November 15, 2003

LET’S DO AWAY WITH THE DISK DRIVE

Here me out on this one because it is strictly an opinion.  Why are we still building disk based systems?  I do see that hard drive technology has greatly advanced over the past several years; however, it is still the biggest bottleneck in any computer. 

This week we configured and built a server for a customer who was looking to put the most amount of RAM he could into the machine because he had the ability to create a “RAM drive”.  He has been crunching data for years that requires hours if not days to complete.  With this RAM drive setup, he will cut his processing time down a great deal because the whole process will be less disk intensive.  He will be able to store most of the data in RAM instead of on the drive.    

So I ask the question again; why are we still building disk based systems?  The following may be sound like a conspiracy theory, but again, hear me out.  The big boys in our industry i.e. Intel, Micron, Hynix, etc. have the ability and money to create almost anything they desire.  Over the years I have learned that Intel has, sitting on their shelves, processors that would make today’s’ computers look like an abacus.  They continue to produce faster and smaller processors and then shelve them.  Why do they shelve them you ask?  The almighty dollar of course.  They will continue to trickle out new product as slow as they can to milk every penny from your wallet.  Other manufacturers of high tech devices will follow suit for the same reason or because they have to stay in line with the industry standard.  The largest player sets that standard.

Ok, so I got off on a little bit of a rant but there is a reason for it.  As I said, disk based computers are dead slow.  (You may not see it because you have been told to accept the products that are trickled out to you and that they are the best and fastest thing available.)  Even with the current processor and memory technology, systems are still waiting for info from the hard disk.  Granted, the current disk technology is far superior to what it was just a few years ago.  Serial ATA technology and SCSI U320 are screamers from what they were.  But, look at the advances in other areas.  Moore’s Law has remained true for the last 38 years and there is no end in sight.  However, hard disk technology is moving at a snails pace comparatively to other areas in the industry.  There are limitations to this storage format that I cannot see being overcome.  So why stick with it?  Currently, because it is the least expensive.  RAM based storage is currently much more expensive but it is getting cheaper. 

The big manufacturers have the ability to control price, to a degree.  If they were to change their focus on storage, we could see a completely different type of storage medium.  One that is light years ahead of disk based storage.  One that will change the entire computing world.  Imagine pushing the power button on your PC and immediately being able to use the system instead of waiting for it to boot.  Imagine enormous databases being at your fingertips immediately upon request.  Imagine a Star Trek scenario where everything can be voice activated.  Imagine simply not having to wait for your computer.  This could be easily accomplished by changing the current storage technology.  It will happen.  Either one of the big boys will make the move or some smaller organization will get away with it without being crushed or gobbled up by one of those big boys.

I don’t know what the new medium will be but I have ideas.  That is a topic for another newsletter.

OK, so this is my opinion.  Take it for what it is worth.  The topic came to mind this week while we were sitting around waiting for several servers we were building to boot over and over.  I started to calculate in my mind how much time we spend here waiting for systems to boot.  When I started thinking about how much money I pay people to wait for machines I started getting very upset. 

I once saw a hard drive that had a 20 megabyte capacity.  It was as large as a suitcase and the platters were larger than old LP vinyl records.  Maybe I’m wrong.  When I see scatter shields being installed around 100,000 RPM disks I may rethink this topic.  Or I may run for cover.

S&K