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1.5GB HDs On a 1" Platter
darthv506 was among several to point out a Cnet story describing a new "1.5GB HD on a 1" Platter. Samsung is releasing a sub 600 buck video camera that is "Smaller than a pack of cigarettes" featuring the drive. The drive is actually in production, and apparently goes for $65 in volume.
So what? you can't upgrade the pixel amount either so it wont matter. When 4 and 5 MP cameras are out, they might very well have a larger HD out too.
Just a thought
Visualize Whirled Peas
Really. Price Currently these cost $65 with a target price of $50. Flash drives cost $200 or more. These drives also have less moving parts, and save space by removing un-needed stuff (Like drive rails; these drives are surface mounted).
MicroDrive exists in 1GB capacity; 4GB is released soon. What makes the Cornice drive better ?
"And you are dying so slowly, you believe to be living" - Bertrand Besigye
These drives aren't meant to be removed from the device they are installed in, so data transfer is limited to firewire. I'd prefer a MicroDrive. It can be removed and used as a removable drive by any device with a Compact Flash reader. Much more useful, and supposedly a 4GB version is available later this year. This item will be used only in low end products where price outweighs features. Any device I can think of that can store that much data, eventually you'd want to be able to transfer it somewhere else.
DMCA - Chilling free speech since 1998.
Umm, the IBM/Hitachi Microdrive is a hard drive, not a flash drive. It just happens to be the same size (about one inch) and have the same interface as a Compact Flash type 2 card.
Being a mechanical device, the Microdrive draws more power and is more fragile than a flash card. Its main attraction used to be high capacity, but Compact Flash is rapidly catching up.
There's a 4 GB version of the Microdrive coming this fall, says Steve's Digicams
Then they're replaceable, upgradable, usable in my digital camera and my NEX II.
I hope they don't come up with yet another format, like that Olympus xD card, ick.
The gb/volume ratio wouldn't be much better
You'd need to create 5 1/4" platters for a *very* small market.
You can change a failed disk in an array much easier than a failed platter inside a hermetically sealed HDD.
Size = IDE (RAID)
Speed = SCSI (RAID)
Really fucking huge? Not sure. Big array? Tape robot? Fibre SCSI?
However, considering you can fit 1TB (4x250gb WD drives) in a desktop now, I don't see that many needing it...
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Listen online. Most npr stations have online listening capabilities (Realplayer and Quicktime, respectively, usually both).
Here's one, here's mine, and here's one more.
Gee, can we boot Linux on it?
But Seriously, Folks, this kind of storage addresses one of the major problems with memory stick-based still cameras: too much $, too few pictures. Say that a camera with this disk only stores 100 or so 10 MByte pictures and then needs a few minutes to D/L them to a bigger box via USB; that STILL compares well with film cameras (36-exposure rolls), and is MUCH more convenient than a CD-R on the back of the camera (seen'em, not impressed, they're bulkier than my SLR and have no interchangeable lenses). And it's inexpensive. Nice engineering job, great toy!
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
Lots of fuzz about cheap'n'small drives. Ok, how good are they ?
Are they reliable ? For years ?
I'd rather have a big 20Gb@$200 disk that lasts for atleast 7 years,
than a small cheap 200Gb$50 that might do down the drain in half a year.
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Listen online.
Try listening online while driving or jogging.
People who want Radio-TiVo want all the same conveniences that you get with an ordinary MP3/Ogg player PLUS TIME SHIFTING of Radio Content.
We want something that will automatically record a program - AM/FM, online, whatever - and have the convenience taking that recording with us.
"I'm The Bounty Bear. I will find him anywhere. I'm searching."
Please. I easily have more than 15 GB of legal MP3s, most of which are on my 20GB Archos. For someone who is serious about music, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a market for >100GB MP3 players.
And I do listen to all my music. I have diverse tastes, and it might be a while before I listen to one particular song again, but I do eventually listen to all the music.
Granted my music consuming habits are probably not representative of the general public, but then I think most people use MP3 players for listening to the current MTV and radio rotation playlist they downloaded off P2P, which would indeed amount to less than 1GB.
I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
But on fragility, they are not as bad as people would think. Sure, they aren't the oops-I-ran-the-flash-through-the-laundry indestructible, but if you read the actual specs on how much shock it can take before causing data loss or how much more it takes to actually destroy the unit, you'll quickly realize that the camera surrounding the microdrive would be completely trashed before the drive would get damaged. Due to their large capacity, swapping is less frequent. Most of these things lives are inside a camera or in a camera bag.
If you are walking around with a $1,600 - $2,500 camera, you tend to be so careful with the thing, the drive inside is downright spoiled.
V
I also own the 4500, and I also use two 128MB cards (although I get about 105 pictures per card at the best jpeg format).
While the cards are quite large, and I would consider using fixed storage at around the 1GB mark (that's A LOT of pictures and when I travel, I edit out the crap every night, so I only keep what's good. 200 pictures gets me about 3 weeks to a month of continous vacation somewhere exotic), but here is the problem I see:
When I get a card with 100 pictures on it of places I'll likely never be again, I get a little worried. I start to keep it protected with my passport in hotels. I have plans so that if I get mugged and they want the camera I can inconspicuously slip out the card.
The camera can be replaced, but frequently the pictures cannot; I wouldn't want a camera with several thousand pictures saved up on it I guess. I'd rather swap cards.
Getting diabetes AND salmonella would be a bad weekend.
we have had ibm 1 gb 1" hd for ages. in that sense 1.5 gb 1" is only an evolutionary. however, the price point may be little attractive. at $65, it would compete with 512 MB compactflash.
samsung video camera using 1.5 gb hd is less interesting in a sense that they don't have comparable optical and video quality specs and if you take history as a reference, it will be a mediocre camcorder. panasonic is working on pro level camcorder with 6 CF cards, each upto 4 GB. a consumer version of this may be more interesting.
hitachi, which took over ibm microdive, plans to make 4 gb version before the end of the year. if they can make price down, it might succeed.
microdrive had only a partial success in the beginning when CF was very expensive. today, it looks like a solution in need of a problem. for mp3, the 1.8" factor is good enough (e.g. iPod) where you can get upto 30 gb. for cameras, you need lot more reliability that many people are dissatisfied with microdrives. for pda, 512 MB CF is more than enough. for camcorders, tapes provide reliability; dvd based camcorder provides direct archive and micro-dv (Sony) provide compactness. as much as i like the technology, i don't see where to fit it.
I'd be impressed if it was 3+GB, but 1.5? Use 1GB compact flash or some other form of solid state. It's heading towards 2GB soon, most likely. Who want's moving parts?
But that said, it does seem likely the capacity of these little suckers will go up, way faster than Flash, so it'll be worth it soon. But 1.5GB? It's too late to be impressive, kinda like... Don't make me say it.... Zip GIZZMO DRIVE! Remember when those seemed big?
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