Is Microsoft about to kill off the HDD once and for all?

[corbe]

Is Microsoft about to kill off the HDD once and for all?

Joel Khalili - 4h ago

Microsoft has reportedly ordered PC manufacturers to abandon hard disk drives (HDDs) for solid state drives (SSDs) across all future Windows 11 devices.

The new rule technically applies exclusively to boot drives, on which the operating system runs. But in most cases, these drives are the only form of on-board storage, which means hard drives will effectively be pushed to the fringes of the PC market.

The move is presumably designed to increase the level and consistency of performance across Windows 11 hardware, but Microsoft has made no public statement on the matter. Contacted by our sister site Tom’s Hardware, the company said it had “nothing to share on this topic at this time”.

According to data storage analysts at Trendfocus, Microsoft has given OEMs until the end of 2023 to make the switch.

A death sentence for the HDD?

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/is-microsoft-about-to-kill-off-the-hdd-once-and-for-all/ar-AAYgS0t?bk=1&bk=1&ocid=msedgntp&cvid=6ae881bbccd74ab78d09cd8a00553395

[corbe]

   I finally ditched my last system that had ribbon cable HDD (non SATA) but I've made a mint switching all my customers over to SSD.

[Kamaji]

In other words, the Windoze OS has become so bloated and sluggish that the only way to keep startup speeds from being intolerable is to switch to SSDs as boot drives.

Linux keeps on becoming more and more attractive each time.  I have Mint linux running on a 6 y.o. pentium based lenovo laptop that runs rings around MS Windoze in terms of startup times and, particularly, updating times.  A full kernel update might take 15 minutes, compared to 2 or 3 hours for Windoze.

[roamer_1]

In other words, the Windoze OS has become so bloated and sluggish that the only way to keep startup speeds from being intolerable is to switch to SSDs as boot drives.

Linux keeps on becoming more and more attractive each time.  I have Mint linux running on a 6 y.o. pentium based lenovo laptop that runs rings around MS Windoze in terms of startup times and, particularly, updating times.  A full kernel update might take 15 minutes, compared to 2 or 3 hours for Windoze.

Kinda, yeah.
But a tempest in a teapot. It is a matter of fact that SSDs are way faster than SATA platter drives...
Every box I own has a SSD system drive - Usually bang for buck, 120-256g - Regardless of how many platter drives it may be running for storage.

It is already industry standard and recommendation to use SSD for system.  So any harrumphing now is sorta anticlimactic.

[roamer_1]

   I finally ditched my last system that had ribbon cable HDD (non SATA) but I've made a mint switching all my customers over to SSD.

I ain't had a PATA drive anywhere in my network for a long, long, long time. Maybe one or two left in USB externals, but they are long gone around here.

[Smokin Joe]

I ain't had a PATA drive anywhere in my network for a long, long, long time. Maybe one or two left in USB externals, but they are long gone around here.

I have a pile of drives from XP and back, with archives of those on solid state (just copied the drives). For me it became a matter of having had laptops drives die in the field or in transit, and I don't have that trouble with SSDs.

Besides, SSDs run rings around platters, speed wise.

[roamer_1]

I have a pile of drives from XP and back, with archives of those on solid state (just copied the drives). For me it became a matter of having had laptops drives die in the field or in transit, and I don't have that trouble with SSDs.

Besides, SSDs run rings around platters, speed wise.

Well, a wee word of caution... They SAY flash/ssd is a robust storage - But they said the same about CD/DVD, which turns out to be less than true.

It is a good thing that you update your stored data onto newer media - And that should always be practiced precisely because storage is getting better. But also because it is also true that storage becomes legacy and then drops off the map.

I can still handle PATA drives here, but ten years from now? probably not. I will no longer have the means to hook one up. Twenty years from now? I bet type A USB connections will have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Remember, even SATA based SSD is nearly legacy. M.2/NVMe form factor is where it is at now.

[Kamaji]

Kinda, yeah.
But a tempest in a teapot. It is a matter of fact that SSDs are way faster than SATA platter drives...
Every box I own has a SSD system drive - Usually bang for buck, 120-256g - Regardless of how many platter drives it may be running for storage.

It is already industry standard and recommendation to use SSD for system.  So any harrumphing now is sorta anticlimactic.

I don't disagree with that.  I have an SSD in my current main system - a Win10 17" DTR - and it's bitchin' fast, especially on startup; however, the Mint linux system still starts up faster than the Win10 on SSD does, even with an older hdd and pentium cpu.

[Elderberry]

I haven't run a PATA in years now. Before them I used to run lots of SCSI drives as I could get them for free. My current PC has 2 SSDs and one SATA. And I have 2 small servers with 2 SATAs in each.

[Kamaji]

I ain't had a PATA drive anywhere in my network for a long, long, long time. Maybe one or two left in USB externals, but they are long gone around here.

I've still got an old WinXP box around that has a PATA drive in it.

[roamer_1]

I don't disagree with that.  I have an SSD in my current main system - a Win10 17" DTR - and it's bitchin' fast, especially on startup; however, the Mint linux system still starts up faster than the Win10 on SSD does, even with an older hdd and pentium cpu.

 
No disagreement. Since my business cratered in COVID shutdowns, I have seriously revisited converting my whole network to Mint or BSD. At the moment, very little is holding me in Windows.

I messed around a bit with mini Linux on legacy machines. It is surprising how far back you can go and still get a usable - I mean really usable - machine. BUT the other side of that is how cheap and powerful newer used boxen are - say off-lease 3-5 year old machines... You can pick up sweet-spot decent gear for almost nothing. And so far, they've generally got a win7 -win10 tag on em, so switching them to nix almost isn't worth it.

I just picked up a 6yo box that I am going to use for my main media server - Including repairs and adding a ssd system drive, I will be in the box for under 100 bucks. No need to mess with that. 

[Fishrrman]

If you want to use the Mac OS, you'd better have an SSD.

It's been like this for years now.

The OS will "run" on a platter-based hard drive, BUT, the overall user experience will seem more like the OS is "walking", than it is "running"...

[roamer_1]

I've still got an old WinXP box around that has a PATA drive in it.

The only thing I have left from XP is a hacked down MiniXP on thumb that I keep around for sometimes being useful for getting on old Win7 hardware in-situ... But mostly my MiniWin7 handles anything pre-win10 that comes through the door. I would imagine I will stop supporting that miniXP just about any day now... I hardly use it as it is - especially since the nic cards I hacked into it are no longer in my possession.

[PeteS in CA]

Are HDD motors still sole-sourced to a company in Thailand? At least the flash memory in SDDs has multiple sources, and maybe Xi-the-Pooh's No-Covid policy has persuaded some companies of the wisdom of not putting all their eggs in one country's basket.