[SGVLUG] off topic - hardware question

[jmd]

On Jan 27, 2006, at 1:41 PM, Emerson, Tom wrote:

>
> Which of course brings me to my point above about Linux -- how  
> often do you /really/ need 50+ read speeds?  Most of the disks I  
> use are installation disks, and are read once to copy the program  
> to the hard drive.  Since I'm in a "take my time" frame of mind  
> anyway, a slower read speed isn't going to upset me -- 8x should be  
> fine, and if there is "too much" data to consider reading at 8x, it  
> should be on a DVD anyway (which already reads faster to begin with  
> -- roughly 9x according to one site I checked)

in all 3 of these cases, the task at hand did not require  
exceptionally high  speed. any older 8x dvd could have done the job  
probably. all 3 times the drive was reading something, not writing to  
disk. but, how many 1 or 2 year old dvdrw dual layer drives do you  
see at frys?
>
> In any case, with access to the driver code, it would (should?) be  
> a simple matter to put a "speed limit" in to ensure the disk is  
> never rotated faster than, say, 15,000 rpm...

this is really where my question comes about. and the idea of a dirty  
lense fits. i see no reason for a high speed drive to spin any faster  
than is necessary than to deliver the required data. if i pop in a  
dvd to watch a movie why would this drive spin as fast as possible  
when 4 or 8x will do. i will look for a speed limit in his dvd apps.

jeff