Disks
Consider your disk-space requirements. Some people find 30GB to be restrictive. Others, that don’t need to take a video library with them, will find 30GB to be more than enough for storage requirements. There are speed and ruggedness issues to be considered too. The current range of disks can be broken down as follows.
Traditional 2.5″ laptop disks. Fast, cheap, good storage. They are however relatively big, sometimes noisy and consume a lot of power. These wont be found in the 4-7″ segment but can be found in the larger netbooks and notebook devices. For storage capacities over 80GB, these are one of the few options. Look for 5400 RPM drives and test results that indicate 40MB/s or more read speed.
1.8″ drives. Originally designed for use in MP3 players, these devices have found popularity now in the mid-range UMPCs. Capacities range from 20-80Gb and power and size requirements are low. They are more expensive per GB than the larger 2.5″ drives but offer a good compromise for the mid-range devices. Some cheaper, low-speed models can have a noticeable impact on the speed of the operating system but in general are acceptable for common operations. Highest speeds will be in the order of 30MB/s maximum read speed.
SSD devices. Solid state disks based on flash memory technology have no moving parts. They are lighter, consume less power generate less heat and are more rugged than the rotating drives. There are two types to watch out for. Low-cost MLC drives which offer good capacities and the high-speed SLC drives that offer higher read and write speeds but can cost a lot more.
MLC drives can range in speed from extremely slow to mid-range transfer rates (as fast as a 1.8″ rotating drive) although in general, are able to get to data more quickly for multiple small-size data operations. Unfortunately there is no way to tell from a devices specifications how fast the device is and the only recommendation here is to search for a device review that includes these disk test results. MLC drives are commonly used in the cheaper ‘netbook’ PCs and come in the 4-20GB size range which offer little opportunity to store media. For many operations though, very little storage is required and with external media cards such as SD and CF reaching 16 and 32GB capacities, this can be suitable for many people.
SLC drives are more tailored for the high-end of the market and can offer exceptional speeds that even exceed the bandwidth of the connecting bus. Only a small number of high-end devices are shipped with these drives (often as options) but there is a growing number of aftermarket options that can be used to boost the speed of a low-end device by a noticeable amount. Prices are currently in the range $80-500 for these devices and can be hard to find. Upgrading a device will often invalidate the warranty and can be difficult to achieve. Do your research before you take this path.
All SSD technologies are advancing very quickly and prices are dropping rapidly. We expect SSD storage solutions to overtake Hard Drive solutions in terms of popularity during 2009.
Online storage is an option gaining in popularity and can be useful for people that are always able to connect to the Internet via a Wifi or 3G connection. Access speeds are extremely slow compared to local drives but for small documents, can be useful as a user moves from device to device. An additional feature of some storage solutions is that you are able to edit some files while they are on remote servers through web-based applications. Google Docs is one example. Look for generic solutions that can be accessed as a virtual drive and take note of syncronisation solutions that can help with offline work.
