- #1
MostlyHarmless
- 345
- 15
So, in the context of computing for the even avid techy, it seems like a Petabyte(1024 Terabytes) of storage on a single drive seems both out of reach, and unnecessary. I mean, on my computer, I've got 1080p (legal) downloads of movies, several very large games, and a comfortable amount of music, and I'm sitting pretty with my 500gb HDD. Of course, plenty of people use much more than me, 3, 4, 5TBs?
And obviously, this is generally the mindset we have before each new era in technology. (I'm reminded of a story of a guy who had 1TB of some questionable media, and 5 years ago I thought that was an absolutely absurd, almost comical amount of data.)
But now it seems like we should be reaching a limit on the amount of data the above average user can actually use.
I've seen 4k UHD, and(to me) its barely differential-able from real life. And a movie in 4k UHD uncompressed, would require your computer to display ~1GB/s. (45MB/frame @ 24frames/s)(http://www.zdnet.com/why-4k-uhd-television-is-nothing-but-a-ces-wet-dream-7000009506/). The best most expensive solid state drive I could find has a read speed of about 1.8GB/s, and it has a 1TB capacity(a 2.5 hour movie according to the above link, is about~10tb) and costs about $1,200. So, (I could be wrong here) if you had a SSD with more common speeds(500-800Mb/s), your computer would actually have to buffer as if you were trying to watch a long cat video over 3g.
My point being, aside from ubiquitous 4k UHD being impractical under the current infrastructure, EVEN IF 4k UHD(which requires massive amounts of data, and data capabilities) became commonly used, a Petabyte STILL seems like overkill.
If you filled a Petabyte drive with nothing but movies in 4k, it would take like a week and a half of non-stop viewing just to watch it all. Assuming the hard drive was fast enough.
I have no doubts that we will see a Petabyte storage device eventually, but will just the above average user ever need that much storage?
And obviously, this is generally the mindset we have before each new era in technology. (I'm reminded of a story of a guy who had 1TB of some questionable media, and 5 years ago I thought that was an absolutely absurd, almost comical amount of data.)
But now it seems like we should be reaching a limit on the amount of data the above average user can actually use.
I've seen 4k UHD, and(to me) its barely differential-able from real life. And a movie in 4k UHD uncompressed, would require your computer to display ~1GB/s. (45MB/frame @ 24frames/s)(http://www.zdnet.com/why-4k-uhd-television-is-nothing-but-a-ces-wet-dream-7000009506/). The best most expensive solid state drive I could find has a read speed of about 1.8GB/s, and it has a 1TB capacity(a 2.5 hour movie according to the above link, is about~10tb) and costs about $1,200. So, (I could be wrong here) if you had a SSD with more common speeds(500-800Mb/s), your computer would actually have to buffer as if you were trying to watch a long cat video over 3g.
My point being, aside from ubiquitous 4k UHD being impractical under the current infrastructure, EVEN IF 4k UHD(which requires massive amounts of data, and data capabilities) became commonly used, a Petabyte STILL seems like overkill.
If you filled a Petabyte drive with nothing but movies in 4k, it would take like a week and a half of non-stop viewing just to watch it all. Assuming the hard drive was fast enough.
I have no doubts that we will see a Petabyte storage device eventually, but will just the above average user ever need that much storage?