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Miniature 5400 and 7200 RPM HDDs Reviewed

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the small-sizes-and-big-storage dept.

PReDiToR writes "At Tom's Hardware I found this favourable review of some remarkable Hard Drives. The article points out that with 40GB units suitable for server or desktop use, life with 2.5" drives could be just around the corner. Heat noise and power consumption are all apparently within acceptable tolerances."

15 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Is that a hard drive in your pocket... by mikeophile · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or are you just happy to see me?

    1. Re:Is that a hard drive in your pocket... by dcw3 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or are you just happy to see me?

      Better than than a floppy

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    2. Re:Is that a hard drive in your pocket... by Dogtanian · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that a hard drive in your pocket...
      Or are you just happy to see me?

      Uh, huh. All this talk of 2.5" disks is going to impress the girls even less than the normal 3.5" (*).

      Personally, I have 8", and that's just when it's floppy.

      (*) Although posting regularly to Slashdot won't impress them much either.

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  2. USB Key's by Heartz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    With USB keys being much smaller and storage sizes increasing exponentionally,will the spinning disk still be a relavant tool for easy to carry around storage.

    USB keys are not only lighter, but you don't even have to worry about it fsckign because you shook it too much while you were on the bus.And they look waaay cooler too.

    1. Re:USB Key's by tomstdenis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, right until after you re-write a sector that 100k'th time......

      Normal IDE disks are rated for a billion re-writes at least. [provided the motor lasts that long]. That's why "them there funny rotating disc like objects" are used to store data.

      Until they invent a lower-power [recall flash requires around 10V or higher to write, from a 3V source that's a loss!] and longer-lasting high density flash you won't see "them funny discs" replaced any time soon.

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    2. Re:USB Key's by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Your points are invalid. First, where did you get the idea that flash uses more power than a hard disk? Probably not even if you compare the power consumption on a byte per byte basis. I think it's plain wrong, and the burden of proof for such an outrageous statement is on you. As to your second point, I quote:
      NAND - Flash based media uses a complex low level sector virtualization called "wear leveling algorithm" to distribute the wear evenly across the memory array and maximize the number of write cycles it can sustain.
      What this means is, your flash gizmo will beign to fail only once all sectors have been worn out. Even with heavy usage, this could take a long time, probably a decade or more, e.g. for a typical CompactFlash card. I had a 4MB CF card that I used on a daily basis for about 5 years in my Psion handheld, and I had no problems with it until I sold the Psion last year. Another factor is, the bigger the flash device, the longer it will take to wear it out. 4GB CF cards are already on the market.

      The actual point is, when carrying stuff around, there's a very high probability that it will experience some sort of impact, and you probably know what happens when you drop your hard drive. OTOH, there's no real replacement yet for HDDs in your vanilla PC or laptop. Continuous writing, i.e. having a swap file on flash memory, would probably really wear it out pretty quickly.

      --
      Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  3. 2.5" drives by FryGuy1013 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, it's not the size that counts!

    --
    bananas like monkeys.
  4. Power consumption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...power consumption [is] apparently within acceptable tolerances

    Unlike the eastern seaboard?

    'sok. I'll get my own coat.

  5. 40GB? by phalse+phace · · Score: 5, Funny
    The article points out that with 40GB units suitable for server or desktop use,...

    But 40GB isn't nearly enough for all that pr0n... erm... I mean all those illegal mp3's... erm... I mean, oh never mind.

  6. 5600rpm? by stevenrieder · · Score: 5, Informative

    I believe that's 5400 rpm...

    --
    Hier staat een stukje tekst.
  7. The connoisseur's view by vevva · · Score: 5, Funny

    Much as I admire 40Gb in a 2.5" package I'm going to stick with my 100kb 8" floppies. I find the quiet modern drives don't have the same sound quality as the original 8" floppies. It's the whirring sound and the "kerchink" as I swap floppies 3 times per mp3 that adds depth to the listening experience. Nope.. these new fangled drives have no place in the system of a true connoisseur. (PS If any of your readers have replacement valves for a Collossus Mk 1 I would like to hear from you).

  8. Interesting, but what does it cost? by dphoenix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have to remember .. the "cost" figure is strangely omitted anywhere from his review. People will pay for performance, but only within reason! However, inevitably, price will drop on these things and you will see smaller systems (tablets, tiny desktop pcs, consoles). It would be nice to make an even smaller media center PC using one of these.

  9. For Non-USians: The drive is 63.5 mm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's more likely to impress the ladies.

  10. A couple of points... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am a storage consultant so I kinda know what I'm talking about here (just thought I'd get that in before I get slagged off) and assuming that you're not totally joking...

    1) The technology used within USB type memory keys is only good for about 10000 write operations max.

    2) They are very expensive

    3) I don't see any USB -> Fibre Channel converters and none of my suppliers have them on their hardware roadmaps (can't think why)

    4) They are staggeringly slow, even if you RAIDed a thousand of the buggers.

    5) If anyone took one of these keys into a datacentre in which I was responsible for the storage, I would do some painfully biological things to them.

    6) In modern datacentres the mass storage (and quite offen the local system disks as well) are supplied from a consolidated disk array which is hung off a fibrechannel network almost nobody who is anybody does JBOD for mass storage any more.

    7) RAID shouldn't ever be controlled by software for serious users

    8) can't be arsed to go on, but you get the general idea...

  11. HP has plans for 2.5" server drives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    According to a server roadmap that HP presented at HP World this week, HP is planning to standardize on 2.5" drives in new Proliant servers in the 2004-2005 timeframe. The reason that was given is that with platter sizes getting so large on 3.5" drives and leading to larger drive capacities, customers want smaller drives for their servers for performance purposes. By switching to 2.5" drives, HP can offer more drive spindles in the same space that current 3.5" drives reside in. I didn't think to ask the presenter about drive speeds, however, since it was an end-of-day presentation, but I'm sure the gains from increased spindle counts don't come anywhere close to making up for the slower RPM's of the current and near-term 2.5" drives. BTW, this was an NDA presentation, thus the reason for the AC posting.