1999 vs. 2009 Then and Now – Fixed Disk Drives

In a few short months it’s going to be 2009, and a ton of stuff has changed in the world of computing over the past almost-ten years. Some of the modern advancements have proven to be a notable improvement while others still produce the same crapola they did nearly ten years ago.

In this installment we’ll be taking a look at fixed disk drives (which you know as the hard disk drive or just hard drive).

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In 1999 a “really big” hard drive (in reference to how much data capacity it could hold) was 20GB. An HDD of that size was prohibitively expensive and most people didn’t have anything that large. Remember, this was a few years before Microsoft Windows XP came into existence so most people used a 1GB and 2GB drive for a variety of reasons.

The first reason was volume limitations.

MS-DOS 6 and the original Windows 95 used FAT16. This type of partition would usually only result in a maximum volume size of 2GB. That was it; you could go no higher. Technically it’s supposed to recognize 4GB but if using Microsoft software (which most of us did), a 2GB partition was the biggest you could do.

FAT32 was originally introduced by Microsoft with Windows 95 OSR2 to accommodate for larger hard drives – but only to a point. Technically speaking, FAT32 can handle up to 32GB, however, the largest any single file can be is 4GB minus 2 bytes. Being that nobody back then had files anywhere near that size, it was acceptable.

As a side note: FAT32 is still used today, mostly with USB sticks (sometimes called “pen drives”). Just remember if you have a large capacity stick that’s formatted using FAT32, you can’t place any files over 4GB on it.

The second reason was cost.

It took a very long time for hard drives to come down in price – even for major PC manufacturers. The difference in cost for a PC equipped with a 5GB or 10GB drive was several hundred dollars.

On the laptop side, hard drives were notably smaller in capacity. If a regular PC had a 2GB hard drive, the laptop was sure to have only a 512MB or 1GB drive. And if you thought the hard drives for PCs were expensive, the laptop versions always cost more. In fact it’s still true today that if it’s in a laptop, it will most likely be not as big (in capacity), not as fast and double the price on average.

The third reason was the age-old question: “Do I need this?”

Back in the days before Windows XP, very few people had a literal need for a hard drive over 2GB in capacity; it simply wasn’t necessary. Nobody was burning DVDs (much less even had a DVD burner in his or her computer) and burning CDs was still a relatively new thing. Also remember that the vast majority of people who used internet in 1999 were on dial-up. As such, most people didn’t bother downloading huge files because a) they weren’t available and b) nobody wanted to leave his phone line tied up for hours on end just to download a file.

From then to now – What’s changed; what hasn’t

1. Size

The most obvious difference between then and now concerning hard drives is size. Fixed disk drives today are absolutely monstrous in size capacity compared to ten years ago.

The 1TB (1000GB) HDD is almost a standard at the time of this writing. Drives of this size are available but not common – not yet, anyway. Most people today are either using 120GB, 160GB, 250GB, 320GB or 500GB drives.

2. Partition

The NTFS partition allows for a maximum volume size of 256TB – completely smashing the limit of FAT32. This partition type is sure to be around for a good long time before another succeeds it.

3. Data transfer

Previously we all used Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment, commonly known as PATA. You know this as the IDE ribbon connector between the hard drive and the motherboard. SATA (the “S” for “Serial”) is now the common connector, resulting in notably faster data transfers.

4. Rotating platters

This is something that hasn’t changed – yet. Hard drives operate by using rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. In a basic sense the “guts” of an HDD are the same as they were ten years ago. Yes there have been some advancement in the way they operate but the basic design is still the same.

5. The “click of death”

This is also something that hasn’t changed. When a hard drive decides to “die”, you will hear that “click.. click.. click..” noise and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.

6. Lifespan

This has changed – but not positively.

It used to be that several prominent hard drive manufacturers (Western Digital being one of them) had lifetime warranties on hard drives for regular consumer-brand ones you could purchase off the shelf. This is not the case any longer. The warranty is now five to seven years.

Speaking of which, most hard drives will only last about that long, with some notably less (three years maximum).

The future

Right now before the dawn of 2009 we are close to the end of the platter-based fixed disk drive; its replacement will be Solid State Drive, abbreviated as SSD.

The largest differences between HDD and SSD are:

• SSD has no moving parts.
• SSDs operation is completely silent.
• SSD has a much faster data transfer rate (there is almost no “lag” time between when the data is requested and then delivered).
• SSD is much more rugged than HDD and can withstand much more abuse.
• SSD can easily last at least 8 years.

SSD is available right now – however it’s still wickedly expensive and doesn’t have the capacity it’s older HDD brothers do.

For example, you could get a 256GB SSD but it would cost you six thousand dollars.

In the next few years, SSD technology should be greatly reduced in price and find a home in the new computers we buy. In addition, these new computer we buy should be smaller and lighter. It could very well be that your new desktop PC of the future will be no larger than a standard novel. Watch for it.