2.5" Hard Disks

[KingLewie2152uk]

Can anyone tell me why they haven't made the 2.5" hard disks for notebooks compatable with desktop PCs. Since we're in an era of micro computers and nanotechnology it seems strange that hard disks are still 3.5".

There are 2.5" hard disks that run at 7200rpm with 8mb cache so why doesn't Western Digital come up with something.... at least for Shuttles and other smaller cases!

 

[jim552]

As far as I know they are 100% compatible with the desktop Hard Drives.

The only difference, is you need an adapter to get the same connection on them.

2.5" adapters can readily be purchased, and I use them often to replace laptop hard drives or upgrade them.

One thing I have been wondering about for a long time, is why someone hasn't made 5 1/4" drive carrier that you could slide 6 2.5" drives into. The drive carrier would have a built in RAID controller and look like a single IDE hard drive volume to the OS.

3.5" carriers could be built that could hold 3 2.5" drives.

If the IDE cable couldn't be used to configure the little mini RAID drives then a USB port could be incorporated for configuration.

Normally, 2.5" drives are slower than standard drives, but if they were being used in a carrier arrangement then there would be more platters and heads available?

It's just something that I thought I may begin to see by now.

 

[miahallen]

That'd be a neat config with Segate's new 2.5" 10K RPM SCSI drives in a RAID5 setup. A little pricey though.

 

[Crashman]

Yes, 3 bay 3.5" racks hold at most 5 drives, but a single bay 2.5" rack could hold 6 drives. Of course ventilation would have you choos 8 drives in a 2 bay rack probably.

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