Microdrive (redirected from Hitachi Microdrive)

An ultra-miniature hard disk from Hitachi Global Systems. The Microdrive was developed and introduced by IBM in 1998 and acquired by Hitachi in 2002. The Microdrive uses a single platter the size of an American quarter that holds up to 8GB. Using one or two GMR heads, the entire mechanism is built into a Type II CompactFlash form factor.

Size Matters
The tiny elements inside such a small drive offer quite an advantage. Because the actuator has 50 times less inertia than one used in a larger drive, it can ramp up to full speed in half a second. As a result, the drive can stop spinning when data are not being accessed, which conserves power in handheld devices. See actuator and CompactFlash.

The Microdrive

While solid state devices continue to amaze us, the Microdrive is a marvel of electromechanical technology. The platter stops rotating to conserve power, but can ramp up to full speed in half a second.