The usual suspects when it comes to system upgrades are the processor, the motherboard, and the memory.  Hard drives only get a second mention since these are not much involved in data processing.  But hard drives also can provide your system a great system boost in performance should you know what to do, and what hard drive to get.  For example, if you have Western Digital's VelociRaptor hard drive which features 10,000 RPM, 16 MB cache, and SATA/300 standard, you should feel the difference of having this performance hard drive on your PC.  

Before we tackle the hard drive specs itself, there are things you can do using the software in your OS to improve system performance.  For Windows XP and Vista systems, you can use a part of your hard drive space as virtual memory.  Basically, it’s using a good fraction of your hard disk space for file paging, or your using your hard drive as an additional memory.  For Vista systems, you can also use a whole disk partition to boost up your system through its ReadyBoost function.  Especially if you apply RAID 0 on your drives, you can include a good chunk of your two drives for either virtual memory or ReadyBoost, depending on your OS.  

As for the specs of the hard drive, the 10,000 RPM value indicates that the disks in the drive can spin at that maximum speed.  This means faster reading, seeking, and writing capabilities for the drive.  Faster read and write times also means faster data access, thus increasing system performance.  Add the SATA/300, which indicates that the drive can transfer up to 300 MBs per second, and combine it with the 16 MB of cache, you have one powerful hard drive when it comes to data reading and writing.  

When out shopping for a performance drive, you can look for the same specs as the WD VelociRaptor.  Whether it’s for a notebook, desktop, or workstation, you should look for the same capacities and its compatibility with your existing system.  Of course, you also need to look at your budget as high-performance drives are costlier compared to normal drive.  If you need performance, then be prepared to pay a premium for it.  But when it comes to price, the WD VelociRaptor offers a lot in performance for under $300.  Consider it a good drive candidate for your performance upgrade project.

As more and more companies are now facing the blow of global recession, drastic measures are implemented to ensure survival and even growth in this time of economic crisis. One of the leading companies in the hard drive and storage solutions industry, Seagate announced a few weeks that it is initiating its restructuring plan. As part of this plan, Seagate has to lay off 2.5 percent of its total workforce. This is actually the second time this year that Seagate has taken such measures. The first one was announced in January.

For this Goliath of a company, 2.5 percent means a lot of employees. To be exact, 2.5 percent represents 1,100 of its employees. This is more than the first lay off, which only involved 800 employees. Seagate targets to complete the lay off by the end of July.

 

 

The reason for the layoffs

According to Seagate, this step is part of the company's goal to reduce its operating cost and get a positive result at the end of its fiscal year, which is set on 2010. The company stated that the laying off of quite a great number of employees is needed for reaching its targeted marketing, product development, and administrative cost cut off of $300 million every quarter. The hard drive manufacturing company expects a pretax restructuring charges of more or less $72 million. These charges would be coming from employee termination costs. The company further elaborated that the workforce reduction would generate more or less $125 million in the company's annual savings.

 

Aside from the 800 employees from the first lay off and the 1,100 for the current one, Seagate also closed down its Pittsburgh facility and two recording media facilities as well. On top of this, reduction of salary is also among the operation cost-saving initiatives that the company is planning to impose.

 

Seagate is not the only one that resorted to cutting off its workforce as a measure to fight off recession. There are a lot of giant companies that have made the same step. This includes Seagate's major competitor, Western Digital. This company has laid off 2,500 employees before the end of 2008.

 

Some experts are expecting that Seagate would take steps to prepare itself in order to be able to compete with the emerging market. But the company seems to give no details for an upcoming Flash-based SSD line which, according to experts, would be giving Seagate the chance to be able to compete with the resurfacing market.