the exclusive domain of businesses looking for performance and haX0rs looking to cut compile times down. The average IDE user just takes the drive, plugs in the cables, and sticks it in... cooling is never even thought of, indeed, you'll be lucky if he puts more than one screw in it.

    Even a 10K drive runs HOT. If its on for more than a few days without a fan you're risking your data. A 15K drive that a non-clueful user stuck bare into his PC would be:

    1. A support nightmare (hey, you're newfangled hard drive turned into a pile of pudding in my PC)

    2. A fire hazard (even if its the customers own damned fault, better to not get him burned to death)