Technology and things that withered on the vine. - No grapes, just whine.

[Stasi]

I have an old Lenovo tower which has a strange expansion slot on the front. Says 'USM' on the flap and has SATA connectors on the inside.

As best as I can work out it was an early 2010s attempt to introduce a hot-swap HDD format for backup and data storage and I think is basically a regular HDD in a plastic enclosure. I don't think it took off because I've never seen these things in the wild and even now can't find any on eBay. Probably failed because people realised getting a cheap SATA to USB cable or plastic enclosure is a better (and cheaper) idea.

All I can find are some random blogs from seagate and youtube videos demonstrating this revolutionary technology:

Interesting idea but looks like it was a complete non-starter because better options were available.

 

[The Real SVP]

Wow, I did not know that eSATA had an even more retarded cousin. I guess what killed both of them was USB3 offering more than enough bandwidth for most peoples external drive needs.

 

[tehpope]

I have an old Lenovo tower which has a strange expansion slot on the front. Says 'USM' on the flap and has SATA connectors on the inside.

As best as I can work out it was an early 2010s attempt to introduce a hot-swap HDD format for backup and data storage and I think is basically a regular HDD in a plastic enclosure. I don't think it took off because I've never seen these things in the wild and even now can't find any on eBay. Probably failed because people realised getting a cheap SATA to USB cable or plastic enclosure is a better (and cheaper) idea.

All I can find are some random blogs from seagate and youtube videos demonstrating this revolutionary technology:

Interesting idea but looks like it was a complete non-starter because better options were available.

Microsoft looks to be re-introducing that concept with the XSX. There's a slot on the back of the unit that can be used for storage. Probably won't be used that often since XSX also offers extra storage over usb.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I have an old Lenovo tower which has a strange expansion slot on the front. Says 'USM' on the flap and has SATA connectors on the inside.

As best as I can work out it was an early 2010s attempt to introduce a hot-swap HDD format for backup and data storage and I think is basically a regular HDD in a plastic enclosure. I don't think it took off because I've never seen these things in the wild and even now can't find any on eBay. Probably failed because people realised getting a cheap SATA to USB cable or plastic enclosure is a better (and cheaper) idea.

All I can find are some random blogs from seagate and youtube videos demonstrating this revolutionary technology:

Interesting idea but looks like it was a complete non-starter because better options were available.

That feels like they're trying to bring something from the server space to the desktop, was it a business desktop? There's also plenty of SATA-USB "drive toasters" where drives can be inserted and removed like bread from a toaster.

I remember seeing a PC case where the SATA/power cables got hooked up to a bay at the top to create "hot-plug" hard drives that stuck out of the tower itself like horns. Probably don't want to yank them out willy nilly.

 

[Orange Rhymer]

I remember that hype before the reveal, it was like nothing else. People speculated that it would be a flying car or anti-gravity technology of some kind. I have to admit that I got caught up in the hype, then it turned out to be a parking meter you could ride on. It was still really cool with the balancing thing, but the backlash from the hype killed it. 'cities will have to be built around it' and so on.

The almighty curb killed it initially.
Next was the escalator.
It was touted as an 'everywhere scooter' but in reality, it belonged nowhere. Malls didn't want it driving inside, cities didn't want it on sidewalks OR on the road. It could only be driven on pedestrian 'tourist trails' in monitored public parks. What a failure. Luckily I ignored it as hype.

My contribution and personal shame:
The Roomba and the Scooba.

I pumped hundreds into both models. Yes, they worked. Yes, they did a good job. The flaw? The FUCKING MAINTENANCE. After each run, (in order to maintain peak performance) you needed:
Scooba
1) charge the NiCd battery packs - no Lithium, this is early 2000s. They did introduce a NMH battery, but all the rechargeables would develop memory issues and fail HARD after a few dozen runs.
2) Empty the waste water tank. Repulsive, BUT showed you the FILTH that it removed from your floors.
3) Remove and disassemble the scrubby roller. Hair was almost impossible to remove. Hair would embed into the bushings at the ends.
periodically
4) remove the front wheel and pick at hair that was embedded
5) remove the back wheels, do the same. Lube with a little Vaseline also.
Periodic clogs and jams were frequent and maddening. I felt like an unpaid robot tech by the end of my experience.
Roomba has similar issues.
I had a full set of 'surgical tools' in order to maintain the 5 Scoobas and 4 Roombas I owned. iRobot would honor warranty issues and send me new robots instead of requiring me to send them back.
Eventually, All the original batteries and all replacement batteries died hard. I found an aftermarket source that sold LiPo battery packs, but after a 5 years of use, all vacuum motors died a hard death.

It's just fucking simpler to mop and vacuum. Those robots are expensive madness.