Slashdot Mirror


Mailing Disks is Faster than Uploading Data

CowboyRobot writes "Who would ever, in this time of the greatest interconnectivity in human history, go back to shipping bytes around via snail mail as a preferred means of data transfer? Jim Gray would do it, that's who. And we're not just talking about Zip disks, no sir. We're talking about shipping entire hard drives, or even complete computer systems, packed full of disks. David Patterson (one of the developers of both RISC and RAID) interviews ACM Turing Award winner Jim Gray." Back in school we always had a saying, "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with backup tapes." Seems like that still holds true.

40 of 581 comments (clear)

  1. Andy Tannenbaum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with backup tapes."

    "Hurtling station wagon", "8-track tapes".

    1. Re:Andy Tannenbaum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      If it's hurtling, does it count as multiple station wagons under RIAA logic?

    2. Re:Andy Tannenbaum by PtM2300 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bandwidth? More like Van-width!

  2. Wrong Standard! by theGreater · · Score: 5, Funny

    Darn you people! How the heck am I supposed to get a proper astrophysical mental image if you consistently refuse to put things in terms of multiples of VW bugs (the old ones, not the faux ones).

    -theGreater

    1. Re:Wrong Standard! by I+Like+Swords!!! · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sorry, that must be in the metric system or something...

      --
      .unsigged
  3. We had a saying back in school too... by Capital_Z · · Score: 5, Funny
    We had a saying back in school too --

    "If you're driving a station wagon around you ain't doin' too well with the ladies"

  4. OOoooh high ping by Ribo99 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course playing Quake would be out of the question I would think

    --
    I wear pants.
    1. Re:OOoooh high ping by felonious · · Score: 2, Funny

      This gives HPW new meaning
      Is a sports car considered a LPB now?

      --
      You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
    2. Re:OOoooh high ping by tarius8105 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Of course playing Quake would be out of the question I would think

      Damn and I used to think having a 400ms ping was bad.

  5. Yeah, but the latency's pretty bad... by privaria · · Score: 5, Funny

    PING privaria.org (64.33.49.48) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from privaria.org (64.33.49.48): icmp_seq=2 ttl=242 time=2 days, 7 hrs, 37 min
    64 bytes from privaria.org (64.33.49.48): icmp_seq=1 ttl=242 time=2 days, 17 hrs, 14 min
    64 bytes from privaria.org (64.33.49.48): icmp_seq=3 ttl=242 time=3 days, 2 hrs, 41 min

  6. From the interview by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Of course, we could put the Library of Congress holdings on it or 10,000 movies

    10,000 movies? The MPAA would like to have a word with him..

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  7. Ping by felonious · · Score: 5, Funny

    The ping on a station wagon sucks and don't even get me started on the routes...

    --
    You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
    1. Re:Ping by psp · · Score: 3, Funny

      ..and if you're the driver, you definately want to avoid collisions!

  8. Re:Netflix by tarius8105 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well now that they have that new fast TCP, that might change.

  9. Next on /. by Wrexen · · Score: 5, Funny

    This week: You can make a trade-off between latency and throughput!
    Next week: Cars that can haul less can be more fuel-effiecent!
    The week after: Algorithms that use more memory, but are faster to execute!

    Wonders never cease!

  10. Lag by arevos · · Score: 2, Funny
    A truck full of harddrives may have some astronomical bandwidth, but the lag on that thing is murder. I tried a few experimental pings:
    PING www.google.com (216.239.37.99) from 192.168.0.7 : 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=87303012 ms
    64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=130256230 ms
    64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=110821205 ms
    64 bytes from 216.239.37.99: icmp_seq=4 ttl=51 time=990602128 ms
  11. AOL's Mailing Bandwidth by Katamai · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can anyone imagine the bandwidth that AOL is "sending out" with all their worthless CDs. I mean I'm getting about 600megs a day from them. Deliver a batch to Office Depot with a good 1000 CDs and that's some really massive bandwidth.

  12. RAIC - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Cars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What about giving each car a portion of the data each, and having each of them carry parity information in case one of the cars fails?

  13. Latency? by kafer · · Score: 2, Funny
    "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with backup tapes."

    Yeah, but the latency will kill you!

    1. Re:Latency? by servoled · · Score: 2, Funny

      Latency?
      I'd be much more worried about the braking distance required to stop.

      --
      "I have a porkchop, you have a porkchop. I have a veal, you have a veal".
  14. Re:Why is this a surprise? by slaker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Speaking as a person on a 28.8kbps connection with well over 3TB of local storage, I could only *wish* that wasn't the case.

    --
    -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  15. New RFC! by twoslice · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually the ping will never traverse the same network. The data will go over the postal network and a single ACK will come back over the telephone network. Data loss will occur at unacceptable rates due to the medium (postal service) and ACK loss will be high too (Telco)

    New proposed RFC 5433 for postal ACK format:

    "Yup, I received your package"

    --

    From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
  16. RFC 1149 by SharpFang · · Score: 2, Funny

    You may find RFC 1149 useful:
    "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers}

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  17. Re:Tapes too... by SuperCal · · Score: 2, Funny

    yeah, but the ping sucks...

    --
    Business News and Resources: www.usasource.net
  18. Re:Tapes too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    mmmmm.... alien pr0n...

    "I can't believe we sucked each others jagons!"

  19. Suddenly Packet Loss Becomes a Serious Issue by Myriad · · Score: 4, Funny
    PING privaria.org (64.33.49.48) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from privaria.org (64.33.49.48): icmp_seq=2 ttl=242 time=2 days, 7 hrs, 37 min 64 bytes from privaria.org (64.33.49.48): icmp_seq=1 ttl=242 time=2 days, 17 hrs, 14 min 64 bytes from privaria.org (64.33.49.48): icmp_seq=3 ttl=242 time=3 days, 2 hrs, 41 min

    traceroute privaria.org

    1 privaria.org-package.ready 50000ms
    2 Picked-up-USPS 900000ms
    3 Transfer-to-USPS-depot 300000000ms
    4 (unknown)
    5 (unknown)
    6 (unknown)

    Packet Loss 100%

    Blockwars: multiplayer and it's free.

    --
    "They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
  20. Re:Tapes too... by Talking+Goat · · Score: 3, Funny

    What... is that like a 241920000ms ping latency? That's worse than DirecWay, but just barely.

    --

    + G to tha Izzo, A to tha Tizee, Talking Giz-oat, Ya'll Bettah Feel Me... +
  21. Re:Netflix by appcoal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not for very much longer. The RIAA's lawyers have just discovered that the U.S. Postal Service is in fact a p2p network. (Not to mention the highway system.)

  22. No, not even close by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Funny

    First of all, how could you drive into a garage at 60 miles an hour, stop, unload, and get back out before the next truck, only four inches behind you comes in? In your system the trucks would crash into eachother, and you'd get no effective bandwidth.

    In actuality, you need to figure how long it takes to unload all the tapes from the truck at least. Assuming about 10 seconds a tape (ones in the back take longer) on average and that's 1.16gb/second.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:No, not even close by pclminion · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, I was assuming the trucks would drive into one of about 50 million different parallel unloading docks, but you know, I was just estimating...

    2. Re:No, not even close by Morologous · · Score: 2, Funny

      And, thus, with the trucks crashing into each other, you achieve collision.

  23. Oh? by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is that why you posted the exact same joke as someone else 4 minutes late?

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
  24. Re:Stationwagon Quote by corsec67 · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, it is SUV full of DVDs.

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
  25. Re:Tapes too... by MyHair · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just try to play Quake3 that way. Actually it starts to help. Play for a while and you start getting kills from rockets you fired 3 maps earlier.

  26. Re:Offload them to where? by anon*127.0.0.1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about a truckload of RFID strips? Then you wouldn't even need to unload them. Just drive the truck through the reader, then take the strips to a landfill and dump them there.

    --
    I am NOT a man!
    I am a free number!
  27. How fast is fast? by beaverfever · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Today disk-capacity growth continues at this blistering rate, maybe a little slower."

    What is a bit slower than a blistering rate? A skin-reddening, sensitizing-to-the-touch rate?

  28. Re:Does a station wagon drive itself? by sharkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Cruise Control, baby, Cruise Control.

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  29. Re:Tapes too... by a1cypher · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder what the Packet Loss is like when you have a station wagon loaded with tapes... "Whoops, spilled my coffee on one.."

  30. A little common sense here. by VPN3000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's about the most pointless thing I've read all week.

    Ok, so if I put 1000 80 gig tapes in a large box and Delta-dash them from Atlanta to LA it'll get there quicker than sending the information over an Internet connection.

    How could someone not know that? It's the most basic common sense. I guess I deserve a good modding down on this one. It's just so obvious of a thing that I can't NOT say something.

  31. Re:Tapes too... by blibbleblobble · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Assume the trucks drive bumper-to-bumper, at 60 MPH"

    Where do you live, so that I can avoid the area?