On 01-Jan-2011 21:27, Doug wrote:
I want a drive that runs cool, draws less power, and does not require a cooling fan. I suspect one of the other small arm devices with more RAM might be a better choice if you were using a flash drive.
I don't have an informed comment on the longevity of flash memory, but if these are your desired features, you may want to look at new hardware (also ARM) which is coming out of the smartphone and netbook ARM world. If you take a $250 smartphone and drop the display, keypad, battery and WAN, it gets pretty cheap and still burns very few watts. Like, 2.5 to 4. I am hoping to see a lot more general purpose computers built around this (rather than, say, Intel Atom.)
This will be obvious to many on the list but I wanted to point it out since you were inquiring about low-power drives.
Even the Sheevaplug (at $100) starts to look expensive (but fast) compared to a next-generation unit like mini-box's $69 pico-Sam9G45, 400 MHz, 256 MB RAM. At this point booting Debian is left as an exercise for the reader. :)
Happy New Year to all. tai viinikka || tai@eastpole.ca -- The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls. -- Inuit credo