Jason Dunn
12-17-2003, 04:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113889,tk,dn121603X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...n121603X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Toshiba plans to begin sample production next year of a coin-size hard drive that can hold up to 3GB of data, the company says. The new drive contains a disk platter that is 0.85 inches in diameter and the whole drive is about the size of a coin. It has a data capacity of between 2GB and 3GB, says Midori Suzuki, a spokesperson for Toshiba in Tokyo.<br /><br />Toshiba will demonstrate a prototype of the drive at the CES show that takes place in Las Vegas in January 2004 and plans sample production from the middle of 2004. Commercial production could begin as early as 2005, Suzuki says."<br /><br />Hard drives keep getting smaller and smaller, but where are the devices adopting these new, smaller drives? Sure there's the super-cool <a href="http://pocketpcthoughts.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php?masterid=1247959&ut=44938f5897829c65&found=2&search=Rio%20Nitrus">Rio Nitrus</a>, but what else? In order to achieve the "take all my data with me anywhere on any device" nirvana, I'd need at least 20 GB, and that's not including any of my music. And never mind the fact that synchronization software is still a mess - there's no clean way to keep multiple data stores updated yet without ugliness. But I digress...how about those tiny hard drives? ;-)