Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Survey

Thanks for your interest. The survey is complete. Watch this site for prize winners and for a report on the results.

PLEASE NOTE: Your individual and personal information will not be made public and will only be used in a summary report for demographics of HDD users. Your name and contact information will not be sold or given to anyone outside of JPR. No salesman or solicitors will contact you, regardless of whether you win any of the prizes or not. No employees or family members of JPR are eligible for the prizes. You may be responsible for taxes on the prizes from your local government. IMPORTANT: Any question that you do not understand or feel doesn't apply to you, please leave blank. Whenever you are not sure of an answer, please enter a question mark (?).

Here are the prizes

When you participate in this survey, you will be automatically entered into a random drawing to receive one of the following prizes.

250-GByte Maxtor 5000DV
external disk drive (10 available)

Jon Peddie's Tech Watch subscription (2 available) www.jonpeddie.com

Now continue on to the survey below.

Please tell us a little about yourself.
(Note: Items with * are required fields.)

*First name:

*Last name:

*Title:
(if you do not have a title—e.g., manager, sergeant, doctor— please enter "None."

*Where do you spend the most time with your computer?

If it is at work, please write in what industry you are in (e.g., health care, military, electronics, etc.).

*Street address:

*City:

State/Province/Region:

*Postal Code:

*Country:

*Phone number:

*Email address:

Gender:

Male Female

Age:

Race or ethnic background:

Highest level of completed education:

Annual household income:

1. How many of the following technologies do you use? (Check all that apply.)

a.		Digital still camera. If yes, how many pictures a month?
b.		Digital camcorder. If yes, how many videos a month?
c.		Film camera. If yes, how many pictures a month?
d.		Scanner to scan photos into PC. If yes, how many pictures a month?
e.		Analog tape camcorder. If yes, how many videos a month?
f.		Input digitizer to download the camera into the PC. If yes, how often?
g.		MP3 player. If yes, how many songs a month recorded?
h.		CD-ROM burner. If yes, how many CDs a month recorded?
i.		Digital cable/satellite TV If yes, how many hours a day?
j.		DVD player. If yes, how many hours a day?
k.		DVD burner. If yes, how many recorded a month?
l.		PDA. If yes, would you like to watch TV on it? Yes No If yes: Recorded Live

2. How do you receive your Internet service at home? (Select all services you use.)

a.		Telephone Dial-Up
b.		ISDN
c.		DSL
d.		Cable Modem
e.		Satellite
f.		T1
g.		T2
h.		LAN (municipal, school, organization, etc.)
i.		GPRS
j.	Is your connection wired or wireless?

3. Do you have HDTV in your area? (If yes, check all that apply.)

a.		Cable
b.		Satellite
c.		Terrestrial

4. How many desktop/tower PCs do you have in your home?

5. How many mobile/laptop PCs (not PDAs) do you have in your home?

6. How many hours a day do you use your PC for each of the following?

a.	Surfing the web for pleasure? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
b.	Surfing the web for work or school? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
c.	Emailing? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
d.	Updating your web page or blog? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
e.	Playing games? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
f.	Listening to web radio or music? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
g.	Editing video? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
h.	Editing photos? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
i.	Creating music CDs? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
j.	Downloading MP3 files onto a portable player? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
k.	k. Creating DVDs? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
l.	Creating art or artwork? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
m.	Download games into your PDA or phone? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
n.	Creating PowerPoint slides? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
0.	Watching TV on your computer? 1. At home? 2. At work/school?
p.	Other (please specify) 1. At home? 2. At work/school?

7. How fast are your storage needs expanding?

8. If you got a new computer in the last two years:

a.	What size drive did it come with?
b.	How long ago did you get the computer?

9. Indicate which of the following you would like to have.

FOR HOME USE:

a.	Your entire movie collection on a local HDD? What would it be worth to you?
b.	Your entire music collection on a local HDD? What would it be worth to you?
c.	Your entire video collection on a local HDD? What would it be worth to you?
d.	Your entire photo collection on a local HDD? What would it be worth to you?
e.	Every TV program you have or want to see on a local HDD? What would it be worth to you?
f.	Every game you own on a local HDD? What would it be worth to you?

FOR BUSINESS USE:

g.	Your entire company catalog on your computer? With complete illustrations, photos, and drawings? What would it be worth to you?
h.	All the tax tables, or inventory, or accounting files on your computer? What would it be worth to you?
i.	Cases and precedents on your computer? What would it be worth to you?
j.	Patent library on your computer? What would it be worth to you?
k.	The real-estate inventory of your company on your computer? What would it be worth to you?
l.	Every PowerPoint slide you made or have on your computer? What would it be worth to you?
m.	Every spreadsheet you made or have on your computer? What would it be worth to you?
n.	Do you keep personal files on your work computer? Yes No If yes, do you keep them on a local (personal) computer or on a server? 1. How much space do use locally for personal files? 2. How much space do you use on a server for personal files?
o.	What else would you store if you had a super large HDD?

10. What do you share with friends and business colleagues? (Note: "Removable memory" means things like Flash memory SD, USB, compact, memory stick, etc.)

a.	Pictures? (check all that apply) Printed by you Electronically: Via email Via removable memory
b.	Videos?(check all that apply) VHS tapes VCDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
c.	Music files? (check all that apply) Cassettes CDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
d.	Movies?(check all that apply) VHS tapes VCDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
e.	TV programs?(check all that apply) VHS tapes VCDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
f.	Games?(check all that apply) CDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
g.	Slides? (check all that apply) CDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
h.	Spreadsheets? (check all that apply) CDs DVDs Email, Removable memory
i.	Other (write in all)

11. What type of personal computer do you use most of the time? (60% or more of the hours you use a computer a day)?

12. What operating system?

a.	a. Windows (specify version)
b.	b. Macintosh? (specify version)
c.	Linux
d.	Other (specify)
e.	Don't know

13. What amount of RAM?

14. What is the processor speed?

15. What type of display do you use? (indicate all that apply)

a.	CRT: what size screen?
b.	LCD analog VGA cable (analog): what size screen?
c.	LCD with DVI cable (digital): what size screen?
d.	Don't know

16. Hard drive specs

a.	How large is your hard disk now?
b.	Can you name your main hard drive's spindle speed (pick one that's closest)?

17. How full is your disk?

18. Do you use an external backup storage device? Yes No

a.	If yes is your external backup a stand-alone device or a server?
b.	If it is a stand-alone device, indicate type:

19. Which I/O connections do you have? (Indicate whether (a) you already have this type of connection, (b) you don't have it but plan to get it, or (c) you have no plans to get it.)

a.	Serial
b.	Parallel
c.	Ethernet
d.	USB 1.0
e.	USB 2.0
f.	IEEE1394/FireWire/DV
g.	Wireless 802
h.	Other I/O connection (specify please)
i.	I don't know what kind of I/O connections I have.

20. What peripherals do you have? (Indicate whether (a) you already have this peripheral, (b) you don't have it but plan to get it, or (c) you don't have it and have no plans to get it.)

a.	Floppy disk
b.	CD drive
c.	CD-R/W drive
d.	DVD drive
e.	DVD burner If you already have a DVD burner, what type?
f.	Flash memory sockets/adaptor
g.	PCMCIA/PC card
h.	Other (specify please)
i.	I don't know what type of peripherals I have.

21. How often do you make backups?

What device do you use for backup? (specify please)

22. Would you be interested in a tape drive that would be compatible with your camcorder and also able to perform backups? Yes No

23. Have you ever used any of the following for backup? (check all that apply)

a.		Optical disks
b.		CD-R
c.		CD-RW
d.		DVD/R
e.		DVD/RW

24. If you own a Zip drive, when was the last time you used it?

25. Are you worried about viruses?

26. Of all the things you save now (music, photos, etc.), how soon do you think it will be before your collection doubles?

27. When you think of hard disk drives, what brands come to mind? (write in all)

28. Which hard disk drive brand do you think has the highest quality? (write in)

29. Which one has the best price? (write in)

30. Which hard disk brands do you trust most for reliability? (write in)

31. Which hard disk brands do you trust least? (write in)

32. Which hard disk brands have given you the best experiences? (write in)

33. Which hard disk brands have given you the worst experiences? (write in)

34. What brand do you have? (write in)

35. Do you care what brand is inside your computer? Yes No

36. Do you buy what the dealer recommends? Yes No

37. How often do you delete files to free up space?

38. Do you use CAD or imaging/animation applications, PowerPoint, or Excel? Yes No

If yes, what is the average file size?

39. How many files do you create per month?

40. Do you offload your files? Yes No

a.

If offloaded, is it an automatic process or manual?

1. If automatic, to what type of device do the files go?

2. Where do the files go?

b.

How long does it typically take you to find those off-loaded files?

c.

Is that acceptable to you? Yes No

41. Do you use external storage today? Yes No

    If no, why not? (select all that apply)
    Too time-consuming
    Too difficult to use
    Too expensive
    Too difficult to retrieve things

42. If your local drive crashed, how much would you be willing spend to get all the data back?

43. If you had to retrieve an archived file from your corporate system, and it could not be located, what would you/your department be willing to spend to get the file immediately rather than have it recreated?

44. What was the brand of the last drive you had that failed unexpectedly?

About how long ago was this?

45. Do you think it will be possible to have a single 1,000 GB HDD for under $300 by 2005? Yes No
Would you pay $500 for a single 1,000 GB drive today? Yes No

46. Would you like to take other surveys with us? Yes No

47. Would you like to receive our bi-weekly News and Opinionated Views via email? Yes No

48. Do you have any comments on the survey or the topic? (please write in)

49. If my name is randomly chosen to win a prize, I would prefer to receive:
     Maxtor 5000DV external hard drive (10 available)
     A one-year subscription to Jon Peddie's Tech Watch (2 available)
     Either prize is fine