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From: gwu@vlsi.cs.cmu.edu (George Wu)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: how fast could disks be (Mach 1)
Message-ID: <1075@vlsi.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Mon, 17-Aug-87 09:34:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: vlsi.1075
Posted: Mon Aug 17 09:34:56 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Aug-87 04:09:39 EDT
References: <lots> <12191@amdahl.amdahl.com> <1189@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 15
Keywords: laser disk scan Mach


     There's been all this talk about gaining faster mass storage with
parallel operations, and more recently, optical disks. But it seems to me that
a limiting factor are the mechanical parts, which must physically move. Even
using a scanning laser beam to read optical disks, a mirror must be
manipulated, unless someone has found a way to bend light. Relativity anybody?

     But what about non-mechanical storage systems? Are there feasible
magnetic and/or solid state systems out there? I remember there used to be a
big hoopla about bubble memory, but I haven't heard anything recently. And I'm
not sure why, but intuitively, I feel that solid state devices would be even
faster than magnetic ones. Is this just a bias left over from magnetic tapes
and drives?

							George