Why not 3.5in SSDs?

Devrij

Devrij

Devrij

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I was thinking about QLC NAND and how, as when you add more voltage thresholds to measure, you decrease read and write speeds. I was also thinking about the reduced lifespan for writing to QLC chips. Why don't manufacturers back up onto a larger lithography process and use 3.5in drives to package them? That would increase durability (not to SLC levels ofc) of the transistor gates, and for a backup drive would at least be usable by consumers (bung your film collection on it and forget about it).

I'm no expert on this stuff so there's probably a reason, but I for one would be happy to have 3.5in ssd if it meant lower cost/GB
 
3.5inch won't be a good format for laptop implementation. Although most have m.2 drive now. But initially when SSD came out it needed pc/laptop/data centre market. Not sure how many data centres use large quantities of SSDs but they prefer SFF than LFF sas drive as you pack more in the given space.

Maybe they will be looking to do that in the future to have these cheap and large SSD package in 3.5inch format instead of trying to figure clear ways to manufacture.
 
Intel are pushing a new server only flash format - kind of a long stick shape to pack it in as densely as possible.

edit: "ruler" form factor:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11702/intel-introduces-new-ruler-ssd-for-servers

Current 2.5/3.5" have been this size because it needed a round bit to spin and a controller. The 3.5" drive is probably one of the oldest parts of a computer design - been around since at least the mid80s.
 
QLC is to reduce cost, not to fit more in a drive. If someone made a 3.5" drive and actually filled it up, I reckon it would be about 100TB, with a price to match.
 
Given that I've just picked up an m.2 drive with 5 year warranty, where the max capacity of the model is 2tb, I don't think size is actually a limiting factor... Would be easy to pack 4-6 of these in a even a 2.5" chassis. Nobody would pay for it however. It's arguable that nobody needs a 12tb ssd, hence very little point in offering one given how expensive it would be.

Plus I'm pretty sure I've read that laptops are ahead of desktops in sales. It would be a pretty niche drive, and a lot of 'semi enthusiasts' would see the 3.5" size and assume it's using ancient technology vs the 2.5" or m.2 competition and pass it over. I remember the old 5" Bigfoot hard drives of yesteryear... they weren't that popular :')
 
OCZ used to make the Bigfoot range of 3.5" SSDs many years ago. I still have the 480GB one I bought from OcUK four years ago in the little PC attached to our TV. The drive is only SATA2 but so is the H61 mobo so they're very happy together.
 
getting frustrated with the wait for 4tb ssd's (not interested in ultimate speeds though) at a reasonable cost, seems like prices are being kept artifically high

Really looking forward to the day when I can convert my 20tb+ media server to ssd's
 
How much load is on your media server? Only advantage I can think of with using SSDs on a media server is saving power - but the price difference between spinners and SSD would take years of saved energy to pay for?
 
nutcase said:
How much load is on your media server? Only advantage I can think of with using SSDs on a media server is saving power - but the price difference between spinners and SSD would take years of saved energy to pay for?
Click to expand...

and heat.....and physical size......

And given that its nearly full, its at a point where it makes more sense to change every disk for a larger size (given its in raid, so I cant just change one disk) or buy a much more expensive / larger case to fit more disks in.

So yes it actually makes quite a few advantages :)
 
Most 2.5 SSD's are half empty already ... Maybe the point is that filling a 3.5 case with memory dies would be very inefficient and slow , as AFAIK controllers are ither 4 or 8 channel .. so accessing say 24 memory chips would be much slower, plus the controllers and firmware simply dont exist. Strangely talking about stepping back in lithographys , I wonder what the chinese are fabricating their SSD's on ? is it the old kit from 32nm/54nm? If this is true then low price could also go with good speeds and reliability/TBW ... I'd be happy with a samsung 840 @2tb for 50% of the new price.
 
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