The IBM Microdrive breaks traditional capacity barriers for handheld electronic devices such as laptops, PDAs and digital cameras. Up to 1GB of highly mobile storage yields room... more
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The IBM Microdrive breaks traditional capacity barriers for handheld electronic devices such as laptops, PDAs and digital cameras. Up to 1GB of highly mobile storage yields room for 1000 high quality images, 18 hours of near CD quality MP3 music, 1.5 hours of MPEG-1 video, or a library in excess of 1, 500 novels. Microdrive enables cost-effective storage solutions for products with revolutionary features and functions, delivering more megabytes per pound than most other storage options. With a media data rate of up to 59.9MB/sec, the Microdrive outperforms other small form factor storage options and yields short transfer times in data-intensive applications, such as high quality digital photography or personal data backup. Valuable user data is protected in the case of an accidental drop by the 'head load/unload' technology employed in all Microdrives. With hardened glass as the standard media substrate, ruggedness and resistance to shock is even further improved. Battery drain is also kept to a minimum. Microdrive is the only hard disk drive in a CF type II form factor, making it suitable for highly mobile applications ranging from digital photography, MP3 players, portable digital assistants and handheld PCs to personal storage options for notebooks and PCs. This tiny disk drive is supported by a wide range of host devices, either directly or by means of a PC Card adapter supplied with the Travel Kit, or a variety of readers. Virtually any operating system capable of addressing hard disk drives will support the Microdrive.
Advantages: Cheaper than large CompactFlash modules Disadvantages: Heavier camera battery drain
...SO JUST WHAT IS AN IBMMICRODRIVE, APART FROM A SMALL DRIVE MADE BY IBM?
The Microdrive really is a minute hard disk drive approximately 1” or so square and of After Eight Mint-like thickness. It doesn’t actually rotate and hum continuously like its 3.5” brothers, preferring to be stirred into action as and when needed, rather more like a sealed-in floppy disk. It does however still contain an electric motor, the “pros and cons” of which I’ll discuss later.
It is currently available in three storage sizes, which do not alter its physical dimensions, I might add. The capacities being 340 Megabyte, 512 Megabyte and current big brother, 1.0 Gigabyte!
Oh no, not another format war on the brink, I hear you cry. Worry not, IBM have given a lot of thought to that. If those dimensions I mentioned earlier sound familiar, it’s because...
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Advantages: Good value for money compared with other compact storage Disadvantages: Battery usage is higher than standard CF cards
...of magnetic media inside it you will need to be careful that you don't subject it to too mcuh shock - e.g. if you drop it or bang it hard it could have an effect on the mechanical parts inside causing damage. You also need to be careful not to squeeze it to hard. Despite this its sturdy enough for ordianary use, just be careful when you are storing it.
It will use more power than the equivalent solid state devices as the motor than spins the disk is using more power than ram chips need.
You can hear it spinning and clicking like most hard disks - you probably won't notice this but it is there.
Mine cost £100 and which is about the same as I paid for 512Mb storage on a standard card. As this is the travelkit you also get a PCMCIA adapter which lets you insert the card into a laptop or other machine with PCMCIA. Once inserted the drive...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: the apperence and price are very excellent Disadvantages: some kinds of performence is not good enough
...going to install linux on it, the vidio memory is the biggest problem, no 2.5M option, so i couldn't install. generally, the TravelMate series is good products,
but still have some obviously problem. and after using these two products, i can say 330 series is better than 340 series....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
This was a birthday present that I picked for myself and I don't regret it.
The zoom is amazing, I can get a clear picture from about 100 metres away if not further. Before taking the picture, when zooming far it does look very blurry but it sorts... more
I was looking for something to take to college as I need to listen to music when am working and I wanted something good and decent size so I searched the web for a decent walkman for a ok price but didn’t find anything I preferred so I went to town into... more
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