Why can't they make larger hard drives?

[NADIAZIPPER]

I was curious if anyone knows why hard drive manufactures don’t make larger hard drives. And when I mean large, I mean 500 GB or even 1Tb. I was thinking that if all they have to do is add more platters, why not make a double size hd? In reality it seems people who would use such a large hd would know a lot about computers and it would only take a little modification to get a double hd to fit into a normal pc. I know I would prefer to have one large hd, versus two smaller ones that would create more noise and heat. So my question would be does anyone know of a reason why it is not possible?

 

[micker377]

It is possible. Using "verticle alignment" one manufacturer has just announced a terabyte hard drive. The problem is in BIOS standards for the size of hard drives. They just upgraded Win XP to handle 48 bit addressing. If they started to make larger gig HDD's, the industry would have to upgrade ALL the different BIOS chips out there. The only other alternative is for everyone to replace thier motherboards!

 

[rclarke250]

LaCie will be sellinga 1TB external drive with firewire 400/800,USB 1.1,2.0 and iwire. It will weigh more then 10 pounds,but that is a lot of storage in a portable solution.

 

[paparazi]

Simple economics, something called supply and demand.
A component like this is very expensive to research and develope, not a problem if sold in the tens of thousands, those research and developement costs can be easily recooperated.
But when a product will only be purchased by a few hundred hardcore enthusiasts the unit price goes up dramaticly because the high initiall investment has to be added to the cost of fewer units.
Martin


Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[techkiwi]

Just curious - what would people want such a huge hard drive for on a home computer? I have difficulty filling 20 GB!

 

[rclarke250]

When you get into video editing and dvd burning it fills up quik...I've filled my main 160 GB drive twice in 3 months,so I bought a 200GB drive just to dump projects to. And Nadiazipper: The drives used to be full height,I still have a 1GB full height scsi from fujitsu. still works.

 

[NADIAZIPPER]

I just figured sombody like WD could just double on on a 250gb dive and make a sweet 500gb drive using only one ide, one power and a lot less noise. I currently have 2 120gb drives and 2 80gb drives raided(yes I do fill them up) and its a lot of noise heat and cables.I would love to have onlt 2 HD's at 500 each and never worry about space again.
As far as cost if they just doubled the size, I can image the cost being much more than double the coast of 2 sererate 259gb drives...maybe a little more, but not by much

 

[rclarke250]

Oh, we will see much larger drives in the near future. It has to do with the aerial density of the recording material,and the size of the read/write heads. they just achieved 100GB per platter. When they doulbe that we will see 1TB drives in the standard format.ie. 3.5",1" height.

 

[cdogg]

By simply adding more platters into one enclosing, you don't necessarily cause less noise and heat. Remember, the "noise" that a drive makes is a direct result of the heads moving back and forth over each platter (air friction is what you actually hear). If you just dump twice as many platters into a single drive, then you must also double the amount of heads. This in turn would call for a completely different internal design to muffle the noise generated. As paparazi points out, a lot of research must be invested to not only come up with an efficient design, but to also modify the manufacturing and warranty processes.

Surely it's possible and probably pretty easy to accomplish, but whether it's in high demand or essential to increased sales is another thing.

The solution is to continue to come up with denser platters so that the simple mechanics of a hard drive can stay intact.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[rclarke250]

Actually I believe the solution is to go in another direction. Either solid state,or maybe the crystal memory they are working on. Once we get away from mechanical drives,then accoustics,and heat won't be the problem.

 

[GrowingHaze]

Am I the only one that remembers replacing a 5.25" Maxtor Bigfoot 4.4 gig three times within 2 years of purchase. The concept was to make platter sizes larger, thus cutting research costs, but the drives had to much momentum and distance to cover. The drives overheating was the real killer though. One micron or two off, and then you got friction, Baby!

Quite the contrary has been the latest trend. This is not suprising, considering that a physically smaller drive uses less power, is more mobile and creates less heat. I look forward to the next wave of microdrives, some of which are available in usb jump drives in the capacity of around 1 gig.

-Growing Haze

Gates giveth, Gates taketh away.

 

[rclarke250]

that was quantum,and I try to forget the painful memories,true they were purchased by maxtor but that was years later. they were also slow,rotational speed was 4200. I have a 5.5" full heighth,scsi drive. 1 gb fujitsu,weighs like 10lbs. but it still works!

 

[GrowingHaze]

I knew Maxtor was wrong, but as crappy as the boughtout quantum drives were, they were the catalyst for which my interest in computer ignited. Thank god that computers don't work like they're supposed to, or I wouldn't have a purpose.

-Growing Haze

 

[cdogg]

rclarke250,
I'm sure the ultimate solution will likely be something we've never even heard of. There's always a solution to the solution!

Perhaps I should have been more clear in my statement by saying, "the immediate solution" or "the solution in the near-future".

GrowingHaze,
I appreciate your input, but I'm not sure what you mean by:

The concept was to make platter sizes larger...Quite the contrary has been the latest trend...considering that a physically smaller drive uses less power, is more mobile and creates less heat.

Your statement seems to contradict itself. Platter sizes become larger when they become more dense. Density is the key to creating smaller drives. It seems like you assumed that the platter itself was growing in size - this is not true. For example, when 120GB drives went from using three 40GB platters to using only two 60GB platters, you reduced the amount of heat, noise, and of course the number of platters allowing for a physically smaller size drive.

...but the drives had to much momentum and distance to cover

Huh? As density increases, head movement and distance either decreases or stays the same depending on the amount of data stored on each platter. Perhaps you could explain what you meant in more detail.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[GrowingHaze]

Sorry, I always assumed platter size was a measure of a hard drives radius. Thanks for the reality check. I will be more careful with my words in the future.

-Growing Haze