With the rise of flash drive technology, it makes me wonder why flash drives can't be used as primary hard drives in computers/mp3 players/ handheld gaming devices, etc. Could an OS conceivably be put on a flash drive? One that boots up almost immediately? For all our advancements with computers, it seems like boot times are getting longer, if anything. Flash drives keep getting bigger and bigger, up to 10 or more gigs nowadays, so when can I expect the computer manufacturers to roll out Flash drive computers? 5 years? 10? What are the technical limitations/challenges of Flash drives?
posted by zardoz on Apr 13, 2006 - 27 answers