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Quorten Blog 1

First blog for all Quorten's blog-like writings

So, what really is the fastest camera technology you can get in 2018? Well, as it turns out, I’m disappointed. The fastest technology isn’t that much faster than the technology I currently have.

Standard SD max write speed is 25 MB/s. UHS-I brings that up to 104 MB/s, and UHS-II brings that up to 312 MB/s. CompactFlash has been retired from updates, so it’s not getting any faster in speed. The new standard to replace it is XQD, based off of PCI-E and with a max speed of 1 GB/s.

So there you have it. The fastest is only faster than standard SD max speed by a factor of 40, not quite the factor of 100 or 1000 that I was aiming for. That means that making an ADF more than 40 times faster is a wasted effort, at least until the rest of the digital system catches up in speed.

20180525/DuckDuckGo fastest sd card
20180525/https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/computers/buying-guide/the-fastest-memory-cards-money-can-buy

Max Write Speed: 260 MB/s

20180525/https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1345165-REG/angelbird_avp128sd_avpro_sd_128gb.html


Now what about the storage equation? Hard disk drive storage density is practically limited at 1 TB per square inch, at least until some compelling other magnetic technology comes along. What does that mean for a 3.5 inch hard disk drive? Okay, so some estimates.

(3.5 / 2)^2 * 3.14 = 9.616 inch^2
= 9.616 TB
9.616 TB * 4 heads = 38.464 TB
9.616 TB * 6 heads = 57.696 TB

So, as it turns out, future 3.5 inch hard disk drives will just barely satisfy your storage density per cost growth requirements, but only for the next generation (i.e. 5 years and growth factor of 10). Beyond that, you’ll be stuck.

  • Consumer hard drives are limited to a maximum of 5 platters.

20180525/DuckDuckGo how many platters typical 3.5 disk drive
20180525/https://superuser.com/questions/912582/number-of-platters-in-commercial-consumer-harddrives