Is it true?

pdc76

pdc76

New Member
I heard that all hard drives have the ability to hold the same amount of data (provided they have the same number of platters) and that hard drive manufacturers limit how much of the platters are usable so they can sell all different capacity drives when in fact the "guts" are the same (sort of like how amd sells triple cores that are actually quads that didn't make the cut). is there any truth to that? i wonder if it's possible to "unlock" the extra capacity, maybe with a different controller or something......
 
Usually this is the case yes. Are you sure you'd want to 'unlock' the extra space? Think about those AMD triple core CPUs, the 4th core wasn't just disabled so they could sell the part at a loss ;)
 
I'm sure the platters are all coated the same way. There wouldn't be any reason to do it any other way. I'll take a wild guess and say that they put them through some sort of quality control. Those that don't cut the mustard for higher capacity are assembled into lower capacity drives. This kind of thing goes on all the time. As an example, contact lenses are the same whether they are for single use or for use over a month. The difference is the warranty, not the lens itself.
 
interesting question. i know cd's, dvd's and duel layer are the same size. from what ive seen for the burners is its a tighter density. what im trying to say is some manufactures use same size for all and just close the density. ya want more ya pay for it. it was interesting how the make them them. ive seen in the past how the made them. i'll look if i can find it.
 
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hey cromwell, there are many people who enabled the 4th core on a triple core by setting the acc to auto (but i think it's only certain boards and certain phenoms) but regardless, i think it shows that not all triple cores are defective quads. maybe they had a quota to fill or something, lol.
 
i think it shows that not all triple cores are defective quads. maybe they had a quota to fill or something, lol.
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They aren't all bad no, especially near the end of the process life cycle. If you got a brand new triple core CPU when they were first released chances are pretty good that it had a bad core. At this point chances are better that they are disabling a good core because it's a more mature product.
 
That seems illogical to me. I would think they would make triples only out of the ones that have some glitch in quality control in one core. It makes more sense for a business to adjust the pricing to meet the supply rather than simply increasing supply by selling some units cheaper than they have to. I could be wrong, but I am a fairly experienced businessman. If supply is failing to meet demand, you simply adjust the price to adjust the demand. I think those that buy a 3 core and enable the fourth core are taking a risk that the manufacturer wasn't willing to take. I wouldn't do it personally.
 
well, i ordered a triple core from newegg on monday for an htpc i am building, and i'm going to give it a shot. i don't understand what "risk" you are referring to. i'm just hoping to get lucky. if it doesn't work, oh well 3 will do the job just fine. i'm not getting my hopes up, but it would be cool if it works.
 
That seems illogical to me. I would think they would make triples only out of the ones that have some glitch in quality control in one core. It makes more sense for a business to adjust the pricing to meet the supply rather than simply increasing supply by selling some units cheaper than they have to. I could be wrong, but I am a fairly experienced businessman. If supply is failing to meet demand, you simply adjust the price to adjust the demand. I think those that buy a 3 core and enable the fourth core are taking a risk that the manufacturer wasn't willing to take. I wouldn't do it personally.
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It does seem odd right? But the problem is they created a market for it and rather than spend money to design a true triple core they are now just cutting one off because the defect rate on a quad core should be minimal.

Plus AMD hasn't exactly been making stellar business decisions since Intel switched to the Core architecture, they've been losing money left right and centre.
 
both ati and nvidia did something like this in the past with their video cards where you could unlock pipelines and stuff. it's not all that unheard of.
 
pdc76 said:
well, i ordered a triple core from newegg on monday for an htpc i am building, and i'm going to give it a shot. i don't understand what "risk" you are referring to. i'm just hoping to get lucky. if it doesn't work, oh well 3 will do the job just fine. i'm not getting my hopes up, but it would be cool if it works.
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The risk I'm talking about is corrupt data. There isn't any doubt you can reactivate the 4th core. The question is whether or not it will operate faithfully or corrupt data.
 
yes and no, yes in regards of the platters(same capacity, i know the 150gb raptor is really a 300gb platter) but, most of the time its written in firmware, and in like the velciraptor's case, its actually missing the arm(whatever you want to call it that reads off of the platters) so, in theory yes, but in practice, no
 
My brother in law says that is the case...similar hard drives can hold the same amount of information. He told me they just have to sell them as they do for the marketing scheme of the industry. It is cost effective for the company making the hard drives. All machines and assembly lines are the same, one goes in one pile for the lock and the other goes straight to testing and packaging. I bet it only costs about $30 to even make a hard drive. When he was in college his professor actually unlocked a hard drive to show the class. They unlocked a Siemens 250GB and it was actually a 500GB platter inside the hard drive. You can buy the exact same hard drive in those two sizes but the price difference is 55 Euros! He has three degrees from the University of Wurzburg. Computer Programing, Computer Information Analyst and Computer Science.
 
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doesn't sound like an easy thing to do then. i guess it's not just a matter of changing the controller for one off a larger one in the same series.
 
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