To: Robert Douglas who wrote (9213 ) 11/13/2005 8:31:09 PM From: Mark O. Halverson Read Replies (1) | Respond to I own WDC, STX and MXO, and have for quite some time, based in part on the arguments you allude to. My hope has been the continued spread of disk drives to applications beyond PCs. There has been considerable consolidation since the bubble days, which is good. I'm definitely not a techie re disk drives, but it's my impression that maybe the disk drive is not so much a commodity as it once was, in that there is greater technology barriers to entry into the business. (Not that new companies would be plunging in right now). It does seem (as, say, with the nano ipod) that the disk drive will lose out it some applications to flash or other solid state memory; this is a critical consideration and I wish I had a better understanding in this regard. Nonetheless I suspect that for for massive data storeage the disk drive will grow and proliferate. I really don't know which company is best as an investment, so I have positions in three of them. Other takes on this would be most welcome.Years ago the disk drive sector was one of the most exciting in all of technology. Then it became a commodity and then a slow growing commodity. Today there is little interest in these stocks. But there has been a change as consumer products have boosted the unit growth rate which is often reported as 12% give or take a bit. Also the rapid price declines have slowed to the low single digits. Areal density gains are slowing and it is generally acknowledged that perpendicular recording will be needed to keep increases in areal density coming. Heads per drive has also bottomed and even begun climbing as density gains have not been able to keep up with the growing demand for storage.
