Thanks for the Memory
Jul. 10th, 2006 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lostcarparkAccording to this BBC story, a new magnetic memory chip could revolutionise the way we store data. It uses a magnetic charge to keep data reliably, even when the computer is powered down.
So what? I hear you say. We've had Flash memory for years, so what's new here?
Well, Flash has two problems. It is relatively slow, and it can only be rewritten a finite number of times. As a result, it has never really challenged the humble hard disk for long term high capacity storage
MRAM, as it is called, gets around both of these problems, so it could represent a viable alternative to the hard disk.
Now I've been predicting that solid-state device would replace hard disks since my late teens. However, I have never ceased to be amazed by the inginuity of hard drive designers. Although they still work on much the same principles as the first units IBM built over 50 years ago, they are a fraction of the size and cost, yet store thousands of times more, and are far faster and more reliable.
And given the current chips store half a megabyte (by an amusing coincidence, the same amount as the first IBM drives). So I don't think the hard disk has anything to worry about just yet.
Of course, if you had enough money, you could p[robably string a few thousand of these together to make a usable solid state drive, and it probably wouldn't cost you too much more than the original IBM drive.
The current chips will be very useful in mobile devices, but we really need to scale capacity into the Gigabytes range before it's likely to make an impact into PCs. Then, loading the OS and essential files onto one to save time. This could prove useful for installing the OS on for faster booting.
People won't abandon their hard drives for devices which store less and cost an armand a leg. But the writing is on the wall for the hard drive, and the writing says "your days are numbered!"
So what? I hear you say. We've had Flash memory for years, so what's new here?
Well, Flash has two problems. It is relatively slow, and it can only be rewritten a finite number of times. As a result, it has never really challenged the humble hard disk for long term high capacity storage
MRAM, as it is called, gets around both of these problems, so it could represent a viable alternative to the hard disk.
Now I've been predicting that solid-state device would replace hard disks since my late teens. However, I have never ceased to be amazed by the inginuity of hard drive designers. Although they still work on much the same principles as the first units IBM built over 50 years ago, they are a fraction of the size and cost, yet store thousands of times more, and are far faster and more reliable.
And given the current chips store half a megabyte (by an amusing coincidence, the same amount as the first IBM drives). So I don't think the hard disk has anything to worry about just yet.
Of course, if you had enough money, you could p[robably string a few thousand of these together to make a usable solid state drive, and it probably wouldn't cost you too much more than the original IBM drive.
The current chips will be very useful in mobile devices, but we really need to scale capacity into the Gigabytes range before it's likely to make an impact into PCs. Then, loading the OS and essential files onto one to save time. This could prove useful for installing the OS on for faster booting.
People won't abandon their hard drives for devices which store less and cost an armand a leg. But the writing is on the wall for the hard drive, and the writing says "your days are numbered!"
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-11 09:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-11 11:42 am (UTC)Just to clarify, I don't think hard drives are going to disappear any time soon, and I don't mean to say that MRAM is necessarily the solution. But I do think that we are going to see a gradual shift towards solid-state media, and that each new technology will open up more applications to solid state media.
Having said that, I predicted the demise of the hard disk a long time ago, but they've gone from strength to strength, and continue to be the poster boy for Moore's Law at a time when CPUs are really struggling to come up with new developments.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-11 11:52 am (UTC)I think that the problem for solid state drives is that, as you pointed out, hard drives are themselves following Moore's Law. That SSDs are also following Moore's Law means merely that they'll not get less attractive as time goes by, unless the SSD can manage a slightly steeper curve.
Having said that, there does come the point that a particular PC just doesn't need more storage. I've got 200MB free on this machine, and have had for quite a long time. I'm just no longer filling up the space the way I used to. So, there may well come a point whereat the cost of a sufficient amount of SSD is no longer a problem.
In the long run, I'm sure you are right. It's like LCD against CRT. This is a 19" CRT in front of me. Its twin, that I bought for my home system, has been replaced by a 24" wide LCD. Work, which is a little more price sensitive, hasn't reached the same price point.