Google uses standard off-the-shelf sata drives too.
Too many disk failures to be worth spending money on the expensive "enterprise" drives when a standard SATA drive will due the job just fine (especially in arrays like this -- plenty of spindles to get performance)
Backblaze also uses off-the-shelf HDDs (including, when HDDs were in short supply after the flood in Thailand, buying USB drives and tearing the case off). They publish a lot of reliability numbers on drives as well (which match up quite well with my own experiences), as well as cost/GB numbers.
I remember that! I think "This Developer's Life" or a similar podcast interviewed them about trying to game the walmart hdd rationing (2 per customer) and stuff.
The subject matter aside, that is the coolest web page implementation I have seen in a long time. The rolling zoom with the mouse wheel and the map display on the side was just neat.
If entrepreneurship is such a force for good in our society, why doesn't the government promote the small business interests more? What I am speaking of is the truly overwhelming amount of paperwork and taxes that must be satisfied from day 1. Just to beat a dead horse, the requirement for the 1090 forms for all, including corporate payees, would have absolutely choked most small businesses. And woe be unto those who through ignorance or arrogance didn't file. My plea is to all readers, think before you vote this year. See who is really promoting a better environment for small business, and vote for them. Let us reduce the risk for entrepreneurs and build a better society!
It is in the best interest of corporations (which are made of people like you and me) to relentlessly lobby the government to continue to make laws favorable to their existence at the expense of others including SMBs which could eventually threaten their business.
If I run a large bank it might be in my best interest to push for laws that mirror my company's current practices to make competitors play catch-up and to shut out upstarts.
Truly overwhelming amount of paperwork and taxes that must be satisfied from day 1?
I can form an LLC in my state online in 30 minutes for less than $200. You could just fill out a "Doing Business As", but the LLC takes the place of that. Once that is done, then open a business checking account using the LLC name. Do you live in California or New York?
