Flash Drives

[Dillinger4]

Why aren't flash drives common in desktop computers? Is it that they are nowhere up to the capacity of normal hd's or is it that they are just too expensive to be used?

[thegreatone]

Probably because the End User would think "This pc has a smaller har drive yet it costs more than that other PC"

In the end, they would not realise they superior speed of the flash drive.
So, they would see smaller drive for more money...

[Dillinger4]

Ive seen them used in high end computers. Well actualy only one. I forget the company name but you would think some of the high end computer companies like Voodoo and Alienware would have them.

[ThaRubby]

Cant boot from them.

[ALL]

i dont think flash drives can swap data at the speed of a hard drive (i may be wrong though)
flash:
• Read speed > 750KB / sec.
• Write speed >450 / sec.

hard drive:
• Buffer To Host (Serial ATA) 1,200 Mbits/s (Max)
• Buffer To Disk 72 MB/s (Sustained)

also, they cannot get nearly the storage capacity as Hard drives can

here is an article you might find interesting:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...Page001-152647

[Dillinger4]

So have a hd that you can boot from then loads into the flash drive then shuts off.

[ALL]

acutally isnt that what a RAM drive does?

[Dillinger4]

Posted by ALL

acutally isnt that what a RAM drive does?

Perhaps. Don't know anything about em. Up until yesterday i was unaware that dual layer dvd's in larger capacities didn't exist.

[ThaRubby]

I have a maxtor 140 gig, and it wasnt much money. I dont see how I can run out of space, even if i have 3 operating systems, and LOADS of files on each OS.

[ALL]

here's a small article on a ram drive:
http://www.thetechzone.com/articles/ram_drive/ (note: this was written in '99, so i am sure XP is much more complient)

but if the future ever gets away from a Hard Drive then i am sure it will be "RAM Drives" because they are almost instant, and have no moving parts. and they could eassily put small batteries on them (just incase the power goes out), or even make them work much like Flash drives work in the fact that it doesnt have a battery (that i know of) and doesnt get erased every time you unplug it.

[Dillinger4]

Who said anything about running out of space? We are talking about speed.

[Dillinger4]

Thanks for the articles ALL. Im checking them out now.

[ThaRubby]

Who said anything about running out of space? We are talking about speed.

Ahh, ok. I thought you meant as an extention because your running out of space.

[Dillinger4]

Posted by ThaRubby

Ahh, ok. I thought you meant as an extention because your running out of space.

Nah a 160gb hd is large enough for me.

[ALL]

just wait 5 years, soon developers will realize that space is not an issue, and CPU is, so they will be requiring much more space (ie: 5-10GBs games/high proformance programs)