Microdrive
Encyclopedia
Microdrive is a brand
name for a miniature, 1-inch hard disk
designed to fit in a CompactFlash
(CF) Type II slot. The release of similar drives by other makers has led to them often being referred to as 'microdrives'. However, 'microdrive' is not a genericized trademark
and manufacturers other than IBM
up to 2003 and Hitachi
after do not officially refer to these drives as Microdrives. Some other companies such as Sony
have licensed the name and sell re-branded versions, others such as Seagate
have their own designs which fit in the same form factor.
These drives fit into any CompactFlash II slot; however, they may consume more power than flash memory
(currents on the order of 190 mA, peak 310 mA, at 3.3 V) and therefore may not work in some low-power devices (e.g., handheld computers). Nevertheless, they have some benefits over flash memory in terms of the way data is stored and manipulated. Microdrives can store 8 GB
or more, but must be formatted
for a file system
which supports this capacity, such as ext3
or NTFS
or FAT32 which might not be supported by older CompactFlash
hosts. To avoid this problem, the operating system may partition a drive so that each filesystem is smaller than 4GB.
As of 2011, Microdrives are viewed as obsolete, having been eclipsed by solid-state flash media in read/write performance, storage capacity, durability, physical size, and price.
with a capacity of 170 MB. Capacity expanded to 8 GB by 2006. They weigh about 16 g (~1/2 oz
), with dimensions of 42.8×36.4×5mm (1.7×1.4×.2in). They were the smallest hard drives in the world at the time. From 1999 to 2003, they were known as IBM Microdrives, and from 2003 as Hitachi Microdrives, after Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive division. Microdrive was a registered trademark by IBM
and Hitachi
for each period.
IBM initially released 170 MB and 340 MB models. The next year, 512 MB and 1 GB models became available. In December 2002 Hitachi bought IBM's disk drive business, including the Microdrive technology and brand. By 2003, 2GB models were introduced. Over the years, larger sizes have become available.
There are licensed branded Sony models called Sony Microdrive. These are re-badged Hitachi units.
In 2004, Seagate
launched 2.5 and 5 GB models, and tends to refer to them as either 1-inch hard drives, or CompactFlash hard drives due to the trademark issue. In 2005 Seagate launched an 8 GB model.
In 2004, a Chinese manufacturer called GS Magic started marketing small form factor HDDs for CF. They have, however, been sued by Hitachi for patent infringement of the IBM design http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/business/worldbusiness/05copycat.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&oref=slogin (as opposed to Seagate, which used its own technology). These drives are generally cheaper and of lower quality than Hitachi and Seagate drives and have received a plethora of bad reviews.*
In the United States
most electronics shops do not sell separate Microdrives as they may find it economically unviable to stock them due to the fast-moving nature of the market, however they are readily available on several websites. But in most developed Asia
n cities such as Hong Kong
and Tokyo
, a 8GB version of the Seagate ST1 are selling at the price (as of second quarter 2006) as low as USD $220 in retail shops, and under USD $50 on eBay
.
Sometimes when a device with an integrated Microdrive stops working the device is taken apart and stripped of its Microdrive, which is then sold on. Unfortunately, Microdrives taken from such devices may not work in digital cameras. These drives must be accessed using ATA mode, which is not supported in all devices. Such drives, therefore, do not sell for nearly as much as CF-enabled Microdrives. An ATA-only Microdrive can be used in simple pass-through CompactFlash to IDE/SATA adapters for embedded use, however most digital cameras and some card readers will be unable to access the device.
.
IBM MicroDrive (now manufactured by Hitachi)
Hitachi MicroDrive
IBM and Hitachi models fitted with 128 KB
of cache memory
GS Magic
Seagate ST1
These Seagate models are fitted with 2 MB
of cache memory
Sony Compact Vault
Cornice
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
name for a miniature, 1-inch hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
designed to fit in a CompactFlash
CompactFlash
CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...
(CF) Type II slot. The release of similar drives by other makers has led to them often being referred to as 'microdrives'. However, 'microdrive' is not a genericized trademark
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
and manufacturers other than IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
up to 2003 and Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd.
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...
after do not officially refer to these drives as Microdrives. Some other companies such as Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
have licensed the name and sell re-branded versions, others such as Seagate
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
have their own designs which fit in the same form factor.
These drives fit into any CompactFlash II slot; however, they may consume more power than flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
(currents on the order of 190 mA, peak 310 mA, at 3.3 V) and therefore may not work in some low-power devices (e.g., handheld computers). Nevertheless, they have some benefits over flash memory in terms of the way data is stored and manipulated. Microdrives can store 8 GB
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
or more, but must be formatted
Disk formatting
Disk formatting is the process of preparing a hard disk drive or flexible disk medium for data storage. In some cases, the formatting operation may also create one or more new file systems...
for a file system
File system
A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...
which supports this capacity, such as ext3
Ext3
The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian...
or NTFS
NTFS
NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7....
or FAT32 which might not be supported by older CompactFlash
CompactFlash
CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...
hosts. To avoid this problem, the operating system may partition a drive so that each filesystem is smaller than 4GB.
As of 2011, Microdrives are viewed as obsolete, having been eclipsed by solid-state flash media in read/write performance, storage capacity, durability, physical size, and price.
History
The Microdrive was developed and launched in 1999 by IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
with a capacity of 170 MB. Capacity expanded to 8 GB by 2006. They weigh about 16 g (~1/2 oz
Ounce
The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
), with dimensions of 42.8×36.4×5mm (1.7×1.4×.2in). They were the smallest hard drives in the world at the time. From 1999 to 2003, they were known as IBM Microdrives, and from 2003 as Hitachi Microdrives, after Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive division. Microdrive was a registered trademark by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd.
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...
for each period.
IBM initially released 170 MB and 340 MB models. The next year, 512 MB and 1 GB models became available. In December 2002 Hitachi bought IBM's disk drive business, including the Microdrive technology and brand. By 2003, 2GB models were introduced. Over the years, larger sizes have become available.
There are licensed branded Sony models called Sony Microdrive. These are re-badged Hitachi units.
In 2004, Seagate
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
launched 2.5 and 5 GB models, and tends to refer to them as either 1-inch hard drives, or CompactFlash hard drives due to the trademark issue. In 2005 Seagate launched an 8 GB model.
In 2004, a Chinese manufacturer called GS Magic started marketing small form factor HDDs for CF. They have, however, been sued by Hitachi for patent infringement of the IBM design http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/business/worldbusiness/05copycat.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&oref=slogin (as opposed to Seagate, which used its own technology). These drives are generally cheaper and of lower quality than Hitachi and Seagate drives and have received a plethora of bad reviews.*
- A link to the product announcement http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200403/ai_mark767788306, but as of yet, the company's website is down, the US distributor said they went out of business in 02/07, and no mention of the lawsuit or the reviews has been found.
Microdrive models by timeline
Date of release of large sizes.| 1999: | 170 megabyte Megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000... (IBM MD170/A) |
| 1999: | 340 megabyte (IBM) |
| 2000: | 512 megabyte, 1 gigabyte Gigabyte The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is... (IBM) |
| 2003: | 2 gigabytes (Hitachi) |
| 2004: | 4 gigabytes (Hitachi), 2.5 and 5 gigabytes (Seagate) |
| 2005: | 6 gigabytes (Hitachi), 8 gigabytes (Seagate) |
| 2006: | 8 gigabytes (Hitachi) |
Availability
As of 2006 the most commonly-seen microdrives are the smaller sizes, up to 1GB. Larger (2GB to 8GB) drives, such as the 4GB and 6GB Hitachi models, the 5GB and 8GB Seagate models and the 2.2GB Magicstor drive are also available but are often embedded in Pocket hard drives, "high end" mobile phones, music players, and other entertainment devices. Such embedded devices are far more popular than the loosely-sold Microdrives intended as a CompactFlash card alternative.In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
most electronics shops do not sell separate Microdrives as they may find it economically unviable to stock them due to the fast-moving nature of the market, however they are readily available on several websites. But in most developed Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n cities such as Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, a 8GB version of the Seagate ST1 are selling at the price (as of second quarter 2006) as low as USD $220 in retail shops, and under USD $50 on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
.
Applications
- CF to IDE adaptors and USB card readers enable microdrives to be used in computers, they can then be formatted with any filesystem that the operating system supports such as ext3Ext3The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian...
or NTFSNTFSNTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7....
or FAT32. It is even possible to run an operating system directly from the Microdrive. Such a system would be rather sluggish for today's standards but still a viable option for some embedded applications. IDE adaptors are inexpensive because, like the PCMCIA adaptors, they have no integrated circuits. - Some high capacity USB drives are microdrives with a USB interface; they can often be recognized by a rectangular shape. These devices are sometimes called Pocket hard drives. However there is currently a trend for selling desktop PCs with integrated multi-card readers. If this trend continues this could eliminate the need to integrate them into pocket hard drives with USB connections.
- The original JVCJVC, usually referred to as JVC, is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927...
Everio camcorders (GZ-MC200/MC100) used 4GB IBM/Hitachi Microdrives as storage instead of the magnetic tape or DVD more commonly seen in products of this type. Current Everio models use the more common 2.5" HDDs. - Some PDA users use Microdrives to boost the storage capacity of their PDA. The LifeDriveLifeDriveThe LifeDrive was a Palm OS-based handheld personal digital assistant device that was produced by PalmOne, a former incarnation of Palm, Inc. The device was PalmOne's first and only foray into the "Mobile Manager" device category...
has an integrated 4 gigabyte microdrive as its main selling point. - Microdrives are found in the discontinued iPod miniIPod miniThe iPod Mini is a digital audio player designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was the midrange model in Apple's iPod product line. It was announced on January 6, 2004 and released on February 20 of the same year. A second-generation version was announced on February 23, 2005 and released later...
and Creative Zen MicroCreative ZenThe Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...
mp3 players, among others. Companies making such players order the Microdrives in large quantities, which can mean that it is cheaper to buy an mp3 player with an integrated Microdrive than a separate Microdrive to add to an expandable mp3 player. An example is the Creative MuVo; many of these were bought up by those interested in purchasing a Microdrive and stripped for their Microdrive which was then replaced by a lower capacity CompactFlash card. - When combined with a PCMCIA adaptor and used in a laptopLaptopA laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
Microdrives can be a viable alternative to USB flash driveUSB flash driveA flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
s purely due to their price. The use of Microdrives over chip-based CF cards is unlikely to make any notable difference to the battery life of the laptop, and any impact that would damage the Microdrive is likely to break other components of the laptop as well. However these devices cannot be used with ordinary desktop PCs unless they are fitted with PCIPeripheral Component InterconnectConventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
PCMCIA adaptors or CF card readers. - There are third-party devices intended to let users of the Sony PSP use memory cards other than Memory StickMemory StickMemory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998, and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks...
s. Some claim to be compatible with MicroDrives, and some even come with a MicroDrive in the package. However, while such converters work perfectly for other kinds of flash memory (SDSecure Digital cardSecure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
and CompactFlashCompactFlashCompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...
), it is no longer possible (due to firmware upgrades) to use actual MicroDrives on the PSP. The acceptable timeout delay has been decreased from the first firmware revisions, and as a result loading a game from the hard disk results in a timeout error.
Sometimes when a device with an integrated Microdrive stops working the device is taken apart and stripped of its Microdrive, which is then sold on. Unfortunately, Microdrives taken from such devices may not work in digital cameras. These drives must be accessed using ATA mode, which is not supported in all devices. Such drives, therefore, do not sell for nearly as much as CF-enabled Microdrives. An ATA-only Microdrive can be used in simple pass-through CompactFlash to IDE/SATA adapters for embedded use, however most digital cameras and some card readers will be unable to access the device.
Devices with integrated microdrives
- Apple iPod miniIPod miniThe iPod Mini is a digital audio player designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was the midrange model in Apple's iPod product line. It was announced on January 6, 2004 and released on February 20 of the same year. A second-generation version was announced on February 23, 2005 and released later...
: 4GB and 6GB Hitachi (CF mode disabled) - Creative MuVoCreative MuVoThe Creative MuVo is a range of digital audio players produced by Creative Technology, launched in 2003...
: 4GB Hitachi (CF mode disabled in later models) - Creative ZENCreative ZenThe Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...
Micro: 5GB/6GB Seagate - Creative ZENCreative ZenThe Creative ZEN is a range of digital audio players and portable media players made by Creative Technology. The players evolved from the now-defunct NOMAD brand through the NOMAD Jukebox series...
MicroPhoto: 4GB/8GB Seagate - Dell Digital JukeboxDell Digital JukeboxThe Dell Digital Jukebox or just Dell DJ was a brand name for a series of digital audio players sold by the Dell Computer corporation....
: 5GB Seagate ST1 - Hewlett-PackardHewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
Photosmart 475: Unknown (1.5GB available to user) - HTC Athena (Dopod U1000, HTC Advantage, T-Mobile Ameo): 8GB Unknown (most suggest Hitachi)
- iriverIriveririver is a consumer electronics company headquartered in South Korea and widely known for its digital audio players and other portable media devices....
H10: 5GB and 6GB Seagate - MioMio TechnologyMio Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitac Int'l Corp., is a Taiwanese electronics maker that manufactures and markets Pocket PCs, Personal Digital Assistants , smartphones and Personal Navigation Devices...
269/269+ : 2.5GB Seagate - NokiaNokiaNokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
N91: 4GB Hitachi - palmOne LifeDriveLifeDriveThe LifeDrive was a Palm OS-based handheld personal digital assistant device that was produced by PalmOne, a former incarnation of Palm, Inc. The device was PalmOne's first and only foray into the "Mobile Manager" device category...
: 4GB Hitachi - Rio CarbonRio CarbonThe Rio Carbon is a line of digital audio players that was produced by the now defunct Rio from 2004 to 2005. It was similar in size, capacity, and cost with Apple's iPod Mini which debuted earlier the same year...
: Seagate ST1Seagate ST1The Seagate ST1 is a miniature 1-inch hard drive with the CompactFlash Type II form factor, much like IBM's Microdrive. Unlike Sony and Hitachi and allegedly GS Magic branded drives, Seagate developed their technology from scratch....
5GB - Sharp ZaurusSharp ZaurusThe Sharp Zaurus is the name of a series of Personal Digital Assistant made by Sharp Corporation. The Zaurus was the most popular PDA during the 1990s in Japan and was based on a proprietary operating system. The first Sharp PDA to use the Linux operating system was the SL-5000D, running the...
Sl-C3000 - RCA Lyra H106A Series: 6GB Seagate
- SAMSUNG YH-820: Seagate ST1Seagate ST1The Seagate ST1 is a miniature 1-inch hard drive with the CompactFlash Type II form factor, much like IBM's Microdrive. Unlike Sony and Hitachi and allegedly GS Magic branded drives, Seagate developed their technology from scratch....
5GB - Sharp Zaurus Sl-C3100
- Sharp Zaurus Sl-C3200
- Sony NW-A1000: 6GB Hitachi
- TrekStor vibezTrekstor VibezThe TrekStor Vibez is a microdrive digital audio player released on November 15, 2006. It is currently available in 8 GB and 12 GB capacities....
: 8GB/12GB Cornice Dragon - Olympus M:robe m100 mp3 player
- NavmanNavmanEstablished in 1986 as New Zealand-based Talon Technology, Navman is a GPS systems company providing stand-alone GPS units, OEM GPS modules, GPS software for Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs, automotive navigation systems and navigation systems for use at sea.Acquired by Brunswick Corporation in June...
iCN 650: 2GB Hitachi - iriverIriveririver is a consumer electronics company headquartered in South Korea and widely known for its digital audio players and other portable media devices....
E10: 6GB Hitachi - PhilipsPhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
PSA612: 4GB Hitachi
Microdrive Advantages
- Until 2006, Microdrives had higher capacity than CompactFlash cards.
- Microdrives allow more write cycles, making them suitable for use as swapspace in embedded applications.
- Microdrives might be better at handling power loss in the middle of writing. Flash storage always needs to move some old data around while writing, to ensure the flash's finite write life is consumed equally; if there were a bug in the wear levellingWear levellingWear leveling is a technique for prolonging the service life of some kinds of erasable computer storage media, such as Flash memory used in solid-state drives and USB Flash drives...
algorithm it could cause data loss if the card were unplugged at the exact wrong time. Data on a magnetic hard drive is modified in place, and hard drive algorithms have many years more experience and testing over Flash.
Microdrive Disadvantages
- As of 2006, Microdrive's capacity advantages were exceeded by CompactFlash cards(which are the same size and are often compatible with each other), and USB flash drives.
- Being mechanical devices they are more sensitive to physical shock and temperature changes than flash memory, though in practice they are very robust and manufacturers have added several features to the more recent models to improve reliability.
- A microdrive will generally not survive a 4 foot (1.2 metres) drop onto a hard surface whereas CF cards can survive much higher falls.
- Newer Microdrives have a mechanism to hold the heads off the platter while the device is not in use. Early IBM models do not have this—when one gently shakes such a drive one can hear the heads click from side to side.
- Microdrives are not as fast as the high-end CompactFlash cards; they generally operate at around 4–6 megabytes per second while high-end CF cards can operate at 45 megabytes per second. This may cause problems for photographers who shoot sequences of large images in rapid succession.
- They are not designed to operate at high altitudes (over 10,000 feet), but can be safely used on most commercial aircraft as cabins are generally pressurized.
- Outside of the professional photography market, Microdrives have more limited popularity by general consumers because many newer compact cameras lack CF/CF II slots due to the increasing popularity of portable flash media.
- Only high capacity models are manufactured, as it is not profitable to make low-capacity Microdrives. At the end of 2005 only capacities above 2 gigabytes are manufactured while 256MB and 512MB CompactFlash cards were still in production. Lower capacities are still readily available second hand on eBayEBayeBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
but these are usually the same price as CF cards of the same size. - Unlike flash memory, Microdrives require power even when no data is being transferred to them to keep the disc spinning. As a result many devices such as the iPod mini leave the drive switched off for most of the time while periodically starting it up to fetch data from it to fill the device's buffer. Microdrives will switch off after idling for more than a few seconds to counter this problem however this means that more time is lost constantly spinning the drive up. This effect would be particularly problematic if an operating system is being run from the drive. However the drive can be forced to stay running if the host device is programmed to write random bits of data to it.
- Certain bus-powered CF card readers lack the power needed to run a Microdrive although they do take CF II cards, when using such a device it will usually be detected by the host but errors will occur once the user attempts to access the drive.
- Some "OEM Only" drives use the CompactFlash form factor but only provide a 5V IDE/ATA interface. These will not work in readers or devices which expect a 3.3V interface and full CompactFlash functionality ,
- Microdrives also require some time to spin up, this is very low when compared to regular hard drives but not as fast as flash memory.
- Since Microdrives are often integrated in another device this can cause trouble if the drive breaks, it is usually the most fragile component of the device and if the device is out of warranty it can be very difficult to replace the drive
CF hard drive models by manufacturer
Many smaller sized models are no longer offered, as they have been supplanted by flash memoryFlash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
.
IBM MicroDrive (now manufactured by Hitachi)
- 170 megabyte
- 340 megabyte
- 512 megabyte
- 1 gigabyte
- 4 gigabyte
Hitachi MicroDrive
- 512 megabyte
- 1 gigabyte
- 2 gigabyte
- 3 gigabyte
- 4 gigabyte
- 6 gigabyte
- 8 gigabyte
IBM and Hitachi models fitted with 128 KB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
of cache memory
GS Magic
- 2.2 gigabyte ATAAT AttachmentParallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...
, USB(NATIVE), & CF variants - 3 gigabyte ATA
- 4 gigabyte ATA & CF variants
- 6 gigabyte
Seagate ST1
Seagate ST1
The Seagate ST1 is a miniature 1-inch hard drive with the CompactFlash Type II form factor, much like IBM's Microdrive. Unlike Sony and Hitachi and allegedly GS Magic branded drives, Seagate developed their technology from scratch....
- 2.5 gigabyte
- 4 gigabyte
- 5 gigabyte
- 6 gigabyte
- 8 gigabyte
- 12 gigabyte
These Seagate models are fitted with 2 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of cache memory
Sony Compact Vault
- 2 gigabyte (rebadged Hitachi)
- 4 gigabyte (rebadged Hitachi)
- 5 gigabyte
- 8 gigabyte
Cornice
- 4 gigabyte
External links
- Review: IBM's 1GB Microdrive—Review on MP3 NewswireMP3 NewswireFounded in 1998, the same year as MP3.com, MP3 Newswire is the oldest active news site devoted to digital media technology. Notable for its series of essays that chronicled the rise of digital music and the Internet’s acrimonious relationship with the record industry, MP3 Newswire initially was...
- Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST)
- Review of Seagate ST1 5 GB 1-inch hard disk for CF