When the first rumors spread that IBM would be working on a tiny harddisk with a platter the size of a large coin, many people thought that nobody would need such a disk, if it will ever be released for mass production. In 1998, the IBM Microdrive was officially announced to be released in 1999. After it was made public that the Microdrive will be CF-II compatible, it was obvious that the main market would be as storage for digital cameras. If you want to know what's inside such a Microdrive, see the Microdrive Anatomy section. Read on...
Dedicated pages by Manufacturer:
Featured Models:
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Sustained Read |
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| Samsung A1 40GB | 37.30 | 22.68 | 17.76 | 11.63 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | ZIF-ATA | 40 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-5 |
| Samsung A1 35GB | 27.95 | 19.65 | 15.05 | 9.64 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | ZIF-ATA | 40 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-5 |
| Seagate ST1.3 12GB | 11.17 | 10.96 | 7.96 | 4.19 | 40.0 | 30.0 | 5.00 | ZIF-ATA | 35 | ? |
| Hitachi 3K8 8GB | 7.45 | 9.31 | 7.45 | 5.10 | 40.0 | 30.0 | 5.00 | ZIF-ATA | 35 | ? |
| Seagate ST1.2 8GB | 7.45 | 9.39 | 7.02 | 4.46 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Hitachi 3K6 6GB 15 | 5.72 | 8.98 | 6.90 | 4.66 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Hitachi 3K6 6GB 14 | 5.72 | 8.76 | 6.68 | 4.45 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Cornice 3.0GB | 2.81 | 7.97 | 6.40 | 3.99 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | ZIF | 20 | ? |
| Seagate ST1 6GB 30 | 5.58 | 8.15 | 6.02 | 4.04 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Seagate ST1 6GB 29 | 5.58 | 7.70 | 5.90 | 4.06 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| WD Mosquito 6GB | 5.72 | 7.33 | 5.80 | 4.23 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2 |
| Seagate ST1 5GB | 4.65 | 7.11 | 5.68 | 4.08 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Hitachi 3K4 4GB 11 | 3.81 | 6.79 | 5.33 | 4.12 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Hitachi 3K4 4GB 9 | 3.81 | 6.84 | 5.30 | 4.11 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-4, MDMA-2, UDMA-2 |
| Cornice 1.5GB | 1.36 | 5.78 | 4.36 | 2.88 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | ZIF | 20 | ? |
| IBM DSCM 340MB | 0.33 | 4.28 | 3.92 | 3.36 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-3, MDMA-1 |
| IBM DSCM 1GB | 1.00 | 4.28 | 3.55 | 2.58 | 42.8 | 36.4 | 5.00 | CF-ATA | 50 | PIO-3, MDMA-1 |
The first series was available with 170MB (DMDM-10170) and 340MB (DMDM-10340), when CF cards must have been at 128MB or so. The second series was available with 340MB (DSCM-10340), 512MB (DSCM-10512) and 1GB (DSCM-11000). The 1GB model started the huge success of the Microdrive. The first Microdrives did not just offer a higher storage capacity, but also had a higher sustained data rate than the 16x or slower CompactFlash cards of that time. However, most reviews were based on a few test shots on an empty Microdrive, where the data is recorded within the fastest media zone, and the actuator only has to deal with short strokes from FAT to data area. While filling up a Microdrive, the sustained data rate drops, and the heads have to travel a longer distance between FAT and data area.
When the first 25x CF came out with about 5MB/s read and 3MB/s write, the Microdrive lost the speed advantage, especially with the additional seek time. But the big advantage was still the price: In October 2002, the price for a 512MB 25x CF was about the same as for the 1GB IBM Microdrive. However, there was a serious lag when reviewing images in-camera from a Microdrive.
It did not take long until 1GB CompactFlash cards became commonly available. For some strange reason, the 1GB Microdrive did not have 1,000,000,000 Bytes (953MB) available, as it would be common for harddisks: The Microdrive offered 1027MB in binary calculation, while 1GB flash cards usually only had about 980MB available, so the nit-pickers could still count that as an advantage for the Microdrive.
Further development seemed to be a little delayed due to the fact that Hitachi took over the harddisk segment from IBM. In addition to that, the first batches of the Hitachi 4GB Microdrive were completely sold to OEM Creative for their MuVo², an mp3 player with 4GB Microdrive. Many people bought the mp3 player just to remove the Microdrive, because the whole mp3 player was cheaper than the announced retail price of the retail model of the 4GB Microdrive. For the first batches, the only difference between the OEM version and the retail version was the label design. For later batches, the firmware of the OEM Microdives was patched so that they would not work in cameras.
Taking a look at the transfer rates, the 4GB Microdrive had to compete, for example, with a Transcend 30x CF of about 5.5MB/s read and 4.7MB/s write, or a RiData 52x CF of about 6.9MB/s read and 5.6MB/s write, with capacities up to 2GB. One of the first 4GB CF, the Transcend 45x was already at about 8.6MB/s read and 5.9MB/s write. That means, the Hitachi 3K4-4 with sustained data rates from 6.8MB/s down to 4.1MB/s and an average sustained data rate of 5.3MB/s already had a tough competition.
Just at the same time as Hitachi took over the product line from IBM, another manufacturer, GS-Magic jumped in, offering 2.2GB "Magicstor" (1022C) at a lower price than the 2GB Hitachi models. Although there have been lots of customer complaints, many people still went for the higher capacity and lower price. GS-Magic released a second version (22C PLUS) that was supposed to work better, but even with low expectations, neither the first, nor the second batch of these drives could be considered "fully functional". In general, the harddisk did not deliver a constant sustained data rate, but had irregular interruptions. Some users stated that the drive would not spin up at lower temperatures, where some did not work below 16°C. The failure rate was high, some people had to exchange their drives twice during the first few months. This did not only cut down Hitachi's sales, but also lowered the reputation of the original Microdrives that were working perfectly, unless you squished them or dropped them on concrete.
From 2004 to 2006, there was a tough competition between Microdrives and CompactFlash. Seagate and Western Digital joined the club, while Cornice, another manufacturer, aimed at mobile devices by offering a custom 20-pin ZIF interface. The storage capacity of these drives went up step by step from 5GB over 6GB to 8GB. But in 2005, 8GB CF cards became commonly available, and the CompactFlash Association had just defined additional PIO and MDMA modes, as well as UDMA up to UDMA-4 to allow transfer rates of more than 16MB/s. That was already more than twice as fast as the fastest media zone of the fastest Microdrive of that era.
In addition to that, there was a huge price drop for flash media during the first half of the year 2006. Towards the end of 2006, SanDisk released the Extreme IV CF series with read and write rates of about 40MB/s. That was about 5x the average sustained data rate of the fastest Microdrive of that era. Finally, CompactFlash won the race with 16GB cards becoming commonly available in 2007.
The next generations of 1" drives did not use the CF interface anymore, and were mainly used as large 8GB to 12GB USB key drive for some time, but solid state memory also won that race. In the meantime, Transcend offers SSD modules for direct replacement of these Microdrives.
Now, in the middle of the year 2008, a 16GB SDHC card is about 45 Euro, and a closed card reader stick for about 8 Euro turns it into a 16GB USB storage of 19.9MB/s read and 12.5MB/s write. The harddisk based USB drives with 12GB and sustained data rates from 11.0MB/s for the fastest media zone down to 4.4MB/s for the slowest media zone now sell off at 44 Euro.
Now, after all manufacturers either disappeared from the market (GS Magic for known reasons, Cornice for unknown reasons), or stopped the production just in time (Hitachi was the first), Samsung - also known as "Korean Company Making Everything" - decided to launch a new series: The SpinPoint A1 series has the same size as the original Microdrives, but leaves out the CF connector, and uses the additional available width for a 1.3" platter. Together with the progress in perpendicular recording, they are able to offer 40GB storage capacity and sustained data rates from 22.6MB/s for the fastest media zone down to 11.6MB/s for the slowest media zone. With an average sustained data rate of 17.7MB/s, the drive can't compete with current UDMA CF cards at 40-50MB/s, but these are currently only available up to 16GB, and at a slightly higher price than a 40GB USB harddisk featuring the Samsung Spinpoint A1. CF cards of similar read/write rates are available up to 32GB.
Manufacturer | 40 GB | 30 GB | 16 GB | 12 GB | 10 GB | 8 GB | 6 GB | 5 GB | 4 GB | 3.3 GB | 3 GB | 2.5 GB | 2.2 GB | 2.0 GB | 1.5 GB | 1.0 GB | 512 MB | 340 MB | 170 MB |
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| IBM | × | × | × | × | |||||||||||||||
| GS-Magic | × | × | × | ||||||||||||||||
| Toshiba | × | × | |||||||||||||||||
| Western Digital | × | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hitachi | × | × | × | × | × | ||||||||||||||
| Cornice | × | × | × | × | × | × | × | × | |||||||||||
| Seagate | × | × | × | × | × | ||||||||||||||
| Transcend (SSD) | × | × | × | × | |||||||||||||||
| Samsung | × | × |