0.85-inch HDD in SD card!

joshiese · 10-07-04, 07:20 PM

The Ceatec Japan 2004 show brings in details about what seems to be a prototype of the first HDD SD card.

http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid=7230

This would be very cool if they got the interface correct -- imagine a 20 or 40gb HDD for your PPC!!

MrKlaatu · 10-07-04, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshiese

imagine a 20 or 40gb HDD for your PPC!!

..that's prolly wishful thinking.

The HDD will be available in 2 GB and 4 GB capacities.

...before they get 20 or 40g on a SD sized HDD, flash will prolly be there already........cheaper and with no moving parts.

And the pix don't make it out to be SD "sized", just SD interfaced. Looks like the bulk of it sticks way outside the SD Slot..........can you say "SNAP!!!", boys & girls??!!

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MrKlaatu · 10-07-04, 07:45 PM

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Here's the drive (with a die for scale).

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Here's the complete setup....the Drive with the SDIO Interface sticking out of the bottom, stuck in a PDA.
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**Frenchy** · 10-07-04, 07:50 PM

... your battery will last 30 minutes after being fully charged!

awdark · 10-07-04, 07:55 PM

I dont think it will kill batteries that much since people could use those Microdrives on the CF just fine but I would think it will eat some battery.

I like it, though it seems like it will protrude out some which I dont like.

emulamer · 10-07-04, 08:40 PM

That's not that much smaller than the microdrives (1" diameter I believe). What's the point of making it so tiny if it's going to stick out so far anyways? The only way I could see this being useful at all is if they fit it in an sd slot, not sticking out (which doesn't quite look possible with the height and thickness of the drive) and they're no more than 75% of the price of the same sized flash card. If it's neither of those I wonder why they would even bother selling it?

MrKlaatu · 10-07-04, 09:01 PM

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There was mention on one of the links that the drive is already scheduled to be put inside a smartphone, I think.
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J-roc · 10-07-04, 09:04 PM

If it's put inside and doesn't use that much more battery power then fine with me, but Mrklaatu is correct in my opinion that handheld technology will continue to use Flash based memory

joelw135 · 10-07-04, 10:37 PM

If they would make a small slide on case and a ribbon connector it could be located in the back of the Axim like an IPAQ pack.

Noisy Crow · 10-07-04, 10:59 PM

I'd rather have dual SD slots....

jpmarth · 10-08-04, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noisy Crow

I'd rather have dual SD slots....

nah. 2 gig solid state internal memory with one SDIO slot would be even better.

joelw135 · 10-08-04, 08:43 AM

Lets face it you already have a device, so instead of buying a new one an add-on pack would suite your needs and you would have the HD. But also we hyave to figure unless another company other than Dell comes up with a pack it will never get done.

geickman · 10-08-04, 09:02 AM

Wow,... news travels fast. Here I thought I was going to start a thread on this.

I think it's a cool concept, but has two drawbacks.

1) A little late in the game, with SD cards becoming the defacto standard and SD capacity increasing every day. Why would you want a device that has moving parts subject to wear and tear?

2) They're nuts if they think that the current form factor they are displaying is going to sell. I have a two-year-old at home that could snap that off faster than you can say "non-warranty damage". I'm with joelw135, it might sell if it were packaged in a sleeve. However, not for very long as SD cards will probably outpace this technology.

geickman · 10-08-04, 09:11 AM

Here's a thought. Package it with a bluetooth interface. Or, better yet, as a WiFi host!!

Noisy Crow · 10-08-04, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpmarth

nah. 2 gig solid state internal memory with one SDIO slot would be even better.

Two slots would give you that, and more!

** Two slots would make it a whole lot easier to share files.

** When the capacity of the cards go up, it's easy to stick a bigger one in.

** You could put music on one, maps on the other.

** Backup one SD card to the other when no PC is available.

** Stick in a SDIO camera in one slot and save the pictures to the other one.

** Stick a video-out card in one and display PowerPoint presentations or JPEGs stored on the second card.

** Put occasional use software on one, data on the other.
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