Cornice Unveils 1" Hard Drive for Under $100 US

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/news/237219' target='_blank'>http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf...abt/news/237219</a><br /><br /></div>"Cornice Inc of the United States revealed a 1-inch hard disk drive (HDD) designed for consumer electronics for an OEM price of less than US$100. Cornice will launch mass production of the Cornice Personal Storage, the 1-inch HDD with a recording capacity of 1.5GB some time before the second quarter of 2003. According to the company's estimate, the retail price of music player accommodating this HDD will be US$199 at volume production. <br /><br />Taking this estimate under consideration, Nikkei Electronics assumes that the OEM price of "Cornice Personal Storage" is expected to be below US$100. This price is much lower than the 1GB Microdrive, provided by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc of the US, whose OEM price ranges US$170 to US$210. Cornice reduced the number of parts largely to cut price. To reduce the number of parts, it substantially changed HDD's architecture."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/200218_030314ne.jpg" /> <br /><br />Now before you get too excited, it's not removable, and it won't fit in a CompactFlash slot. It's designed to be included inside a device. Once I read that, I wasn't nearly as excited about it. Hard drives will always be more power-hungry than solid state memory (CompactFlash, SD, etc.), and 1 GB really isn't that big if it's the only storage on the device. Granted, this might allow companies to release MP3 players like the iPOD as 1/4 the size, which would be cool, but the impact on the PDA world will likely not be felt unless the power consumption is very, very low. <br /><br />Even then, having had my 1 GB Microdrive die on me one month after the warranty expired, I doubt I'd buy a Pocket PC with an integrated hard drive for storage.

[HTK]

What a beatiful little thing! :)

[andydempsey]

If the drive was housed in it's own sleeve with power supply, then it would be great for an as-required bulk storage for a PDA. Especially it it could be combined with a GPS receiver and contain all the necessary software and maps.....

Addmitedly, a 1GB CF card would still be the dogs.

[questionlp]

Even then, having had my 1 GB Microdrive die on me one month after the warranty expired, I doubt I'd buy a Pocket PC with an integrated hard drive for storage.
I wouldn't have a hard drive in my Pocket PC either... I've already dropped my Jornada (either on or off) several times in the past several months... once without a leather case around it. :(

I personally still think that flash or solid-state storage is currently the best storage form for PDA's and small MP3 players since you don't have to worry about moving parts (particularly the platters and the head), power consumption, and additional heat created by the drive (not to mention the subtle, or sometimes not so subtle, whine or murmur of the hard drive). The fault with flash memory is that it's still more expensive per MB then most hard drives, micro or not.

Having it as an add-on sleeve or as a module would be nice... but I wouldn't have too much use for it (I have a portable MiniDisc player and an MP3 jukebox for music, for maps, eBooks and other stuff... all of that fits into two CF cards that I have).

Just my $0.01

[dh]

With the cost of CF memory getting lower all the time, and larger cards going to be available, it's very hard to get excited about this hard drive.

I like the fact that my PPC is completly solid state and I'm glad that I got a 1GB CF card rather than a microdrive.

Now, if the hard drive had larger capacity, 5 or 6 GB, it might be interesting!

[Tom W.M.]

It seems to me that this drive wouldn't be very useful in an MP3 player. It doesn't have the capacity to be used in a HD player like current models, which have at least 10 GBs of storage. The point of smaller, flash based players is that they are light and solid-state. I drop mine (a Lyra2) regularly, so I would never get a Microdrive for it.

[nirav28]

hmm..I wonder if I can raid this. Have a stack of these , stripped as 0 for added performance :) Raid in my ass..errr back pocket

[questionlp]

You should be able to put those drives into a RAID array, so long as you have a RAID controller small enough (or software RAID, but then you are eating up precious processor cycles). :D

[Janak Parekh]

You should be able to put those drives into a RAID array, so long as you have a RAID controller small enough (or software RAID, but then you are eating up precious processor cycles). :D
And, more importantly, a RAID controller that can handle the proprietary nature of these disks (they're not ATA or CF). In other words, no.

--janak

[klinux]

"this might allow companies to release MP3 players like the iPOD as 1/4 the size, which would be cool.

iPod use a 1.8" drive and can hold up 20 GB right now. By the time someone incorporates this into an iPod-like device, the Apple iPod would mostly likely by up to 40 or 80 GB! :)

[bbarker]

"...Cornice will launch mass production of the Cornice Personal Storage, the 1-inch HDD with a recording capacity of 1.5GB some time before the second quarter of 2003."
They'd better hurry, since the second quarter began April 1.

[Gordo]

A 1 Gig drive in a "small" device that reads memory cards would be ideal for transfering photos while on vacation, rather than lugging the laptop with me.

[Kirkaiya]

Addmitedly, a 1GB CF card would still be the dogs.

As opposed to, being "the pants" !!!

:devilboy:

[Kirkaiya]

"this might allow companies to release MP3 players like the iPOD as 1/4 the size, which would be cool.

iPod use a 1.8" drive and can hold up 20 GB right now. By the time someone incorporates this into an iPod-like device, the Apple iPod would mostly likely by up to 40 or 80 GB! :)


I know that for some people (me included), the iPod is too big for what we use MP3 players for (i can't imagine going running with an iPaq strapped to my wrist, for example). Also, the 1.8" drives are too big for small digital cameras.

I can see a market for this type of drive being integrated into digital cameras and MP3 players - for now, the cost is lower than the same-capacity solid-state, and the size is a LOT smaller than the drives used in the iPod/similar devices.

(keeping in mind that area = pi*r^2, a 1.8" diameter (.9" r) disk is more than 3.2 times *larger* than the 1" disk (.5" r) - and that's not counting the thickness)

On the other hand, the price of 512 MB CF cards is dropping pretty low, so I think that Cornice better work on getting the capacity of the drive up in the 5 - 10 GB range pretty quickly, or people will be able to get a 1 GB CF for the same price! (granted, this Cornice drive is 1.5 GB, but anyway)

So... interesting in the short-term, but only interesting long-term if they can really get an order-of-magnitude increase in the capacity (I think), unless Flash Ram supplies are smacked again...

[Terry]

Even then, having had my 1 GB Microdrive die on me one month after the warranty expired, I doubt I'd buy a Pocket PC with an integrated hard drive for storage.

I've also had an IBM Microdrive die shortly after the warranty expired. All my CF and SD cards still work.