Microdrive
Sign in to saveAlso known as MD/MicroDrive, 1" hard drive, 1" hard disk drive
The Microdrive was a miniature, one-inch hard disk drive released in 1998 by IBM. The idea was originally created in 1992 by Timothy J. Riley and Thomas R. Albrecht at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose. A team of engineers and designers at IBM's Fujisawa, Japan facility helped make the creation of the drive possible.
Key facts
- Media.image
- IBM Microdrive 0321.jpg
- Media.caption
- 1 GB IBM Microdrive
- Media.type
- Hard disk drive
- Media.encoding
- RLL
- Media.capacity
- 170 MB - 8 GB
- Media.owner
- Timothy J. Riley, Thomas R. Albrecht, IBM Fujisawa
- Media.manufacturer
- IBM, Hitachi
- Media.dimensions
- 42.0 mm × 36.0 mm × 5.0 mm
- Media.use
- Portable audio players, Notebook computers, PDAs, Digital cameras
- Media.released
- September 9, 1998
- Media.discontinued
- 2012
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- MicroDrive1GB.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Microdrives
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Article
22 sectionsContents
- History
- Precursor
- Development
- Announcement/Launch
- Second Generation
- Microdrive in Space
- Hitachi Merge
- Discontinuation
- Features
- Reception
- Model Table & Timeline
- Other Manufacturers & Sizes
- Halo Data Devices
- Seagate
- Western Digital
- GS Magicstor
- Cornice
- Toshiba
- Samsung
- See also
- References
- External links
The Microdrive was a miniature, one-inch hard disk drive released in 1998 by IBM. The idea was originally created in 1992 by Timothy J. Riley and Thomas R. Albrecht at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose. A team of engineers and designers at IBM's Fujisawa, Japan facility helped make the creation of the drive possible.
Due to the failure of the Kittyhawk, a 1.3-inch hard disk drive also created in 1992 by Hewlett Packard, initial support for it was reluctant. Despite that, development persisted. The Microdrive caused the creation of and used the CompactFlash Type II format which became the de facto standard for devices utilizing the technology at the time. Because of this, and its advantages over flash technology, the Microdrive ended up being a success.