Hitachi 8GB Microdrive vs. 4GB CF Flash Drive

[powercx]

I tried the Hitachi 8GB Microdrive for my music files and for some reason, whenever I turn on my pda from standby and go straight to Windows Media Player 10 or Pocket Music player, it's slower to load by 3 seconds, maybe more depending how big your playlist is. I can tell that I have to wait for it to load my playlist.

Then I tried the Sandisk Compact Flash 4GB and it loads like it was in cache. That's amazing and the price is close from 8GB Microdrive to 4GB CF Flash Card. I get the double the amount of memory but slower with the CF Microdrive.

I'm pretty sure you guys know Flash is faster than Hard drive since it's already beaten to death. I guess I can wait the extra few seconds to have that double memory advantage over CF Flash card.

Hmmm, now only if a pickle would be easier to pick, I wouldn't be in a pickle.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I tried the Hitachi 8GB Microdrive for my music files and for some reason, whenever I turn on my pda from standby and go straight to Windows Media Player 10 or Pocket Music player, it's slower to load by 3 seconds, maybe more depending how big your playlist is. I can tell that I have to wait for it to load my playlist.


Lucky you - my WMP just sits there trying to read the whole thing for ages. Result: I've completely given up on WMP as a music player.


Hmmm, now only if a pickle would be easier to pick, I wouldn't be in a pickle.

Honestly? I'd stick with the microdrive. The speed difference once the microdrive spins up is negligible. It's the spin up time that slows things down, otherwise, they're pretty comparable.

[powercx]

Yea, I kept my Microdrive and bought myself a 2GB SD card too. So now I have 10 Gig total. 8 Gig for my movies and music, 2GB for my backup and other junk.

[Brad Adrian]

What kind of difference in battery life have you seen between the microdrive and SD card?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I can't speak for powercx, but I can tell you that the difference in power consumption is really noticeable. I haven't done any benchmarking (it's been on my to-do list for quite a while now), but day-to-day usage, the battery level does drop faster - as much as 10%-20% more of battery capacity a day.

[powercx]

Hmm, it does drop quit fast. Faster than the days I have the CF Microdrive out. On a daily use, same usage everyday with CF Microdrive test results:

Turn on BT
Turn on GPS
Turn on Mapopolis
Turn off WiFi
Drive for an hour to work.
WM10 Player Playing MP3 Music from CF Microdrive

90% by the time I arrive to work.

Same usage as above but with my 4GB CF Flash Card

96% left by the time I arrive to work.

Hmm, good thing that's still enough for my everyday use, or else I would ditch it completely and use my 4GB CF Flash Card.

[BoxWave]

I can't speak for powercx, but I can tell you that the difference in power consumption is really noticeable. I haven't done any benchmarking (it's been on my to-do list for quite a while now), but day-to-day usage, the battery level does drop faster - as much as 10%-20% more of battery capacity a day.

I'm believing it.