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.
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| The Microdrive |
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| 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. |