2.5-inch HDDs Expected Become More Popular Desktop PCs
2.5-inch hard drives will be playing an increasingly important role in desktop computers.
Market research firm IHS believes that about 1 million 2.5-inch drives will be shipping in desktop computers next year, up from "virtually zero" this year, IHS said.
By 2016, the segment is forecast to grow to 7 million units. The unit volume is dwarfed by the 3.5-inch market, which will retain a dominant position in the foreseeable future. However, the growth opportunity appears to be clearly shifting toward the 2.5-inch market. According to IHS, 26 milllion 3.5-inch HDDs are predicted to ship in desktop computers in 2013 and 31 million in 2016. In 2013, 2.5-inch HDDs will account for only 4 percent of the desktop HDD market, but will climb to 18 percent by 2016, IHS said
“With a maximum capacity of 1 terabyte, 2.5-inch HDDs are proving very attractive to PC makers for use in their next-generation all-in-one designs,” said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at IHS. “Multiple all-in-one PCs have the potential to adopt 2.5-inch HDDs, including the iMac from Apple, the TouchSmart from Hewlett-Packard, the Series 7 from Samsung Electronics, the IdeaCentre from Lenovo, the Top Touchscreen from Asus Eee and all-in-one desktops from Vizio and Acer.”
The opportunity for 2.5-inch drives will grow as speed goes up and the price difference between the 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch decreases. “The 2.5-inch hard drive market may enjoy about four to five years of uninterrupted growth before low-priced, high-density solid state drives become more competitive,” Zhang said.

What the????!!! Sounds like a bad translation to English
IS it that hard to get right?? 2.5-inch HDDs Expected TO Become More Popular IN Desktop PCs
Sigh
What am I missing ?
But the performance is still sub-par to a 3.5".
What am I missing ?
In other words, we still need to wait for 4-5 long years before we see a REAL price drop on the SSD market.
I just saw today a 240GB SSD for $200 on Newegg.
Maybe this is a sign of good things coming.
The WD Velociraptor(2nd gen) is in 2.5 inch format with a heatsink that makes it 3.5 inch.
So the performance of a 3.5 inch drive in 2.5 inch form factor is there.
I think the real question is how long a high performance 2.5 inch drive will live, if you are going to go for high performance 2.5 inch drives.
What the????!!! Sounds like a bad translation to English
IS it that hard to get right?? 2.5-inch HDDs Expected TO Become More Popular IN Desktop PCs
Sigh
You have 4 2.5 drives in a 5.25 bay? Sir, I want to know your secret, because that is AMAZING!
@ stingstang - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817986007
Sounds complex, expensive and noisy. In comparison to a quality SSD unit, the raptors are not much faster than a good 3.5" drive. consumer grade RAID0 isn't exactly reliable, a small error will destroy the RAID. Having a single WD-Raptor 600GB would make more sense, cheaper and reliable.
PS: Rather neat 5.25 drive bay there... hot swap too, eh?
I think this one is quite cool too, with only 2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817986006
@ stingstang : fitting 4 x 2.5" drives into a 5.25 space is easy.
I know eventually they will fail, but so far so good. Those WD black's have been in use for 2 years without any hiccups. A single 600GB raptor still wouldn't be as fast, wouldn't hold as much (my steam folder is almost 600GB by itself) and wouldn't be any quieter.
That link isn't the the one I actually have, mine is an older model no longer in production by the same company. It only does SATA II, but it does have a jumper for 2 speeds + off for the fan. The fan was quiet at first but got loud after about 6 months. After doing some temperature monitoring I determined I didn't really need it and have it turned off.
I was really looking forward to getting more drives to take advantage of the hot swap, but with prices these days I'll wait. When I bought my blacks they were on sale for $40 each. I don't even want to think about what they cost now.