CF Cards vs. CF Microdrives

[jrc50]

I have a Dell x50v on the way and have purchased a Sandisk 1 GB SD card for one slot (general files, music, photos). I am going to be running a Bluetooth Dell GPS and want a higher capacity card for the CF slot for the maps (want to store the continental U.S. in them as I travel all of it). :roll:
Best deal I can find on CF Cards is about $65 for 1 GB, $130 for 2GB or I can get a Hitachi 4 GB microdrive for $169 net.
I realize that the microdrives draw some power and do not take the G forces the flash CF cards do, but does anybody see any major negatives in the Microdrives?

[Kowalski]

I realize that the microdrives draw some power and do not take the G forces the flash CF cards do
arent these enough for you?

[Janak Parekh]

arent these enough for you?
As he mentioned, he wants to store maps. That can take quite a bit of room.

As to jrc50's original question: the Microdrives do indeed eat up more power and are a bit more fragile than solid-state CF. They also have a bit of "spin-up" latency. If none of these bother you, then they should certainly work.

--janak

[jrc50]

Thanks for the input, I am missing a bit of history in the microdrive development-I suspect when they did them they did not imagine that standard CF flash memory would get as competitive and cheap as quickly as it has, and that microdrives would be the only way to go for larger memory requirements.

[Janak Parekh]

Thanks for the input, I am missing a bit of history in the microdrive development-I suspect when they did them they did not imagine that standard CF flash memory would get as competitive and cheap as quickly as it has
And that imagination was correct. The 1GB IBM Microdrive was available long before 1GB CF was affordable. When it comes to the 4GB, though, you correctly note the CF came shortly thereafter. However, it's more accurate to say that the 4GB MD came really late in the game; IBM had made the 4GB prototypes over two years ago, but with the sale of the business to Hitachi (amongst other things), there was a delay in bringing the units out to market.

--janak

[kosmos]

I am also finding a capacity problem - but it's music. Constanstly ripping new CD's, and my two 1MB CF are full with current listening, so I have ordered a few more from Expansys in the UK for just over 50 squids each.

Is the large capacity affordable CF storage going to happen? Or is it a lost cause ie iPOD mania?

I really would prefer to keep solid state and a universal programmable device.