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Credit Card sized 5GB HD to arrive late this year
An anonymous reader writes "PC World reports in this article:
"The card actually has moveable parts inside its thin shell," says Bill Heil, vice president of StorCard.
A spinning wheel made of Mylar is engaged when the card is inserted into a StorReader, a USB-connected drive or PC Card that reads and writes to the StorCard. The reader is expected to retail for under $100 and the cards for under $15 each, Heil says.
The StorCard and StorReader are scheduled to become available in the second half of 2003."
That all depends on access times.
You could just use it for storage of the movie, and copy it to your HDD, then play it from there, but that all remains to be seen.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
I'd love to have a iPod with a card reader (forget the internal hard drive) to go. Full? Want another "library"...
Or how about just sliding a card into the dash of your car for tunes on the road? THIS could replace household CD players as we know them today...
So, this means that the iPod will either come down in price, or start using these cards. Imagine having an iPod that takes these 5 gig (and in the future, larger, I'd assume) drive cards. Boom, suddenly your iPod isn't limited to 5, 10 or 20 gigs! WooHoo! I can finally justify buying one.
-Andy
I usually appreciate your insight, but this is not one of your better trolls. Mylar is so light it's used to make solar sails, but so flimsy they have to deploy it in space, becase gravity will tear it. I don't think you'll be able to spin the disc ("platter"?) fast enough to gain significant rotational inertia.
funny munging
Will bending the card cause a head crash? Or are these more like zip drives, in which the read head is in the reader and engages the disk only when inserted?
I can't imagine too many people would want to carry these around in their wallets if a slight bend could destroy them....
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Actually, doesn't the DVD spec top out at 10mbits/sec?
If they're referencing a 5mbit/sec transfer rate (minimum, mind you), then the media would have no problem sustaining a divx transfer, but would probably puke on most (if not all) DVD-spec'd files.
Karnal
within the card is an on-board processor containing integrated software controls that can encrypt data securely in real time.
The increased concerns with information security for consumers, enterprises and content owners
bind information to a particular application or device.
Security & Intelligence - industry's first intelligent media with the ability to authenticate an individual and his own data, to encrypt and secure the data, and to enforce policy information on how and when the data may be used
StorCard uses a combination of storage, processing and security technologies, packaged into a convenient credit card form factor. An on-board processor with integrated software controls authentication encrypts data securely and executes policies that manage the data. The information is stored on the integrated high-capacity rotating storage volume. The result is a 100% secure, environment that allows individuals, enterprise and content providers to transact and exchange information safely and comfortably wherever and whenever it is needed.
(a) the encryption logic and keys are unique for each storage medium or unit, (b) the algorithm and the key can be economically changed without compromising legal access to the content, and (c) information pertaining to the algorithm or the key is always kept secret, and is never made available or communicated over a public channel.
the security logic can be programmed to allow access which is time dependent or for a predetermined number of accesses after which the key and the data in the storage volume is randomly ERASED.
mailto:info@storcard.com
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
This is why RSA moved away from the credit card type design, and migrated to the "key fob". They are virtually indestructable (bout 1 in 500 has problems usually .... from my expierience).
I can forsee these having the same short comings, 'to thin for their own good'. Despite having a nice metal shell, it won't stop the "normal" user from mangling.
They are going to face what has just about put iomega out of business. I can already buy 4.7GB dvd+r media for $3-4... By the time this comes out we'll be starting to be close to the Blu-Ray discs that hold 27GB and will probably be just as cheap as these $15 drives. I just don't see it happening - especially when you need a dedicated reader. So as far as removable media it is doomed.
Then as far as a one time standalone? The fact that you need a special reader kills it. Notebook harddrives are already very small and higher density (even have 20GB in an iPod!) and the IBM Microdrive is already out in 4GB and will fit in a standard compact flash slot. Just don't see this happening.
... would this card-disk survive a trip thru the washing machine when I forget and leave one in my shirt pocket?
DVDs can use VBR. 9.8Mb/s is the maximum rate for video/audio/subpictures but the average rate can be and usually is much lower. Recordable DVDs are 4,700,000,000 bytes though most current DVD videos are up to twice that (dual layer), but it's generally possible to reduce the size of a dual layer dvd to fit on a single dvd-5 without noticeably affecting video quality.
it can use the ata interface or pc card interface
s /M K5002mpl-Over.shtml
http://www.toshiba.com/taissdd/products/feature