The micro-mini is back!
The micro-mini is back!
Not a throwback to the swinging sixties, but rather the proliferation of tiny hard drives that are delivering PC hard drive level storage capacity to much smaller devices, such as digital cameras, mobile phones and MP3 players.
The minidrive first appeared in the mid 1990's but never really took off until Apple's iPod music device popularised the format. Both Philips and Sony are set to release minidrive-based music players by the end of the year, providing a boon for companies such as storage vendor Cornice, which manufactures the hard drive for both these new players.
Other devices scheduled for release later in the year that utilise minidrive technology include a combined personal video recorder and handheld, and a host of digital video cameras that will be around the size of a mobile phone.
By stripping down the drives and removing parts not need for portable devices, manufacturers are hoping to further reduce the cost of such drives to device makers, and subsequently the consumer.
Other companies at the forefront of development of microdrives include IBM, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Toshiba.
Related Article: