On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 18:32:22 -0500, daytripper
wrote:

On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 16:24:38 -0500, George Macdonald
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 19:51:27 -0500, Yousuf Khan wrote:

George Macdonald wrote:
Two different initiatives though: the HDD mfrs are trying to extend the
life of rotating platter systems; Intel's Robson is a fast startup
"technology" http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123053,00.asp.


Well, flash isn't going to extend the life of the platters, it's only
good for the fast startup. In order to extend platter life you'd need
ram mostly.

I did not mean reduce wear of the platters but extend the lifetime of hard
disks in general as a mass storage solution, i.e. delay the switch over to
flash as a replacement for hard disks. It gets them a foot in the door
with the technology too... hopefully, from their POV, fending of Sandisk
et.al. from taking over the mass storage market eventually.

Until cost per bit for flash at least enters the same arena as magnetics -
never mind approaches parity - I doubt the magnetic media companies are all
that worried about flash encroaching in their bread-and-butter markets...

Not wholly for a while yet of course but as interface/burst speeds go up
way beyond off-the-platter speeds, if a hybrid is on the cards in the
interim, I'm sure they'd rather be the ones selling the bits.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald