MCLEOD COMPUTING
DUNCAN McLEOD: It’s the end of the line for hard drives
After 67 years of service they are quickly being overtaken by flash storage, which is faster and more power efficient
09 November 2023 - 05:00
Even the most successful technologies eventually die and are replaced with superior ones. The hard disk drive (HDD) has had a phenomenal run, but its time is rapidly drawing to a close.
Introduced commercially 67 years ago by IBM, HDDs — also known as spinning disks, hard drives or fixed disks — consist of rotating platters coated in magnetic material onto which the binary digits (ones and zeroes) used by computers are stored (and retrieved) through a “head” mechanism that “flies” just above the surface of the disk...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.