Re: HDD upgrade pains
You said:
the process for adding in a disk drive. It is a task that is daunting to most of the technically challenged ...
Let's review for a second the process of adding a second disk to your system.
1. Unhook all cabling from your machine.
2. Remove the cover from the case.
3. Identify the disk drive interface cable.
4. Verify that the cable has a free connector.
5. If not, you will need to purchase a new two-device cable.
6. Set the disk to the "slave" state using the jumpers.
7. Physically mount the disk in the frame, taking care that the free connector can reach the disk.
8. Connect the interface cable and power leads to the drive, while ensuring that the interface cable is connected with the correct orientation. You would either have to have a "fool-proof" connector type with a tongue on the side or you would have to know that the side of the ribbon cable marked red goes to pin one in the socket. You would have to identify pin one by inspecting the label or circuit board.
9. Reconnect cables to the machine.
10. Power on the machine and bring up the OS.
11. Run the disk partitioning utility (FDISK).
12. In the partitioning utility, select the new device.
13. Create partitions conforming to your operating system. For Win95 users, you would have to know or find out whether you had FAT or FAT32, since FAT only supports up to 2047MB in the primary partition. If so, then you would have to create extended partitions in the remaining space.
14. Format the partition(s).
15. If all has gone well, replace the cover on the machine.
I recently had to guide a bunch of new users through the process of assembling a machine. I got to watch them struggle with these kinds of things. They had particular difficulty with step 3 (identifying the correct cable and sockets) since you're not born with the knowledge the sockets on the motherboard for disk drives are intuitively marked "IDE1" and "IDE2", or that IDE cables are 40-pin ribbons, or that it doesn't matter which connector attaches to the master and slave devices. They also had trouble with step 6 (setting jumpers) since in order to set this correctly you would have to understand the IDE master/slave device configuration. They also had trouble with step 7 since the case is often packed full of cables and wires and boards and slots. They certainly had trouble with step 8 ... well, you get the picture.
-- The simple fact is, the process for adding a second disk to a system is TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE for new users. Let's not even talk about replacing the boot drive, which is a considerable piece of work even for experienced users.
You said:
Direct sales can't and won't happen on a large scale until the disk drive is simply a "brick" that can be added by anyone.
We could be there by this time next year. It's called "Device Bay." Adding a disk should really be as simple as:
1. Plug the new disk-enclosure into the free slot in the case, like a Nintendo cartridge.
2. Power on the system. The OS automatically detects the presence of the new device and asks you if you want to set it up.
3. When you confirm, the OS sets up the disk in some standardized manner, and it is then available for use. Done.
You said:
I don't believe anyone can make money on a sub $100 DD.
I do. The fact is, the HDD industry has been focusing on increasing device capacities. If the focus shifted to decreasing costs while holding capacities relatively constant, we could easily have $99 4GB devices that still have healthy margins within a couple of years.
God bless,
PX
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