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2.5" Drives On the Desktop

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the when-big-sucks dept.

An anonymous reader points out an article on XYZ Computing exploring the use of a 2.5" notebook hard drive in a desktop computer. From the article: "The tradeoff for these qualities has always been limited capacities, high costs, and slow transfer rates, but a the recent progression in portable storage techology has changed the 2.5" drive greatly. We put the Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160GB SATA notebook drive in our test system and took it for a spin."

7 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. quiet home computers by invader_allan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is a growing demand for quiet home computers, and this is going to be more commmon (especially for media center PC's). There are even people who are hoping for mobile graphics chipsets to find their way onto PCI-E cards to help with low power and silent operation. Low power systems can make a huge difference in energy conservation, and they are becoming more and more popular. Desktops with a hybrid of laptop parts are always going to beat out mainstream desktop counterparts in noise and power consumption.

    1. Re:quiet home computers by jedidiah · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A media center PC doesn't have to have it's own storage. The bulkier noiser components of the system can be somewhere else. There are a number of such "thin media clients" already available. One doesn't need to be limited to notions inherited from years of DOS desktop practices and capabilities.

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    2. Re:quiet home computers by LehiNephi · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Low power systems can make a huge difference in energy conservation
      Actually, that's not as true as we would like it to be. I have an acquaintance who recently has been considering replacing his file server with a standalone, single-drive NAS. In order to justify the expense to his wife, he bought a Kill-A-Watt and measured the power his current file server was using. It was using 100W, vs. the 12W of the NAS. That's a difference of 88W. However, at our current electricity rates, that amounts to a whopping $8/month savings.

      Considering that your hard drive is only consuming a few (as in, 10) watts, replacing it with a notebook drive won't save you any significant amount of money, even over the VERY long term. The advantages for notebook drives come, as others have said, in their small size and lower power consumption for notebooks.
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  2. Re:Nice but... by thebdj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no need. You can find 7200 RPM laptop drives. Just be prepared to pay even more then the 5400 drives and wait for a bit more heat. Desktop drives in laptops makes no sense. The goal has always been to improve power consumption, size/space, and heat. This is something that desktop drives don't necessarily have to strive for as they have nearly "limitless" power available, much more space available, and better heat dissipation, largely because of the extra space, but also the availability of coolers.

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  3. 2.5" drives? by dubmun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You want quiet? Solid state storage is going to catch up someday soon. I'm more than willing to wait. I'm not interested in paying three times as much for a slow notebook HD with low storage capacity.

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  4. You mean, like a Mac Mini? by dpbsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Like a nice, compact, almost-silent, energy-efficient, but slightly-underperforming Mac Mini?

    How could anyone write a whole article about 2.5" drives in desktops without even mentioning the Mac Mini?

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  5. Nostalgia for the Sounds of the Early Computer Age by Alzheimers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I may just be getting long in the tooth, but I'm starting to get nostalgic for the old sounds of the the early computer age. Back when you could put your hand against the heavy steel chassis and listen and feel to exactly what your computer was doing.

    Gone is the satisfying click-click-click feedback of the heavy tactile keyboards.
    Gone is the deafening WHEEEEE-WHEEEEEE-WHEEEEEE of the dot matrix printer.
    Gone is the atmospheric chuk-chuk-chuk grind of the hard disk.
    Gone is the ultrasonic whistle of the screen changing resolutions.
    Gone is the inquisitive thuka-thuka-thuka of a floppy disk scan on bootup.
    Gone is the warm handshake WEEE-ERRR-HISS of the modem.

    If the POST BEEP ever dissapears, I think the beauty and mystique of a computer coming to life will have been lost forever.