Next Drive Capacity Advance Coming...

[Beck38]

Since the development and eventual consumer release of Perpendicular Drive technology some 6 years ago, which has resulted in ever increasing capacities and lower and lower costs, the search has been underway for the 'next big thing' in cramming more and more magnetic bits into a smaller and smaller space.

One of the leading technologies out there right now is:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/17/salt-enables-six-times-the-storage-capacity-for-snail-unfriendly/

Probably just like Perpendicular recording spurred advances in read/write head technology, this will probably require similar changes, but it's something to keep an eye on.

[nthekno]

That's awesome, I can't wait for this kind of technology to become available to the general public. Thanks for the know :D

[crazzyjoe31]

Wow....that is fantastic! Can't wait to see where things for from here.

[clocker]

Although storage density increases are amazing, they're really only relevant to storage devices as SSDs have an unbeatable advantage speedwise over a mechanical drive.
Furthermore, I question the need for such large drives as 95% of the customer PCs I see could easily get by with 500GB...pics of the grandkids and a few big band .mp3's don't really take much space.

It's hard to remember that we are outliers- forum denizens are NOT representative of the general user populace- and our requirements are far different than most.
The largest customer data transfer I recall from the past few months was @700 GB and judging from file dates, it took him a few years to accumulate. He was excited to get twoTB of new storage but I'll bet it never gets fully utilized.

There is a real downside to large drives that I rarely hear mentioned...when the drive fails, you lose so much more at one time.
Your new 5TB drive craps out and the entire media library is lost in a single incident.
To back up a 5TB drive...you need another 5TB drive- seems like the whole thing gets out of hand quickly.

[Skiz]

There is a real downside to large drives that I rarely hear mentioned...when the drive fails, you lose so much more at one time.
Your new 5TB drive craps out and the entire media library is lost in a single incident.
To back up a 5TB drive...you need another 5TB drive- seems like the whole thing gets out of hand quickly.

:sage:

[tesco]

There is a real downside to large drives that I rarely hear mentioned...when the drive fails, you lose so much more at one time.
Your new 5TB drive craps out and the entire media library is lost in a single incident.
To back up a 5TB drive...you need another 5TB drive- seems like the whole thing gets out of hand quickly.Still true with many smaller drives though, if you have 5 x 1tb drives to make up your 5tb, you need 5 more 1tb drives for backup. Just saying... :whistling

[clocker]

Yes, that is true but what are the odds that all five of the drives would fail simultaneously?
The point wasn't cost, it was the quantity of data at risk on any one drive.

[Dr0]

Yes, that is true but what are the odds that all five of the drives would fail simultaneously?
The point wasn't cost, it was the quantity of data at risk on any one drive.

True, but even if one drive fails, you won't know which one. So you have to back up 5tb anyway.

[tesco]

Yes, that is true but what are the odds that all five of the drives would fail simultaneously?
The point wasn't cost, it was the quantity of data at risk on any one drive.
I gotcha, I agree.
Though as data gets larger and internet speeds get faster that 5tb lost will become as meaningless as losing 5gb is today. Imagine 15 years ago:

Your new 5GB drive craps out and the entire media library is lost in a single incident.
To back up a 5GB drive...you need another 5GB drive- seems like the whole thing gets out of hand quickly.
:lol:

[clocker]

Consistency is a virtue, Ross.

True, but even if one drive fails, you won't know which one. So you have to back up 5tb anyway.
Why wouldn't you know which drive failed?

[Dr0]

Consistency is a virtue, Ross.

True, but even if one drive fails, you won't know which one. So you have to back up 5tb anyway.
Why wouldn't you know which drive failed?

When the drive fails, you'd know which one. The point I was trying to make is, you can't predict which drive is going to fail (until it has), so you have to back them all up anyway. 1 x 5TB or 5 x 1TB still needs 5TB backup space. :rolleyes:

[clocker]

You are right.

I've begun contemplating my new build and during the process, examined my storage drives ( I have a 1TB and a 1.5TB drive installed and 3 1TB drives that I access through an external dock).
I realized that most of the "data" is only valuable to me because I "have" it, not because I ever use it (for instance, when will I ever sit down and watch every episode of The West Wing?), so getting all atizzy about safeguarding it is more a theoretical exercise than a real concern.

[Dr0]

You are right.

I've begun contemplating my new build and during the process, examined my storage drives ( I have a 1TB and a 1.5TB drive installed and 3 1TB drives that I access through an external dock).
I realized that most of the "data" is only valuable to me because I "have" it, not because I ever use it (for instance, when will I ever sit down and watch every episode of The West Wing?), so getting all atizzy about safeguarding it is more a theoretical exercise than a real concern.

I totally agree. You can re-download your media collection that you want to keep/watch again. No need to back them up. I use a 1TB external hard drive to store files I need to keep, plus I have the most important on DVD's and on-line storage. The rest is disposable in my honest opinion.