Will computer manufacturers eventually start making computers with flash memory instead of hard disks?

Question

I just think that flash is better because there are no moving parts like in traditional hard drives

Answer 1

Yes, there are already harddrives out there that are solid state. They are 100 times faster but also a lot more expensive. In a few years all harddrives will be solid state.

Answer 2

Yes, there are already several options available.
However, Flash memory can die after a certain number of read and write cycles (in blocks,) which makes it vulnerable to failure. Also, flash memory is usually formatted to Fat or Fat32, instead of NTFS. What this means for the user is that if a flash drive crashes, you won't be able to remove the existing personal data files (all files are in one word lost.)

On the other hand, hard disks allow internal memory to be recovered after a possible hard drive crash.

Answer 3

Eventually, yes. At this point in time, its just cost prohibitive to mass create flash memory with the capacity of modern hard drives. Also, flash memory is more susceptibe (spelling?) to damage from power surges than a HD is.

Answer 4

It relies upon what the bottleneck in you overall performance is - if the subject is RAM as an occasion, a miles better quicker disk won't help. It additionally relies upon on the stressfulcontinual - the impact of the stressfulcontinual on overall performance relies upon on the write time and study time of the disk, it is pushed by using the rpm of the disk, pass velocity, buffers and so on. a miles better yet slower stressful disk won't inevitably help overall performance. in the experience that your computer would not have sufficient RAM to take income of a much bigger, quicker disk, you will additionally not get any income. the place you may get advancements is that in case you have greater area on the disk you will get much less fragmentation (you ought to run defrag oftentimes) and you will have a miles better homestead windows change record, which will velocity up the computer in case you run concurrent homestead windows. often the perfect thank you to enhance overall performance is to function memory - RAM - it is going to just about consistently improve overall performance.

Answer 5

Oddly enough these already exist.
It is my job to sell them.
We use solid state memory called Disk on Memory or DOM to hold the operating system.
These Doms or flash memory are used in thin clients.

I would provide a link to our website, but it is against the Yahoo Answers terms to advertise.

Answer 6

I've been thinking about that possibility a lot. I certainly hope they do. I think that they will, but haven't heard anything concrete yet. There may be size and rewritability concerns. Flash can only be rewritten so many times, and it can only be erased in blocks, which brings about another set of limitations.

Answer 7

Yes they will. In fact, SanDisk recently released a 32GB solid state (flash) hard drive for notebook computers.

Answer 8

Right now they cost WAY too much for use in home computers, but expect to see it in about 10 years or so to be normal. It is better, but about 10 times as expensive right now.

Answer 9

yes there is currenlty plans to make flash memory since it will reduce access time to almost 0, there is going to be a technical release in the middle of 2007 around may

Answer 10

That is not a bad idea, although what about an operating system and file backups. these items are usually kept on the hard drive as well.