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The CEATEC Japan 2004 tradeshow was held this week, at which companies showed off all kinds of cutting-edge products. One handheld users might find interesting is a prototype of a miniature hard drive in an SD card.

However, it might be more accurate to say this is a miniature hard drive that can connect to a handheld through the SD slot. The entire hard drive itself is outside the slot.

The hard drive being used is one of Toshiba's .85-inch microdrives, but even it is too large to fit in the tight confines of a SD slot.

It isn't clear what Toshiba's intent is with this demonstration. If this is an early version of a product the company intends to release, it doesn't seem terribly practical, as an SD card of this design would be very fragile.

On the other hand, it could simply be a way for Toshiba to show off the capabilities of its new .85-inch microdrive. This hasn't gone into volume production, so it isn't built into any products yet.

More about Toshiba Microdrives

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.

Recently, Toshiba said these hard drives are going into volume production by the end of this year.

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.

Thanks to Akihabara News for the picture and Gizmodo for the tip.

Related Links

• Toshiba .85-Inch Microdrive Going into Production