Anyone Build a Computer with a Flash Drive Only? [Archive] - HP Deals, Computer Coupons And Bargains

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johnnymk

01-29-2008, 03:01 AM

Flash Drives are getting so cheap that an OS and lots of other data can be put on them without the use of a hard drive. Feasible?

DarkFury

01-29-2008, 06:02 AM

Can't say that I have...

500 GB SATA drives for under $100 do the job for me. :D

TruckStuff

01-29-2008, 06:42 AM

I've not done it, but I've seen it done. Actually, a compact flash card was used in conjunction with a IDE->CF adapter. It was *really* fast and seemed just as stable as any other system would. So its definitely do-able.

Markel

01-29-2008, 08:00 AM

I'm not sure if the issue has been resolved, but one impediment in the past has been the limited number of erase/write cycles in the life of flash drives.

bachviet

01-29-2008, 08:37 AM

I'm not sure if the issue has been resolved, but one impediment in the past has been the limited number of erase/write cycles in the life of flash drives.
Yeap that's why it's best to use SSD but they are expensive.

Prngr44

01-29-2008, 08:56 AM

Yeap that's why it's best to use SSD but they are expensive.

That's what immediately popped into my mind too. They're already dropping drastically in price. Probably 1-2 more years where the general public will be buying them.

Maarchk

01-29-2008, 01:27 PM

I've loaded os's and computers from flash drives, but i have never used it as my main harddrive. Seems kind of silly and semi expensive if they wear out faster than a regular harddrive which i am pretty sure they would.

mechmike0034

01-29-2008, 07:54 PM

http://building.a.puppybox.googlepages.com/home

johnnymk

01-30-2008, 02:32 AM

Thanksfor the link, mechmike. I think that the guy could have found more readily available used parts and a small case without all the work he went through.

mechmike0034

01-30-2008, 12:54 PM

Thanks for the link, mechmike. I think that the guy could have found more readily available used parts and a small case without all the work he went through.

Yeah - IDE-to-CF adapters are cheap. I guess the biggest advantage is low power consumption. I was going to try this trick in my old Sony 550mHz laptop but I just bought a standard 30G IDE notebook drive for it (for $30) instead (it came with a 6G drive originally)...

There's a bunch of mini-pc stuff out there if you look for it. I play around with Puppy Linux so I hear of a lot of it on their site and forums...

mechmike0034

01-31-2008, 09:45 AM

http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/ad44midecf.asp
Interesting reading...