Future hard drive?

[dneilson]

http://www.extremetech.com/computing...ed-hard-drives

[SpywareDr]

Great. Kinda makes you wonder how bad the damage will be when the hard drive starts leaking/explodes.

[bistro]

Oh....great. Now we'll have to start attaching strings to our hard drives....

[SpywareDr]

... and don't let go.

<-tickle-tickle->

[fink]

Also, the article casually mentions the life of the hard drive as being between 3 and 5 years. Since when is that acceptable? If I was looking to buy a new HD the low end life estimate had better be higher than that high end estimate!

[bistro]

That is a pretty low life expectancy. Heck, I've got a couple of drives that Ben Franklin used and they are still working fine.

[Shinma]

Additional boo-boo on article,
At last check, Hitachi's 3.5 inch hard drive division is owned by Toshiba, not Western Digital.

• Reference

[SpywareDr]

Wikipedia: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

...
History

The company was founded in 2003 as a merger of the hard drive businesses of IBM and Hitachi.[2] Hitachi paid IBM US$2.05 billion for its HDD business.[3]

On March 7, 2011, Western Digital and Hitachi, Ltd. announced they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby WD will acquire all shares of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST)'s holding company, Viviti Technologies Ltd. (Viviti), in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $4.3 billion. The resulting company would retain the Western Digital name and remain headquartered in Irvine, California. John Coyne would remain chief executive officer of WD, Tim Leyden chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl chief financial officer. Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, would join WD at closing as president, reporting to John Coyne.[4][5] As part of the acquisition, Western Digital Corp. later reached an agreement with Toshiba Corporation to divest certain assets to address the requirements of regulatory agencies that have conditionally approved or are continuing to review the company's planned acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST). The deal enabled Toshiba to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets and will enhance its ability to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for near-line (business critical) applications.[6] The divestiture was completed on May 15, 2012.[7]

On March 8, 2012, Western Digital announced it has completed its acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WDC common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion. The deal resulted in Hitachi, Ltd. owning approximately 10 percent of WDC shares outstanding, and it has the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD. Steve Milligan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi GST, would join WD's senior management team as president. The new WD would operate with WD Technologies (WD) and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries. John Coyne, the new CEO, said both subsidiaries would compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines.[8][9][10]
...