256gb Ssd! Wow

[Zephik]

Your right, that would be awesome. I completely agree with you, all the manufacturers have to do is invest a bit more cash in research and it would be a lot better for them in the long run and the consumers. I can see SSDs becoming larger (capacity wise) and cheaper but I can't see us getting to the 320GB or 500GB stage until the last half/quarter of 2008. When we hit this mark I will truly be interested in purchasing an SSD.

I'd actually be happy with just enough for the OS and whatnots. I wouldn't mind using a HDD/SDD combo. If only for the faster boot time. Cuz damn, thats what? at least twice as fast! So cool. Especially since I use XP and not Vista! ^_^

[The boy 4rm oz]

I want an SSD as my system disk with Vista and games loaded plus crucial software. I will use my existing 320GB SATAII drive for anything else.

[Airbozo]

Personally I believe we have come to the limits of standard HDD research. We are starting to get 1TB drives now and I think we shouldn't push it any further, I don't think we can go any further. The fastest HDDs to data are the Western Digital Raptors spinning at 10,000rpms. This is the fastest we can make out drives and due to them being so fast you only can get 150GB out of them. SSDs are faster than Raptors and have already been tested with capacitys greater than any WD Raptor has. I am all for SSDs and the only thing I am waiting for is a reasonable price. I only want to get a 150-200GB one and I am only willing to pay $200AUD for it. Only time will tell.

I don't think we will be at the end of mechanical drives for a couple of decades. The 1tb drives have been on the market for 6 months and there are already announcements of 2tb drives. They are mucking with the way the data is actually written to the platter and I suspect they have many tricks up their sleeves.

The fastest drives on the market are actually 15k rpm drives. They come in SCSI, SAS and FC flavors up to 146gb, with 300 gb versions due early next year.
(see this article for why they are a ripoff and how to get better performance out of a 10k drive)

I am starting to see more orders come though for systems with an SSD drive for booting and SAS 15k drives in raid 5 for data storage. I suspect as the technology matures, the capacity will go up and the cost down. Just don't expect the 250gb versions to drop below $1000 any time soon.

One more thing; MOST 10k drives (if not all) are still SATA1, not 2.

[J-Roc]

Here are some intresting points to get this think tank really spinning.

1. Insted of your OS coming to you on cd, why not buy your OS preinstalled on a non-writeable or semi-writeable SSD disk that you can plug straight into a sata port?

2. Since SSD's are memory, why not do away with system ram and have the abillity to use your storage device's as a pagefile. You could potentialy have limitless ram with no compatabillity issues when upgrading.

[The boy 4rm oz]

I like your ideas J-Roc, that would make things a whole lot easier.

[calumc]

You could potentialy have limitless ram .

limitless ssd? :p

pigs might fly

[Airbozo]

limitless ssd? :p

pigs might fly

If you have ever been to a Pink Floyd Concert, you know for a fact pigs fly.

[The boy 4rm oz]

If pigs can fly this may be affordable to some lol.
832GB SATAII SSD:
http://www.techpowerup.com/?48781