Toshiba preps mobile 0.85in HDDs for end of year

Quakester2000

September 30, 2004

Toshiba has
announced it's ready to start production of its sub 1 inch hard drives into
production by the end of the year. While capacity for the 0.85 inch drives
has yet to be decided it seems that 2-3GB is the size that will most likely be
chosen. The new drives will be around 80% smaller than the current 1.8
inch drives that are used in the Apple iPod and Toshiba's Gigabeat line of music
players.

The new 0.85in hard
drives will consume half the power of the 1.8in models and will be able to
withstand impacts of more than twice the strength. Toshiba will be
pitching the new drives towards the same market as its 1.8 inch version
most notably music player market and mobile phone market.

Toshiba is to put sub-1in
hard drives into volume production by the end of the year, the company has
said. While the capacity of the
0.85in drives has yet to be decided upon - 2-3GB seems the most likely
size - they will be around 80 per cent smaller than the 1.8in drives
Toshiba currently produces. Apple uses the 1.8in units in its iPod range,
as does Toshiba, in its own Gigabeat line of portable music players.

Toshiba said
the smaller units will consume half the power of their larger siblings and
be able to withstand impacts of more than twice the
strength.The Japanese giant
announced the 0.85in drives in December 2003, with a mass production
target of early 2005. The company expects to pitch the drives at the same
mobile devices as the 1.8in model, along with more power and size-limited
kit, such as mobile phones