Toshiba .85-Inch Microdrive Going into Production

Toshiba's Storage Device Division captured a lot of attention late last year when it announced a hard drive that is just .85 inches across. This was even certified to be the smallest hard drive on the world by The Guinness Book of World Records.

Now, Toshiba says these hard drives are going into volume production by the end of this year, according to The Register. The company had said earlier in the year that it hoped to begin production this fall, but when talking about cutting edge products confirmation that they are still on schedule is always nice.

Toshiba has not yet decided what capacities these hard drives will be available in, but 2 GB to 3 GB is deemed most likely.

These are expected to be used in a wide variety of devices, including smartphones and handhelds.

Significant Advancement

Toshiba already makes a 1.8-inch hard drive, which is used in many products, including the Apple iPod. However, the new product, in addition to being physically about 80 percent smaller, uses half the power of its predecessor. It is also much more able to withstand shock from being dropped.

This means this new product will go a long way towards overcoming the difficulties many companies have had fitting hard drives into smartphones.

However, at this point no company has announced plans to include a Toshiba .85-inch hard drive in a future product.

Not Alone

Eventually, Toshiba won't be the only company making hard drives this small. Samsung said yesterday that it has a .85-inch hard drive at the research and development stage, according to Cnet News.com.

Another company that already makes microdrives, GS Magicstor, announced earlier that is is also working on a .85-inch model.

Thanks to Engadget for the tips.