If Seagate IV are 40gb platters... why is there a 60 gb version?

[happie23]

Am I mistaken that the 'cuda iv's are 40 gb platters?

Happie23

 

[AndyHui]

A total of 40GB on each platter, means that there is 20GB on each side of the platter.

The 60GB has 2 platters, with 3 of the 4 platter sides available.

 

[Shmorq]

To add a little more, the 40GB drive has 1 platter and 2 heads, the 60GB drive has 2 platters and 3 heads, and the 80GB drive has 2 platters and 4 heads.

 

[happie23]

Ah, I understand... never thought of using both sides of the platter.

Thanks

 

[RSMemphis]

Of course this means that the price difference between the 40GB and the 60GB should be much higher than 60 and 80...
Talk about artificial prices...

 

[nortexoid]

i used to wonder about this same thing too....

yes, identical manufacturing costs but different end prices....stupid...they might as well not even sell 60gb drives...

then again, sometimes you gain better yields without having to worry about getting both sides of the platter working

 

[DSTA]

then again, sometimes you gain better yields without having to worry about getting both sides of the platter working

Yup, and one could imagine the smaller capacity drives to be a wee bit cheaper because of warranty issues. If the chance of some side or head going bad is constant, then the smaller versions should be a bit less likely to go bad.

And there's one actuator and a head less in manuf. costs.

 

[Howard]

You only noticed this with the Seagate Barracuda IV?

 

[Amused]

<< Of course this means that the price difference between the 40GB and the 60GB should be much higher than 60 and 80...
Talk about artificial prices... >>



:::sigh:::

Prices are not set by production cost alone. They are, for the most part, set by perceived value. If I could charge $500 for a used cleanex, and get it, I would. Capitalism is all about charging what the market will bear, nothing more, nothing less. If the market wont bear the cost of production, you go out of business. If the market will bear the cost of production + a 5000% markup, you're doing great.

In other words, what you're willing to pay, is what a product is worth to you. If Joe Blow is willing to pay twice as much, that's how much the product is worth to him. It has nothing to do with how much the product cost the seller.

 

[DSTA]

If the market will bear the cost of production + a 5000% markup, you're doing great.

Somehow +5000% markup makes me think of mouse skates...

 

[arcas]

Along the same lines...another thing to consider is how much of each platter the drive actually uses. A number of high-performance SCSI drives, where access times are key, only use a portion of each platter. In this way a drive might make use of 30gb platters but only use the fastest 10gb portion. In this manner, they sacrifice capacity for lower access times (the head only has to travel over a portion of the platter) and higher average transfer rates.