Conclusion
We have to be clear on one thing: 1.8” drives aren’t capable of breaking speed records. Portable computer systems that are based on 2.5” drives or even flash SSD technology deliver a better usage experience. However, 1.8” hard drives, such as the three product generations from Toshiba we looked at, currently deliver a nice mixture of high capacity (up to 320GB), a small form factor, adequate performance, and relatively low cost.
Flash memory surely beats mechanical hard drives in the performance segment, where you want minimum latencies and throughput of 200+ MB/s. Flash memory is also capable of beating hard drives in the budget space. Any budget system or netbook will be able to hit all time low cost levels when it’s paired with only 8 or 16 GB mainstream flash memory. However, such a capacity isn’t really attractive for consumers and performance will be lower than what the current 1.8” drive generation can provide.
Toshiba proves that there is still a development path for 1.8” hard drives and 320GB probably won’t be the last capacity point. As long as storage densities continue to develop at least at the speed at which flash memory moves, then there is room for the 1.8” format. At least all the fully-featured MP3 players and UMPC solutions currently cannot exist without 1.8” drives for the mentioned reasons.
Finally we’d like to point at the fact that it is imperative for performance reasons to always go for the latest hard drive products, as there are clear incremental improvements from one generation to the next. Maximum storage densities typically enable maximum performance as well. This also applies even if you go for a mainstream capacity point.
- 1 / 2
- Next
-
Latest Storage Solutions News
Latest Storage Solutions reviews
- 03/09 – Open-E's DSS V6: Storage Software Set Up, Managed, And...
- 01/27 – What Does One Petabyte Of Storage (And $500K) Look Like?
- 10/20 – Does The USB 3.0 Controller On Your Motherboard Matter?
- 08/26 – Not All USB 3.0 Implementations Are Created Equal
- 04/23 – Memory Cards, Part 2: SDHC Cards From 8GB To 16GB
Why would they continue to spend money on this technology when in 6-9 months you'll be able to get a 1TB SSD for $199? These 1.8" drives can't
even compete with regular sized analog HDD's, much less SSD's. You wouldn't spend money to find a way to upgrade a Commodore 64 at this point in time, so why would they spend money on such obsolete technology like 1.8" drives?
Why would they continue to spend money on this technology when in 6-9 months you'll be able to get a 1TB SSD for $199? These 1.8" drives can't even compete with regular sized analog HDD's, much less SSD's. You wouldn't spend money to find a way to upgrade a Commodore 64 at this point in time, so why would they spend money on such obsolete technology like 1.8" drives?
Put down the bottle. Terabyte SSDs in that price range are a lot more than 6 months away. And what the heck is an analog HDD? You should educate yourself before you post.
Why would they continue to spend money on this technology when in 6-9 months you'll be able to get a 1TB SSD for $199? These 1.8" drives can't even compete with regular sized analog HDD's, much less SSD's. You wouldn't spend money to find a way to upgrade a Commodore 64 at this point in time, so why would they spend money on such obsolete technology like 1.8" drives?
Of course they cannot compete with 3.5 inch drives. That idea is just stupid. You are not going to put a 1.8 HDD in a desktop computer, that would be stupid. You spend money on a 1.8" drive becouse your laptop cannot FIT a 3.5 inch drive. There just isn't enough space. Plus, I cannot see 200 dollar SSD's in 6-9 months, maybe two years. Right now you are only getting 80 gigs for 250$. Just think before you post next time. And read the introduction. It explains what I just said about the laptop thing.
When I saw the headline I wondered who still used the 1.8" drives and what they were still used for. Now I know. It appears their use is temporary.
Analog as anything with mechanical moving parts and digital being solid state type devices is what he would be refering to.
If that's what he meant by "analog," he's a silly man. Analog implies a continuous range of data values, whereas mechanical disk drives are, of course, digital.
Hey Jam, the drive may use a mechanical system, HOWEVER, the data is still stored digitally.
Mechanical is not a synonym for analog
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mechanical
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analog
The data is stored as an analog charge. When read, a threshold is applied to decide on a high or low state. Sounds analog to me.
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question7.htm
A hard drive stores data by reversing the polarity of the surface of a hard disk. Since you can only have a North or South you only have a 1 or a 0. Because there is only two values and no range it is stored digital. This is also the reason as to why music will always sound best analog. There is a range that will always be cut out in digital.
@lamorpa:
No, the data isn't stored as an analog charge. The data is stored as a magnetic polarity. While of course there will be some amount of variation in the level of polarization (because no device is perfect), this variation is ignored, and the data is interpreted as a 1 or 0. Thus, it's digital. By your definition, ANY digital device is in fact analog because of imperfection in the digital signals, but you'll have a hard time getting people to agree with you that all computers are analog.
@endif:
The "analog music is better" trope is a myth. It would certainly be true if humans had an infinite range of frequency sensitivity, but we don't. We can only hear sounds up to about 20khz, and CD-quality audio is recorded at sufficiently high digital frequency to contain *all* the audio information up to 20khz.
@Anon
Shhhh..... it sounds better to dogs then!
I read the article just because I liked the picture of the bare 1.8" drive in the guy's hand......It was compelling though. Even more compelling was babchoo's comment....jeez...
Terabyte SSDs in that price range are a lot more than 6 months away.
true, but the price does seem to be dropping extremely fast... probably by next year we'll see 512gb flash drives at consumer prices... though a terabyte drive is feasible NOW, I don't think we'll see them at consumer prices till Q4 2011~Q1 2012
[citation]And what the heck is an analog HDD? You should educate yourself before you post.[/citation]
HAHA! he means punch tape!
Ijust bought a 1.8" 120G USB2 HDD, military grade, from Geeks and for portable storage it works great for me
nice little gizmos. it's more linked to art than usability.
i beleive that hdds are to fragile and limited in terms of speed. they almost reached the end of the road almost. ssds are advancing so fast that i believe in less than 2 years the meachanical hdds will be almost obsolete... excepting probably the storage usage.
if you ask me ssds will also reach the end of the road quite fast. i say that because we are already at 34nm technology for nand and you can't go much lower than 25nm and this will not give us the 1tb capacity. the life expectancy of nand goes down quite fast as you shrink them. ssds are nice but they will be followed up quite fast by something better.
ps: just oredered a new Dell Precision desktop and can't to pair that p with a ssd.
this tiny hdds are an easy target for ssd. 3,5" and 2,5" are a bit more tougher target bu they will be replaced.
I have the Toshiba MK2529GSG (250 gb) as the data drive in my HP Envy 15. It does a great job and it is silent, as far as I can notice. The primary drive is also 1.8" being an Intel X-18 G2 of 160GB.
I'd love to see 2 of these 250GB drives put into an external enclosure (like our single drive external USBs) with a RAID 0 setup that is transparent to the end user. I dont know my USB specs but even if these required a second USB just for more power, I'd like to see how it performs. Toms hasn't done anything completely custom in a while...hint hint.