And They've Always Said, Size Doesn't Matter!??
Written: Dec 22 '00 (Updated May 14 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: small, fast, and reliable
Cons: you might lose it
The Bottom Line: If you own a Palm and/or Casio Cassiopeia, you MUST have one of these!
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| emcphers's Full Review: IBM MicroDrive |
This review is specifically going to talk about using the IBM MicroDrive in the 340 MB and 1 GB flavor on the as new Casio Cassiopeia E-125. The E-125 has 32 MB of RAM on it but of course, size definitely matters when your talking about the size of your…..Hard Drive. You can read more about the Casio Cassiopeia E-125 in this review:
http://emcphers.epinions.com/cmd-review-46C9-3358952F-3A40D713-prod5
Now back to the product in question, the IBM MicroDrive. First I want to give you the ”official” spill of the companies owning the products being used here. (I don’t want anyone doing something crazy and hunting me down)
Casio says:
Q. Is it possible to use IBM CF-Card Microdrive with Cassiopeia?
A. No, we do not recommend it. The operating system (Windows CE) will be able to recognize the drive, however, current demand from the IBM Microdrive is too high for the batteries and/or present model Casio AC adapters. There may be corruption in the memory of both Cassiopeia and/or Microdrive.
IBM says:
Tested Systems:
Consumer Handheld:
Casio Cassiopeia E100 DMDM 10340 CompactFlash Type II
Casio Cassiopeia E105 DMDM 10340; DSCM 11000 CompactFlash Type II
Casio Cassiopeia E500 DMDM 10340; DSCM 11000 CF+ Type II
One of the people that I work for purchased the Casio Cassiopeia E-125 and then a day later went back to the store and was told that the IBM MicroDrive would work just fine in the Casio.
Now that I’ve covered my rear, I’ll continue.
What IBM Says the Drive Can Be Used For
IBM advertises that the drive can be used and has been tested on all of the following:
o Digital Cameras (10 different cameras)
o Card Readers (13 different readers)
o Consumer Handheld (4 different readers. 3 Casio’s and 1 Compaq)
You can see the ”official” list here:
http://ssddom01.storage.ibm.com/hddt/situdtest.nsf/vwWebGeneral?Openview
Drive Specifications
This is a 1-inch square drive! I can go back a little ways, and remember my first PC (Not including the Commodor 64) with the (“I’ll never need anymore than this”) 400 MB hard drive. It was as big as a big box of tissues. It weighed a good 5-10 pounds. This drive is just 1-inch by 1-inch and only weighs in at a hefty 16 grams. Yes, I said 16 grams. If that doesn’t completely amaze you, they are now producing a 512 MB and 1 GB model.
While I’m still mind boggled over the size, I’ll give you a few more specs:
o it is ATA and PCMCIA compatible
o travels at 3600 RPM’s (AMAZING!)
o 8.33 average millisecond latency
o Will transfer at 11.1 -13.3 MB per second
o The Average seek time on the drive is 12 milliseconds
Here is one more thing from IBM’s website that will put this into perspective for you:
Underscoring the dramatic pace of development in the storage industry, IBM introduced the world's first gigabyte-capacity disk drive, the 3380, in 1980. It was the size of a refrigerator, weighed 550 pounds (about 250 kg) and cost $40,000. The Microdrive announced today is smaller than a matchbook, weighs less than an ounce and will be available for less than $500.
The Drive
I installed the drive and immediately I was able to see it through my USB connection to my machine. I loaded 10-20 programs to it and they ran great. I didn’t see any problems with the drive at all.
I paid $350.00 for the drive at CompUSA. You can now find the 1GB drive for $499.00 online at:
http://www.outpost.com
Of course, the 340 MB drive went directly back to CompUSA and the 1 GB drive was on its way. It arrived and what an amazing difference. Come to find out, the second generation drives (512 MB and 1 GB drives) have a higher shock rating (take more of a beating) and also are less harsh on the battery of my Casio Cassiopeia E-125.
Conclusion
You can buy this drive with the Travel Kit, which includes a cable with a PCMCIA card that plugs directly into your laptop. This will allow you to transfer files across all of your devices, or toys in my case. I can copy files from my laptop and put them into my Casio Cassiopeia E-125 and then in the docking station, transfer to my PC through the USB connection.
Think of it like this. If you have a Digital Camera that will accept this drive, you could hold 1,000 high resolution pictures on the 1 GB drive!
This is an amazing piece of equipment that truthfully is: ”The worlds smallest hard drive”.
Go get you one!
Thanks for reading and God Bless
Happy Holidays
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
emcphers
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Member: Erik McPherson
Location: Preston, OK
Reviews written: 79
Trusted by: 52 members
About Me:
36 year old married father of 5 awesome kiddos, including a set of triplets.
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