Samsung Electronics announces the SpinPoint F1, a hard drive with a storage capacity of 1TB. The new F1 series features the world's highest recording density in a 3.5"hard disk drive, using only three disks.
The SpinPoint F1 1TB drive consists of three 334GB platters, enough space to store more than 300,000 6-megapixel images, 250,000 MP3s or 1,000 hours of standard definition video. It features a spin speed of 7,200 rpm and an average seek time of 8.9 ms. It also uses Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), a process that achieves higher storage densities and ensures recording stability.
The F1 also comes with disk utilities such as formatting, partition, compression and defragmentation software.
Samsung plans to sell the F1 Series for about $390.
b)
Major storage manufacturers, such as Seagate, Samsung and Hitachi, have launched hybrid drives that integrate a 1.5" magnetic hard disk with up to 256MB of on-board flash memory.
With the hybrid HDD, manufacturers seek to combine the benefits of both technologies: magnetic hard drives offer low cost and extraordinary storage; flash memory offers speed and reliability. Flash memory is used as a non-volatile disk cache, a mechanism that allows quick access to data so that it can be retrieved faster, reducing the use of the hard disk, thus cutting power consumption.
The first computer with a hybrid hard drive was the Samsung R55 notebook, followed by the LG R400. The new generation of PCs will probably run faster and last longer thanks to these hybrid hard drives and a feature in the Windows Vista operating system, called ReadyDrive. that uses NAND flash memory as a disk cache.
c)
Panasonic has developed a new drive capable of writing to Blu-ray discs at 4x speed. The new discs are available in both 25GB and 50GB, which allows consumers to conveniently handle large amounts of data and high-definition content.
The Blu-ray disc system uses a blue-violet laser operating at a wavelength of405 nm (nanometers) to read and write data. Conventional DVDs, however, use red lasers at 650 nm. A dual layer Blu-ray disc can store 50GB, almost six times the size of a dual layer DVD at 8.5GB. Blu-ray is particularly well-suited to high-definition films and video games. Blu-ray players are backward-compatible with CD/DVD formats.
2. Read the texts again and answer these questions.
4. What is the average access time of the SpinPoint F1 drive?
5. Which technology allows a hard drive to increase its capacity for data?
6. What are the benefits of using flash memory in a hybrid hard drive?
7. Which company first released a laptop with a hybrid hard drive?
8. Where does the Blu-ray format get its name?
9. What is the storage capacity of a dual layer Blu-ray disc?
2) B; D; A; E; C.
3) puzzled; miserable; excited; worried; tired.
4) We went to the cinema last Sunday; She had a cold a week ago; It was a beautiful day yesterday; I saw Carol on the bus last Tuesday; They travelled to London a month ago.
5)Yesterday I went to school; The weather was cold; After classes I played board games with my sister; I did my homework in the afternoon; In the evening I played computer games.
6) 1.C; 2.B; 3.D; 4.A.
Анекдот: -Как твой первый день в школе?
-Первый? Это значит, что мне завтра придётся обратно туда вернуться?
The hunters got lost in the Rocky Mountains.
Iceland is a volcanic island.
The highest peak in North America is Mount McKinley.
They are planning to visit Lake Chad in North Central Africa during their holiday.
Although Australia is the smallest continent, it is the largest island in the world.
Europe extends from the British Isles in the west towards the Urals in the east.
The Republic of Ireland is a state in West Europe.
The Dead Sea, also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west.
Tasmania, located southeast of mainland Australia, is a major tourist attraction due to its diverse and spectacular scenery, unspoilt wilderness and heritage.