I also remember asking my father what that meant and he quickly noted that it meant that the television had no moving parts. I was a little confused by that concept back then, but over time, gained experience, and more recently, about every know and then, a few unavoidable failing hard drives have made me really reconsider that very important notion. All of a sudden, I have a renewed sense of appreciation for that old television set and wonder if it’s a coincidence that it still works great even to this day.

It’s an inevitable fact that everything has a life span, regardless if it’s man-made or otherwise, and that the life span of technological devices may be much shorter than expected. In the world of personal computers, servers, and mainframes, hundreds of thousands of components, electronic circuits, and mechanical motors make up just about everything we use and rely so heavily on. Just think about how complex your personal computer is for example. Start with the power supply. The power supply has very large voltages and high heat to deal with, has a cooling fan, and if that fan’s life span happens to come to an abrupt end, your computer will be out of commission until it’s replaced. The main processor also requires sufficient cooling in order function, without it, it will literally be toast. Keep in mind these are components that are continuously moving. Given extremely long periods of time, heat and friction will eventually consume any device. This brings me to the main topic of discussion, the hard drive.

This article is not meant to scare anyone into worrying about their data because the personal computer hard drive has been proven to be a reliable way to store your information and to run your operating system. Even mainframes still use magnetic hard drives to store mission critical information (while being backed up via other means) but recent advances in technology have really sparked my interest in this area. A recent article I read mentioned a 32 GB solid state flash hard drive by Samsung. Now that may sound like a measly amount of space, but I remember when 30 GB hard drives we’re more than I could ever dream of having. But it is still in its infancy mostly due its high cost but as with any technology, costs always come down quickly. There are also other technical considerations such as battery backup in case of extended power outages. But once it goes mainstream, the solid state hard drive could provide extremely reliable, fast, and energy efficient storage. Laptop users will benefit greatly with improved battery life, reduced weight, while upping durability, and speed (testing has shown 25-50% gains in performance). The possibilities seem endless. Hopefully soon my next personal computer will have no moving parts as it looks back on the good old days.