I wrote a while back on how the internet is like sushi. Tokyo Mango found storage that is sushi. Can I get mine with 3 megabytes of Wasabi?
Entries from August 2008
Sushi storage
August 29, 2008 · 3 Comments
Categories: Products · Random
Tagged: Add new tag, storage, sushi, TokyoMango, USB
Tom’s Hardware notebook drive roundup
August 29, 2008 · 1 Comment
Comprehensive evaluation of the top four 7200 rpm notebook drives
Tom’s Hardware compared performance notebook drives from Seagate, Hitachi, Samsung and WD with the depth and precision that only Tom’s can. The value-add here is their understanding of the complex mix of factors that interact in real-life notebook use: performance, power, durability, security.
Note that “performance” class 7200 rpm drives are on their way to becoming “mainstream” class, since more people are replacing desktops and expect desktop performance.
Conclusions from the review:
Although we found ups and downs for each of the four products, all the drives passed the basic requirements for high-performance notebook hard drives, with great benchmark results. However, you should not just go any purchase any of the four drives, as their characteristics mean that some are more suitable for specific applications.
#4 Samsung’s Spinpoint MP2 is a good performer, delivering great throughput of up to 86 MB/s, and dominating the PCMark05 application benchmark, which is pretty relevant. Yet the drive is not a suitable overall recommendation, as its access time and I/O performance are a bit weak, and it’s as power-hungry as first-generation 7,200 RPM drives by Hitachi and Seagate. In terms of efficiency, Samsung is simply not yet where it could be.
#3 The Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 offers balanced performance and delivers good results across all benchmarks, but it does not win a single one of them except the Windows XP startup benchmark of PCMark05. If you want maximum performance or efficiency you might want to look for another drive, but if you find this model installed in your new notebook there is no reason to worry—it’s a good product.
#2 Western Digital’s new Scorpio Black has arrived with a bang. It has the fastest access time and great I/O performance, beating all the other 2.5″ hard drives. Though its throughput cannot quite match the transfer rates of the Seagate drive, WD manages to get excellent results in all of the benchmarks. And despite good but not exciting power consumption results, we found some surprises: WD implemented a sensible power management solution, which has the drive consume the least power at low-power idle and when playing DVD video off the HDD.#1 Seagate Momentus 7200.3. We were looking at the four hard drives from a mobile user’s perspective, so we paid close attention to performance per watt ratings. Not only does Seagate hit new transfer rate records, but it also beats the competition by providing the best combination of low power consumption and high performance. It might not win all the benchmarks, but overall it is on top. Its lead over WD was very small, though.
Seagate sees the importance of 7200 rpm for notebook and Tom’s sees the results in Momentus. Expect to see more of the good stuff in future versions of this winner.
Categories: Laptop PC · Products
Tagged: 7200 rpm, G-Force, Hitachi, Momentus, notebook, review, Samsung, Seagate, Tom's Hardware, WD, zero-G
Data encryption should be the law for business PCs
August 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Don’t agree? Read this, then just try and convince me otherwise.
The scariest part is how many people, processes and organizations had to drop the ball on data security for this to happen. Data loss these days is no longer a scandal – it’s about being human.
Storage vendors, please hurry! The safety of my personal information is in your hands!
Granted, PC encryption is just one of many changes that are needed, as crooks can and do steal data from places other than PCs. But basic hardware-encrypted data is an essential foundational security step that needs to be adopted ASAP.
Categories: Data Security · Desktop · Laptop PC
Tagged: Data Security, ebay, encryption, MailSource, PC, UK
Disk drives are not dinosaurs
August 27, 2008 · 2 Comments
SSDs are exciting, but disk drives will do the heavy lifting for a while
Fast Company’s Tech Watch interviewed Sherman Black, the General Manager of Seagate’s Enterprise group, and came away seemingly surprised that disk drives are a vibrant technology.
The hype for SSDs is deafening these days, so step out of the Spin Room and let’s think about this calmly for a moment:
- Core technology shifts take decades
- SSDs cost 5X - 10X their equivalent in disk drive storage
- SSDs in notebooks don’t make much difference in performance, battery life or reliability
- SSD long-term reliability is iffy so far
- Solutions makers are still looking for a mainstream market for flash beyond $19.99 $15.99 $9.99 thumb drives
- Many thoughtful industry voices are saying the same thing
Yes, there are promising niches. Seagate sees segments of the enterprise market as a great place for its upcoming SSD solutions.
Sherman, by the way, is a perfect spokesperson for this topic from Seagate. He’s always got a smile and firm handshake for you, but you can see the steel in his eyes. Seagate and the rest of the disk drive industry are driven, racing to push the disk drive envelope even further.
Disk technology is in the prime of its life, accelerating rather than slowing. And the smart disk drive makers are adding SSDs to their bag of tricks even as they make their drives better.
It’s a great time to be in the storage business!
Categories: Datacenter · Industry trends · Laptop PC
Tagged: disk drive, Fast Company, Flash, Seagate, Sherman Black, SSD, Tech Watch
Cleversafe’s Storage Internet taking shape
August 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment
RAIS (redundant array of independent servers) brings new ideas to “can’t lose” data concerns
Cleversafe is applying internet concepts to storage to offer unique value in the SaaS space. It’s pretty cool – check out Byte and Switch’s take.
With five partners now and three more in the wings, they seem to be making it work. But is it really necessary? Is the internet broken for storage?
We’ll see how they progress as they take on IBM, HP and EMC. They see Amazon’s S3 as a potential partner rather than a competitor, with additional redundancy that might shore up S3’s infrastructure availability.
Categories: Cloud computing · Datacenter
Tagged: Amazon, Byte and Switch, Cleversafe, RAIS, redundancy, S3, storage internet
UK data losses spread to prisons
August 25, 2008 · 2 Comments
Take the Oops factor out of the security equation with mobile encryption
The UK government’s data security woes continue, the latest a misplaced USB stick containing detailed data on 10,000 serious offenders -and all 84,000 prisoners in England. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, in charge of UK prisons, is the Embarrassed Minister of the Month when it comes to UK data security.
Of course there will be lots of hand-wringing about this persistent trend. The reality is that while processes can be improved, people will be people; stuff happens.
Encryption makes lost drives no-news events
Mandate fully encrypted mobile storage like Seagate BlackArmor and the UK government will at least “oops” proof data on the move.
Categories: Data Security
Tagged: BlackArmor, Data Security, encryption, FDE, prisoners, UK government
Tom’s Hardware’s ultimate workstation has SAS and SATA
August 21, 2008 · 1 Comment
Seagate and SAS/SATA flexibility get the nod for their Big Guns of Business platform
When it comes to storage, Tom’s Hardware gets it.
It’s not because they chose Seagate’s Cheetah 15K SAS and Barracuda ES SATA drives for their Big Guns of Business workstation platform. It’s that they understand the truly revolutionary benefits of SAS and SATA in combination.
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is taking workstations (and servers, and storage systems) where SCSI never could because of native mix-and-match compatibility with SATA.
That means you can have screamin’ SAS, massive SATA, or both. And change it up tomorrow if you want.
More and more system vendors are getting this. Strongly consider SAS-based systems from here on out.
Categories: Business Solutions · Products
Tagged: 15K, Barracuda ES, Cheetah, SAS, SATA, SCSI, Tom's Hardware
IBM slowly but surely launches XIV
August 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Don’t expect “start-up” behavior from the industry’s most mature storage company
There’s been lots of grousing about IBM’s stealth launch of their first XIV-based product last week. Is it really that surprising? A storage technology machine the size of IBM’s takes a few gear shifts to get up to full speed with even the newest technology.
While IBM is taking it slow, there’s no reason to doubt their commitment to change in storage technology. XIV is no doubt an innovative addition to IBM’s portfolio. Given time, I’m sure we’ll see more and more to like from Nextra and IBM.
Once they get to about third gear, watch out.
Categories: Products · Storage Systems
Tagged: IBM, Moshe Yanai, Nextra, XIV
Seagate making progress with the Porous Membrane
August 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Seagate recognized as ”getting” corporate blogging
It’s encouraging to hear that Storage Effect is adding value to the blogoshpere, at least from Sitepoint’s perspective. Thanks Josh!
It’s been an eye- and mind-opening experience since we opened the doors on Storage Effect last October. The biggest surprise to me is how much more I get out of reading blogs and comments than writing them. Hugh MacLeod’s Porous Membrane is alive and well!
Count on more and even better stuff as the evolution continues. And please chime in! Let’s talk about more about what’s on your mind:
- What’s driving you nuts with your storage?
- What excites you about it?
- What do you wish you had that you don’t?
- What can’t you live without?
Categories: Random
Tagged: Hugh MacLeod, Josh Catone, Pete Steege, porous membrane, Sitepoint, storage effect
Energy costs are making the storage world less flat
August 18, 2008 · 1 Comment
Shipping hard drives costs more than the labor to make them
Thomas Friedman’s seminal book The World Is Flat may need an update. What happens when the cost of transportation outweighs all others in the global value chain?
For hard drives at least, shipping costs more than labor, according to Seagate CEO Bill Watkins.
In the Googlization of our society, it’s easy to miss the fact that all of those ideas are housed on physical machines that are created the old-fashioned way - they’re manufactured.
How will the global technology manufacturing value chain adapt as expensive energy changes the physical world as the internet changes the information world?
Categories: Industry trends
Tagged: Bill Watkins, energy, hard drive, Seagate, shipping costs, Thomas Friedman
