Topic: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*

[Spak-Spang]

MopItUp:  By your logic, You should take better care and your friends should take better care of their SD cards. 

Your argument is mute.

[Mop it up]

If you think about it, hard drives in computers are used a lot more than SD cards and other flash devices. I don't think flash is meant as a primary memory since it can't withstand as many writes and rewrites as hard drives.

Also, I am "Mop it up."

[Adrock]

I've never had a hard drive fail on me, and I have a couple that are 13 years old.

What is your secret, Master Splinter? The first computer I ever owned had the hard drive fail after literally a year plus 1 day, conveniently after the warranty expired.

I don't think flash is meant as a primary memory since it can't withstand as many writes and rewrites as hard drives.

It should last well beyond a 5 year console cycle. Battery backup as a method for "saving" games is inherently flawed because the battery dies and you lose all your data, but it was still supported through half of the last decade (weird that I can say that now). That said, there are pros and cons to every piece of technology. If Nintendo supported a large SSD, they'd only need it to function properly for the duration of the present console cycle and maybe a year or two after that console's successor launches, which it should, though ideally, we'd want it to last even longer under normal use, which it also should.

[Mop it up]

I don't know. Have I just been lucky with hard drives? I was actually surprised to find out that people have had issues with their hard drives failing, especially ones made in 2000 and beyond, considering how well my own have held up. I guess my secret is, keep them dust-free? Clean them every once in a while? Don't handle the underside? Don't shake the drive or the computer it's in, and if you have to handle the drive, do so very carefully? The only bad one I've come across is a corrupted one I got from a friend. It was a Maxtor brand which, after checking around the Internet, seems to be a poor-quality brand.

Corrupted flash memory is already an issue with Wii and it hasn't even been five years yet, plus it is likely to be on around for longer than a five-year cycle. The scary thing about systems like the Wii is that, if the flash memory gets corrupted, the system is 100% unusable. I don't like that idea. If the next system has internal memory, it should be able to function after it goes, relying on the expandable memory, or it should otherwise be somehow replaceable.

What systems use batteries in the last decade? The last one I know to use a battery for saving is the Nintendo 64.

[BranDonk Kong]

I've never had a hard drive die on me either, I've received one that was DOA, but that's it. Actually every HDD-equipped iPod I've ever owned has had the HDD die (and the replacement HDD), so I take that back. Little bit different scenario though, since an iPod is constantly being jostled around.

[Adrock]

Both HDD and SSD can get corrupted. SSDs are generally accepted to be more durable due to the lack moving parts. Like most things with the Wii, Nintendo lacked foresight. In this case, having the Wii function should the internal memory fail. A replaceable drive is such an easy solution, but this is Nintendo and they probably didn't want people f-ing around with removable parts for whatever reason. Still, they likely expected it to last for, at the very least, the console cycle. I've had my Wii for nearly 4 years and I've never had a problem with it besides it frying my Gamecube memory card so I just never used it for GCN game ever again.

And the GBA used battery backup for games though I just looked it up and apparently battery backup was only used in GBA games until 2002, maybe 2003. I couldn't confirm specifics, didn't try very hard to... not important enough to put in the necessary effort. So, I amend my previous statement to battery backup "was still supported through almost half of the last decade." Still, if the original Legend of Zelda was the first game to use battery backup, that method for saving games lasted some 15 years or so despite the fact that data loss is inevitable at some point. I guess the idea is that you'll have long moved on with your life before that happens. The same principle applies to solid state memory. It has a limited lifespan, but most people won't care by the time it eventually ceases to function correctly, assuming it functions as intended and there is no premature corruption.

[Chozo Ghost]

Hard drives are in no way more durable than solid state storage. They're much cheaper per GB, and as mentioned are faster than SD, but their moving parts make them much less durable than any kind of solid state media.

Flash storage has a write limit of a million or so times, or something like that. At that point the media wears out and it can no longer be written to (although it can still be read). That is one of the current limitations of the technology. Now, normally a person would probably never reach that write cycle limit under normal circumstances, but when Flash is used as a hard drive which is constantly being written to and read from this is something that is going to happen sooner or later.

So I'd have to disagree when you say its more durable.

[TheBlackCat]

Modern flash drives use wear-leveling algorithms to greatly reduce this problem.

[Mop it up]

And the GBA used battery backup for games though I just looked it up and apparently battery backup was only used in GBA games until 2002, maybe 2003.

Where did you read this? I was under the impression that no GBA games used a battery (SRAM) to save, and that's the reason that the GBA Pokémon games do not have an internal clock like the GBC games did.

[Spak-Spang]

To be fair I have never had an HDD fail on me.  But, I have not used many HDDs and I always try to buy higher end computers, with higher quality parts.  Perhaps if you buy discount HDDS you have a higher fail rate potential.

[Kytim89]

I have a 120 GB external HDD(2.5 laptop ATA) that whenever I plug it into a computer it says that a drive for the device can not be found and it does not show up in My Computer. Does anyone know how to fix it?

[Louieturkey]

I have a 120 GB external HDD(2.5 laptop ATA) that whenever I plug it into a computer it says that a drive for the device can not be found and it does not show up in My Computer. Does anyone know how to fix it?

Go to Yahoo Answers or something like that to ask that question.  It's unrelated to the current topic.

Personally, I don't care what Nintendo uses as long as they use something that is 32GB or more and give the option of some type to expand that storage space.

[Chozo Ghost]

Personally, I don't care what Nintendo uses as long as they use something that is 320GB or more and give the option of some type to expand that storage space.

I went ahead and fixed that for you.

But seriously like you said, if you have the option to expand the space yourself then anything is fine... with that being the case Nintendo could have a mere 4gb of built in storage, just so long as we are free to add on a 2 terabyte hdd of our own later on. The built in storage of the console only needs to be enough to hold the OS, pre-loaded channels/software, and whatever other features and patches Nintendo would offer over the lifetime of the product. As for the game data and everything else, that can just go on user added storage. Nintendo could toss in a 16gb usb stick or something like that to get people started.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I have a 120 GB external HDD(2.5 laptop ATA) that whenever I plug it into a computer it says that a drive for the device can not be found and it does not show up in My Computer. Does anyone know how to fix it?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=28060.0

[Kytim89]

Personally, I don't care what Nintendo uses as long as they use something that is 320GB or more and give the option of some type to expand that storage space.

I went ahead and fixed that for you.

But seriously like you said, if you have the option to expand the space yourself then anything is fine... with that being the case Nintendo could have a mere 4gb of built in storage, just so long as we are free to add on a 2 terabyte hdd of our own later on. The built in storage of the console only needs to be enough to hold the OS, pre-loaded channels/software, and whatever other features and patches Nintendo would offer over the lifetime of the product. As for the game data and everything else, that can just go on user added storage. Nintendo could toss in a 16gb usb stick or something like that to get people started.

Is it even possible to fill up 2 TB of memory? I still likemy idea of the Wii 2 having an internal HDD that can be removed and replaced with a bigger HDD. I imagine Nintendo offering some kind Itunes movie store other than Netflix for movie purchases.

[BranDonk Kong]

Don't confuse memory and disk space. And yes, it's pretty easy to fill that up actually.

[ThePerm]

im surprised i was able to fill up my 1 TB hard drive.

[Kytim89]

im surprised i was able to fill up my 1 TB hard drive.

HD movies?

[UncleBob]

And the GBA used battery backup for games though I just looked it up and apparently battery backup was only used in GBA games until 2002, maybe 2003.

Where did you read this? I was under the impression that no GBA games used a battery (SRAM) to save, and that's the reason that the GBA Pokémon games do not have an internal clock like the GBC games did.

Bootleg GBA games used batteries.... does that count?

[BranDonk Kong]

I bought a 1TB drive, upgraded to a 15-22Mb/sec cable line, and filled up my drive in like 2 days.

[Kytim89]

I bought a 1TB drive, upgraded to a 15-22Mb/sec cable line, and filled up my drive in like 2 days.

If you do not mind me asking, but what could possibly take up that much space?

[BlackNMild2k1]

I bought a 1TB drive, upgraded to a 15-22Mb/sec cable line, and filled up my drive in like 2 days.

If you do not mind me asking, but what could possibly take up that much space?

Lots, and I mean LOTS of porn.

[nickmitch]

I bought a 1TB drive, upgraded to a 15-22Mb/sec cable line, and filled up my drive in like 2 days.

If you do not mind me asking, but what could possibly take up that much space?

Lots, and I mean LOTS of porn.

At LEAST 3 afternoons worth.

[King of Twitch]

I didn't think bestiality was that popular.

[Stratos]

I didn't think bestiality was that popular.

Best post to return to after a long day at work. Made me bust out laughing. My neighbors probably think I'm crazy.

But yeah, 2T can be gone in an instant. My dad got a new computer with over a terabyte of space and by the time he finished adding all of his old home video plus all of his music and photos from several other storage devices he was already complaining about how he was running out of space. At least it is all in one place now.