Kirt Cathey, NH2GX, JG1FXZ » solid state http://www.sysrisk.com Security, Electronics, and Tech from Japan Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:38:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Hump Day…. Looking To Easter Sunday http://www.sysrisk.com/?p=58 http://www.sysrisk.com/?p=58#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:45:41 +0000 admin http://www.sysrisk.com/?p=58 It’s been a few weeks since the last blog entry, so I thought now would be just as good a time as any to put a few thoughts into prose. Yesterday I was at the Yodobashi Camera in Yokohama and saw that they had 128GB solid state 2.5″ hard disks on sale for 25,000 yen! Sounds like a good deal to me, so will probably pick one up tomorrow and try to put it into the Sony Vaio P series. I have already Googled to see if anybody has plucked the hard disk (land lived to tell about it) out of these little machines. I thought the machine that I owned had a solid state drive, but it turns out to be a regular hard disk… better read the fine print better next time! Those drives that are on sale at Yodobashi are 170 mb/sec read, which is slower than the faster 250 mb/sec drives on display for much more, but at that rate, it is still a much quicker read than a conventional hard disk. The writes, however, are much slower in any case. I did pick up the LAN and video adapter for the Sony P and hooked it into a bigger monitor yesterday. I must say that with that adapter for desk work and the small size for putting things down and checking emails while on the go, this machine can become the main system fairly easily. Next week will start looking for a nice 21″ or 19″ monitor to put in the home office for this machine.
Vacation on Guam a couple of weeks ago was a bag of fun, and also an eye-opener to the fact that some things never change in a wannabe banana republic. The roads still have pot holes from where repair had taken place, the power still goes out (but not as regularly), the access to technology is still so limited and probably always will be. After living in Japan this long, I don’t think I can go back to living somewhere that I cannot have immediate access to the latest and greatest gadgets, parts, and general technology.
Well, that’s all for right now. Will keep you updated on the hard disk exchange on the Sony P series.
2009/4/13 Update – Turns out that the hard disk in the Sony P Series is 1.8″ instead of 2.5″ as described here. Forgot the exact part number to lookup the data sheet, but have already seen it. Have to wait another 6 months to a year until Yodo and Bic start selling a Ziff connection 1.8″ drive.

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