Talk:Microdrive

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The latest developments are drives with capacity of 6GB and there are talks of even higher capacity in the future (8GB-10GB). With the advent of mp3 players, the microdrive has seen a resurgence in popularity, because it can offer higher storage capacity at a lower price point than CF cards or any other storage media of comparable size.

  • iPods can't use them, they aren't cheaper than CF, they aren't larger than CF. Both ends of their niche have evaporated, unfortunately. A Man In Black 03:21, 11 May 2005 (UTC)
    • iPods CAN in fact use the MicroDrive. The iPod mini in fact uses a 4-6GB MicroDrive from Hitachi. And for the price to storage ratio, MicroDrives are cheaper than other CompactFlash memory cards (also, MicroDrives are technically CompactFlash (although that is usually considered a misnomer because it isn't really flash memory) because CompactFlash is a type of standard for that memory card interface. MicroDrives, which are CompactFlash Type II, are also marginally larger than the traditional CompactFlash Type I. Next time, do your research.(Myscrnnm 06:20, 9 October 2007 (UTC))

They are indeed cheaper than CF, but only the current models. sometimes they are half price of a CF card. [[1]] vs [[2]]

  • It'd be interesting to read more about the technology behind these, how the are similar and differ from normal hard disks, etc.--80.203.86.81 13:24, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 170MB model

This comment was left in the article by an anonymous user:

Where does the 170MB model fit into the above timeline? See http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/B00004YKN4

I was wondering the same thing myself - I have a 170MB Microdrive in my camera right now, so it was released. Was it released before the 340MB model, or at the same time? --Vclaw 19:21, 14 October 2005 [1]

I believe I was the person who left the above question -- having done a little research it seems fairly clear that the 170MB and 340MB were released at the same time: http://www.d-store.com/d-store/microtech/ibmmicrodrive/170spec.pdf --pbx

[edit] Inside?

What does the inside of one look like? Ilikefood 16:51, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

  • It's the same as any old HDD, but minitiaturized, and usually with shock-resistant components in the casing to prevent damage.(Myscrnnm 06:21, 9 October 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Irrelevent info in 'Applications'

The following line: Microdrives are popular with professional photographers, who take advantage of their multi-gigabyte capacity to be able to store high-resolution, print-quality photographs without too much concern about storage space.

...Has largely been rendered moot by current technology, Microdrives are significantly lagging behind current portable media standards for flash cards like Sony's MS, SD, Micro SD and XD Picture Cards which are now available in sizes as large as 16GB. For these reasons it's not appropriate to say pro photographers would prefer Microdrives as the above media is cheaper, smaller and far more widespread and flexible, so I'm removing it.

Feel free to voice any objections here.

Gamer112 (talk) 16:21, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

The statement IDE adaptors are inexpensive as they have no integrated circuits like the PCMCIA adaptors. is incorrect in my opinion - CF to PCMCIA adapters do not have integrated circuits either, they adapt the CF to the PCMCIA/CardBus form factor and simply run wires from the CF pins to the PCMCIA pins.

TheGiantHogweed (talk) 12:28, 19 April 2008 (UTC)