Robin Harris, ZDNet

Robin Harris

ZDNet

Sedona, AZ, United States

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • ZDNet

Past articles by Robin:

Predictions: Where will storage be in 40 years?

40 years ago, almost to the day, I interviewed with Digital Equipment Corp. and two weeks later reported for work. After the tremendous advances since then, I have to wonder, where will we be in 40 years? → Read More

Which is better, USB-C 3.1 gen 2 or Thunderbolt?

New Macs and some PCs come with combined Thunderbolt 4/USB-C 3.1 gen 2 ports. They both claim a stunning 40Gb/sec of bandwidth. But is their performance actually the same? Yes, and no. Here's what my testing several external SSDs on an M1 MacBook Air found. → Read More

TP-Link Deco X60 Wi-Fi 6 review: Budget mesh Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 6 is a dramatic upgrade to Wi-Fi 5, with faster speeds, beam-forming, and WPA3 security. I've been using it with the TP-Link Deco X60 for the last 6 months. Is it for you? → Read More

How to think outside the box: The awful burden of legacy tech

It's become a cliché: "Think outside the box!" Okay. But how? Pro tip: thinking isn't the hard part. Here's what I've learned about "the box." → Read More

Storage surprise: Why latency is more important than bandwidth

How do you persuade prospects to buy? Paint an attractive picture. Motivation trumps accuracy. Selling add-on storage by getting customers to focus on an impressive bandwidth number scratches many customer's itches. The truth is different. → Read More

Best external hard drive 2021: Top SSDs and storage

Back in 1981, storage prices ranged up to $50/MB. Today you can get deals at $15/TB, more than a three million times improvement. Here are the best options, sorted by price from low to high. → Read More

What is 32-bit float? A better way to encode digital audio

Encoding audio has always been a process of compromise. 16 or 24 bit? 44KHz, 48, or 96KHz? Risk clipping loud sounds, or lose detail to the noise floor in soft passages? But no more. Here’s what you need to know. → Read More

Criminals love cryptocurrencies. Should you?

Crypto currencies have been all the rage for more than a decade. Great fortunes have been made and hundreds of millions if not billions has been paid to criminals thanks to their anonymity. It's time to rein in this global criminal enabler, the worst storage innovation in my lifetime. → Read More

Losing the Apple storage tax on M1 Macs

Apple charges $200 for adding 256GB of storage. Thanks to the latest technology you can add four times the external storage that is almost as fast and more flexible - for less money. Here's how. → Read More

Why I won’t be buying the new iMac

Yes, it is a handsome desk accessory. And a powerful machine. But if bang for your buck is the goal it simply doesn’t make the grade. Here's why. → Read More

All storage fails: How to make a bootable backup for an M1 Mac

I've spent too many years in the storage industry to trust any data storage product, including Apple's. But even though a completely dead M1 Mac SSD will brick your system, there are still reasons to have a bootable backup. Here's why. And how. → Read More

How bad is the M1 Mac's SSD failure problem?

If your M1 Mac's SSD fails, you can't boot off an external drive, a change from past decades. Here's the problem and strategies to manage the risk. → Read More

M1 MacBook Air review: After 3 months use, here's what I wish I'd known

I've been using my new M1 MacBook Air for almost three months. The price/performance of Apple Silicon is excellent, but it's not all unicorns and rainbows. Before you buy, here's what I would have wanted to know. → Read More

What I found when I checked my M1 MacBook Air SSD

Is your new Mac eating your costly SSD? Reports suggest that some new M1 Macs are wearing out their SSDs at alarming rates. I had to see for myself. → Read More

The M1 Mac write issue: What's going on with Apple's SSDs?

Some M1 Macs are seeing absurd levels of write activity on their - costly - internal SSDs. Here's my take. → Read More

The Mac price crash of 2021

Macs hold their value. Where I live it’s not uncommon to see 10-, 12-, even 20-year-old Macs for sale. But the new M1 Macs have cratered MacBook resale values. The carnage is just beginning. → Read More

Private firms can't protect us from digital attacks. Government must step in.

For the last 30 years various forms of criminality and nation state aggression against Americans and America has been a staple of daily life. Despite the efforts of a number of multibillion dollar companies to protect us, they've failed to do so. The government must act. → Read More

iPad Pro: Outclassed by the M1 MacBook Air, where does Apple's tablet go from here?

Apple's premium tablet is costlier, heavier and delivers less battery life than a similarly configured M1 MacBook Air. It's loaded with features most people never use. Who and what is the iPad Pro for? Apple needs to define what a "Pro" iPad is. Here's why. → Read More

Rediscovering RISC-V: Apple M1 sparks renewed interest in non-x86 architectures

With the runaway success of the new ARM-based M1 Macs, non-x86 architectures are getting their closeup. RISC-V is getting the most attention from system designers looking to horn-in on Apple's recipe for high performance. Here's why. → Read More

Facebook's foolish attack on Apple

If you've ever wondered whether Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg is smarter than you, now you know: nope. Facebook's brain dead plea in full-page ads is all you need to know. Here's why. → Read More