Some technologies just keep going and going. Despite the
interest of vendors, customers, and analysts in flash memory
drives and the move to better disk-space utilization, the use of
hard disk drives (HDDs) continues to soar. In fact, according to
IDC, 2005 represented a record year for HDD sales, both in terms
of shipments and revenues.  IDC stated that global HDD unit
shipments climbed to nearly 381 million drives last year, up a
whopping 24.4 percent over 2004. And revenues hit the $27.9
billion mark in 2005, breaking the old revenue record of $27.8
billion in 1997.  Moreover, HDDs got both larger and smaller in
2005, IDC reported. Last year, 500GB HDDs began shipping, as did
0.85-inch form factor HDDs. But the tried and tested 3.5-inch
form factor continued to be the most dominant.  The drivers
behind HDD growth aren't hard to determine. PC sales, which are
steadily climbing, continue to be the major force behind HDD
sales. For example, in the first quarter of 2006, PC shipments
jumped 12.9 percent year-o