Hard disks, data storage and latest drives

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

On my PC I have a 30-gigabyte (GB) IBM Deskstar hard disk. I have created a second-generation backup copy of the backup folder of My Documents folder, which I created in a separate partition on the hard disk. You can immediately see how much storage space I'm wasting. Not only that, I have also been downloading software drivers, patches and small utility programs from the Internet. I do not download music or video files, but I do install a lot of reference materials such as dictionaries and encyclopedias to help me with my daily work. I also have a collection of images that I have taken with my digital camera. Scanned images also remain undeleted once they are used. Yet, a quick look in Windows Explorer tells me that I have accumulated around 10 GB of data.

Clearly, the mainstream 40-GB hard disk capacity today is already far too big for the majority of us. So, how would you envisage filling up a 146-GB hard disk? That is the latest capacity offered by IBM Ultrastar, which has just been announced.

The 10,000 RPM (revolutions per minute) Ultrastar 146210 is clearly not for everyday computer users like us, though. It supports Ultra 320 SCSI, 2-GB Fibre Channel as well as their earlier generations. It is also the first to use a new technology to minimize the impact of vibration, which is a problem in a multi-drive server configuration. Reflecting IBM's lack of creativity in creating commercial names, the technology is called Rotation Vibration Safeguard, or RVS.

Although it is not known for an aptness in coining catchy names for its products and technologies, IBM does have a long list of achievements in hard disk technologies. Another new and very useful technology, which is now implemented in the latest ThinkPad -- the T30 -- protects the notebook's hard disk against minor bumps with an air cushion. This hard disk shock absorber is so new that the patent is still pending.

Incidentally, based on a "torture test" carried out by Smart Business (formerly PC/Computing), which was reported by the magazine last April, the ThinkPad T23 was the only notebook to receive all five stars for having survived the battery of abuse tests unscathed.

It is too bad that Big Blue has just admitted that its hard disk business has been losing a lot of money -- more than half a billion dollars -- for the last five quarters. It is now in the process of selling the business to Hitachi. I have always picked IBM hard disks for my own use, and I have similarly recommended them to my friends and relatives. Now I can only hope that Hitachi will continue the good work that IBM has been doing in advancing hard disk technology and making reliable hard disks.

Imation comes to town

Speaking of data storage, a US-based company named Imation (imation.com) has also entered Indonesia. It provides a slew of data storage products, printer supplies and other products for the digital office and individuals. Here are some of the most interesting products from this company.

Perhaps you have noticed that a growing number of notebooks now come without a floppy drive. The slim Asus S1 and M2 Series, which I reviewed in this column some time ago, are two of them. If you buy one of these notebooks, the external floppy drive is optional. You can buy one from Asus, for example, but you can also buy one from Imation.

Imation USB Floppy Drive can be used with a Mac or a PC. If you need a larger capacity, however, you can choose the 240 MB SuperDisk drive. This 3-in-1 drive also uses the USB interface, and it can read the 240-MB or 120-MB Superdisk Diskette. In addition, if you install the 32-MB software driver for this device, you can even write and read up to 32 MB on a regular high-density (HD) floppy diskette. Of course, it can write and read the regular HD floppy diskette as well.

Now, if you have several digital cameras and each uses a different type of flash memory card, you may need the Imation FlashGO! Multi drive, which can write and read four different formats of flash memory cards. It has four slots, which allow you to write and read CompactFlash (CF), SmartMedia, Multimedia card, Secure Digital (SD) card, Sony's Memory Stick and IBM's MicroDrive. So, no matter what digital camera you use, you can easily transfer the image files directly into your PC or Mac with the help of this multireader drive. There is also a single format writer and reader that plugs directly into the USB port, if you use only the compact flash card.

Imation has also joined the market of internal and external CD-RW drives. More interestingly is perhaps the company's drive, which can write a 202-MB mini-CDR. Called RipGO!, it is actually a battery-operated, portable audio digital player that can read as well as write an 8-cm mini-disc. This medium can store up to three hours of MP3 music, or six hours if you use the WMA format. Of course, it can play music already prerecorded on a regular mini compact disc.

By now you must also have seen the business card-sized CD. Imation has the CDR medium to create your own. The next time you want to make sure that your business contacts know exactly what you do, you can just give them your business information on CD. They will have no reason to complain, because it does not take a space much larger than a stack of five or six business cards.

The company also markets diskettes, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DataPlay media, portable hard disk drives, Magneto-optical and tape backup cartridges and drives -- including the Ultrium drives, as well as neon color inks for leading printers such as Canon, Epson and HP. My hope is that, unlike so many great products from other great companies, Imation's will not immediately get counterfeited by the so many unscrupulous people that we have here in this country.