On the topic of drive speed... I just finished working for a disk drive company (I wrote servo code for 10KRPM SCSI drives) for 3+ years. What Slashdolt says is true... The sequential access time more than doubled while I was there, and the seek time was "reduced" by only ~ 33%... but even that is kinda funny, 'cuz the biggest factor in reducing average seek time came from reductions in the platter size... smaller disks = smaller average seek distance = shorter seek times.
One way you can get away with reducing the platter diameter is by reducing the capacity of the drive, the other is to increase the number of tracks per radial inch. And believe me, drive manufacturers are doing everything in their power to push the track-density envelope (it's a cost thing... platters are expensive, more tracks per inch = fewer platters for same capacity).
So, it pretty much boils down to the fact that today, it's really darned hard to find a way to physically move the actuator arm across the disk quicker, or squeeze more tracks together. The easiest way to make shorter seek times is to sacrifice capacity by using smaller disks. 80 GB seems like a lot of storage... perhaps it's time to slow down on the capacity curve and try to make the drives a little quicker?
Slashdot Mirror
One way you can get away with reducing the platter diameter is by reducing the capacity of the drive, the other is to increase the number of tracks per radial inch. And believe me, drive manufacturers are doing everything in their power to push the track-density envelope (it's a cost thing... platters are expensive, more tracks per inch = fewer platters for same capacity).
So, it pretty much boils down to the fact that today, it's really darned hard to find a way to physically move the actuator arm across the disk quicker, or squeeze more tracks together. The easiest way to make shorter seek times is to sacrifice capacity by using smaller disks. 80 GB seems like a lot of storage... perhaps it's time to slow down on the capacity curve and try to make the drives a little quicker?