Data Storage Predictions for 2008

Lucas123 writes "IDC just released its predictions for 2008 with regards to data storage trends. Its research shows, among other things, a greater adoption of online backup and archiving services, the 'prevalent' use of full-disk encryption in the data center, and mainstream adoption of solid-state disk drives due to falling prices. From the story: 'There are very simple situations and application scenarios where solid-state disks will be worth the risk. It does promise some great potential benefit in terms of I/O ... [and] solid state will make a significant impact on reducing heat from spindle usage in server blade deployments and to boost functionality in mobile devices.' According to IDC, storage capacity is exploding at a rate of almost 60% per year."

Re:wish list

[DaveWick79]

1. They already exist, but for about $4000 for example here [buy.com]
2. On board RAM cache - it's called Intel Turbo Memory, it's cheap and it's been availabe on laptops for several months now and will soon be on the desktop also. Coupled with Vista readyboost it will do what you want it to, or it can also serve as a high speed flash RAM drive on which you can install frequently used apps or files.
3. They have them in 2GB also.
For the rest, they already have 32GB Flash for a reasonable price (around $300) if you make the comparison to RAM rather than spinning platters.

Re:wish list

[DaveWick79]

Problem with RAM is that it's volatile and you'd be screwed if power went out while writing back to that cache. Intel Turbo Memory uses an internal PCI Xpress slot as it's interface, and employs high speed flash memory. While not as fast as RAM memory, at least you wouldn't have to keep a battery in it to power it for long enough to write the entire contents of a RAM cache back to memory. Besides, if you want a RAM cache, isn't that what the OS does already with RAM? If you want control over what goes into your RAM cache, there are a number of softwares which will create a RAM drive, which you can then load with the data you choose at system startup.

Re:wish list

[Joe The Dragon]

at that size usb 2.0 is out firewire is faster and has less cpu load.