Discussion Does anyone use SSHDs? I have never seen anyone use one. Why would you want to use them now that SSDs have become so much cheaper?

[Order 66]

I remember when a 64GB SSD cost $600. And you couldn't get a drive larger then 128GB (for around $1300 if memory serves).

Early SSDs were bloody expensive.

How big were games then? surely you could fit at least a few games of the time in a 64GB SSD.

 

[gamerk316]

How big were games then? surely you could fit at least a few games of the time in a 64GB SSD.

Back then, you used that drive *just* for windows and purchased a 2TB 7200 RPM HDD for games.

 

[Order 66]

Back then, you used that drive *just* for windows and purchased a 2TB 7200 RPM HDD for games.

Amazing how far we have come. I use my 2TB NVME SSD with Windows and games on it and I still have just over 1TB free. I am glad I went with a 2TB drive, otherwise I would be in need of an upgrade soon.

 

[Eximo]

My first encounter with SSDs was a mil-spec (large temperature range) 4GB SSD. It was $4000. Used for datalogging on the road trucks. It used that for the OS and a cache for data, when it got in range of a cell tower it would dump what it had to an FTP. Typically installed under the aerodynamic shroud above the truck cab.

Only reason it came to me was that a group of engineers were struggling to get the OS loaded. Turns out, taking the case off a passively cooled computer to have an OS installed is a bad idea. I literally just plopped a heat sink and fan on top of its big thermal pad and the install completed without issue.

 

[Order 66]

My first encounter with SSDs was a mil-spec (large temperature range) 4GB SSD. It was $4000. Used for datalogging on the road trucks. It used that for the OS and a cache for data, when it got in range of a cell tower it would dump what it had to an FTP. Typically installed under the aerodynamic shroud above the truck cab.

Only reason it came to me was that a group of engineers were struggling to get the OS loaded. Turns out, taking the case off a passively cooled computer to have an OS installed is a bad idea. I literally just plopped a heat sink and fan on top of its big thermal pad and the install completed without issue.

Datalogging on a truck, why? 4GB SSD $4000? what year was this? I am just so surprised that a 4GB SSD would cost 4k

 

[Eximo]

Datalogging on a truck, why? 4GB SSD $4000? what year was this? I am just so surprised that a 4GB SSD would cost 4k

2001 or so. Not just a 4GB SSD, though it was definitely SLC, one that could operate at -40C to 80C reliably. It was a passively cooled computer in outdoor conditions. The computer had some waterproofing standard as well.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Datalogging on a truck, why? 4GB SSD $4000? what year was this? I am just so surprised that a 4GB SSD would cost 4k

Back in the day (roughly '82-'83) a 30MB hard drive cost that much. You have much history to learn.

 

[Order 66]

Back in the day (roughly '82-'83) a 30MB hard drive cost that much. You have much history to learn.

I know. That is my main reason for starting "conscience" threads because I want (need?) to learn not only computing history from the last 40 years or so but also people's different perspectives on it.

 

[DSzymborski]

I remember being gobsmacked about the new gigabyte hard drive I picked up in the 90s which blew my mind since I remembered those tiny 20 MB hard drives from a decade before. I mean A WHOLE GIGABYTE.

 

[RealBeast]

Some funny stuff. I'll add two anecdotes.
My first HDD was an external 10MB Warp 9 for my MAC Plus in 1986-ish for $999.99. One day after 4-5 years it started jumping around and had just self destructed.
I moved to my first SSD in 2009 with an Intel 80GB X-25M (that still is in use as an Adobe scratch drive). It replaced a 4 RAID 0 Seagate 15k drives running on an Adapter 39160. It was a huge improvement, but it was expensive -- but since it is still in use I definitely got a lot of use out for the price.

 

[Eximo]

My first computer had a 420MB boot drive and a 6.4GB drive where I installed my games. Ah the Glide era, takes me back. If I recall that 6.4GB was a few hundred when it was bought a few years prior to when I got it. I remember picking it up was a whole trip in and of itself, quite a bit before online shopping was normal and being in the Midwest, not a lot of electronics stores around at that point. Not even any Wal-Marts back then.

 

[gamerk316]

My first encounter with SSDs was a mil-spec (large temperature range) 4GB SSD. It was $4000. Used for datalogging on the road trucks. It used that for the OS and a cache for data, when it got in range of a cell tower it would dump what it had to an FTP. Typically installed under the aerodynamic shroud above the truck cab.

The saddest part is a mil-spec SSD that's only a few GB still costs about as much now as it did then :/

 

[ex_bubblehead]

The saddest part is a mil-spec SSD that's only a few GB still costs about as much now as it did then :/

And likely the size of a microwave 🤣

 

[Eximo]

Depends on the use case, but the one I had my hands one was quite small. Just a dense blob of chips.

The cost is all in the testing and certification, and possibly low volume production. Like aircraft parts. They aren't expensive, you are paying for hundreds of hours of labor/inspection/x-rays.

 

[Colif]

I remember the first time I heard about someone with a bigger hdd in office PC and thinking, no way we ever fill that up with text documents. Not forseeing the size of files to come and uses apart from just storing text documents. I don't remember how big it was, it was in the mid 90's. We had windows 3.1 by then so probably was about 1tb.

as for old hardware

Spoiler

Quotation of PC’s from 1989 for local college

20 x 286 systems @ $2895 each
• 16 bit 286 CPU @ 12.5 mhz
• 1mb ram expandable to 5mb
• Ems 4.09 supplied and supported
• Real time clock
• 40mb HDD
• 1 3.5 inch 1.44mb floppy
• 1 5.25 inch 360k drive floppy drive
• Serial port
• Parallel port
• 80287-8 maths co processor
• 16 bit vga card and tystar vga high res monitor
• 1 optical mouse

Special features
BMS 386 sx CPU module at 16 mhz with socket for 80387sx. Price = $495
BMS i486 CPU module at 25 mhz available March 1990

Standard upgrades
From 1mb to 1.5mb = $145
From 1mb to 2mb = $290
From 1mb to 3mb = $495
From 1mb to 4mb = $990

Replace 5.25 360k drives with 5.25 1.2mb drives = $35 per drive
Upgrade from 40mb to 80mb hdd = $495.00

Ethernet card
8 bit Ethernet card = $235
16 bit Ethernet card = $255

Software
MS Dos 4.0 = $110
MS Word Education pack of 10 users = $625
MS Windows 2.11 Education pack of 10 users = $388
MS Works Education pack of 10 users = $405


There was more, but I don't feel like typing out the printers. The cost of ram is just... words fail me. I wouldn't mind having the windows 2.11 pack.

 

[beyondlogic]

I would like to know whether SSHDs are used when SSDs are so much cheaper than they used to be.

main usage I used them for ( yes I own 2 of them) was for PlayStation 4 1. it was way cheaper to buy a 2tb sshd then a ssd at the time. the draw to these drives was simply cheaper larger capacity with a faster cache.

 

[gamerk316]

Depends on the use case, but the one I had my hands one was quite small. Just a dense blob of chips.

The cost is all in the testing and certification, and possibly low volume production. Like aircraft parts. They aren't expensive, you are paying for hundreds of hours of labor/inspection/x-rays.

Exactly; The reason why anything used by the DoD costs so much isn't because it costs that much to produce, but because the company needs to make back the costs for testing and certification on what is usually a very small production run.