Two quad core QX9775 processors, 800MHz FBDIMM 4GB RAM.. doesn’t sound like anything out of your grasp, right?

But how about if you put in 24 SSDs totaling 6TB in a RAID setup? Yep, that’s a bit extreme.

The crazy thing is that it worked. It could break a speed of 2GB per second. It could open the entire MS Office Suite – all programs – in half a second. It could open everything in the Windows start menu (53 programs) in just over 18 seconds. It can perform a 700MB DVD transfer in 0.8 seconds.

Quite ridiculous.

And the most amazing thing is that the SSDs can be knocked against each other while in use and still work. (See the 3:42 mark below).

Watch the video and see for yourself.

Again, ridiculous. But cool.

This is what makes SSD great, and also what makes our existing hard drives suck.

Many people have heard of the Samsung Instinct being called the “iPhone killer”, but I do not believe that to be so. The Instinct is on the Sprint network and costs $129.99 after a $220 instant savings then a $100 mail-in rebate, and Sprint offers their Simply Everything Plan with unlimited everything for $99.99.

Continued

As with all technology, it gets cheaper over time. Now you get the (currently) monster-sized 1TB hard drive you wanted for a price that’s right.

Up until very recently 1TB drives had a stubborn price point but 3 have managed to bust the $200 mark.

All 3 drives listed here are SATA 3.0Gb/s.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS
Price: $199.99

Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS
Price: $189.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ
Price: $179.99

To note: The Samsung and the Seagate currently have a free 3-day shipping promotion going on so you can save a few extra bucks.

What makes the Seagate the highest price of the lot? A 5-year limited warranty including parts and labor.

And to think.. I remember when 1GB was huge. Man, I’m gettin’ old.

PCMech readers and PCMech Live viewers have heard me wax on about how SSD is going to be the next big thing with computers. Why? One reason: Speed. And lots of it. Solid State Drives are where computers are going. If you wanted any indicator as to when to upgrade, SSD is it – no question.

And Samsung appears to be the company that’s going to bring it to us – this year.

How fast is fast? How about 160MB per second write-speed fast? It leaves rotating hard disks in the dust to say the least.

Personally speaking I’m pleased as punch this is happening now (as in this year) because it’s bringing us closer to the way computers used to be.

If you examine very old-school computers like the Commodore 64, TRS-80 and the like, their boot-up time is instantaneous. SSD brings us much closer to the simplicity that is: You turn it on and go. No waiting. And that’s just plain frickin’ cool all around.

One can only hope that the same will occur for optical drives as well (as in solid state media replacing rotating media.) We’ve thankfully been able to more or less get rid of the floppy drive, but the ancient optical tech is still around. The only reason we still use them is because flash-based media doesn’t have a low enough price point just yet compared to optical discs.

It is not uncommon to find a 50-pack of blank CD-ROMs for 10 US dollars. That’s 20¢ per each disc that can hold 700MB. Flash-based media isn’t that cheap just yet but it’s getting there.

It would be interesting if the computer industry made floppy-shaped flash-based media. The media would look just like a floppy diskette but would be a flash-based card that could hold a few GB’s of data at bare minimum. Media of this type would keep a familiar feel while providing modern portable storage.

Think it’s a crazy idea? Remember, the CD-ROM optical disc is a rounded version of the 5.25″ floppy diskette concerning it’s size. That’s why it fits perfectly in a 5.25″ sleeve.

[Source: Electronista]