Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Toshiba 0.85 Inch Diameter Hard Drive
Toshiba has developed a "nickel disk", a hard drive that is only 0.85 inches in diameter. The new form factor will be used for storage in portable devices like cell phones. It is estimated that they will store up to 4 gigabytes of information.
Update: Guiness World Records announced on March 16th that the Toshiba Drive is the smallest in the world. The 0.85-inch HDDs will start mass production at the end of the year. (Thanks to CNN - Guiness Record for the world's smallest hard disk drive via Slashdot for the tip.)
Photo from Zdnet Japan; reference story here.
The current record-holder is a one-inch diameter hard disk made by Hitachi; but save your old one-inch disks, the nickel disks won't be ready for mass production until 2005.
Science fiction fans may recall the dime disk mentioned in Larry Niven's 1998 story Madness Has Its Place. The new Toshiba 0.85 inch hard drive is not quite dime-sized; the current size of the US dime of 0.7 inches (17.9 mm) was established in 1837. The nickel is 21.2 mm in diameter, or .83 inches. The Toshiba 0.85 inch hard drive is therefore a "nickel disk" - but that's pretty darn close to what Niven had in mind.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/18/2003)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Data Storage ")
Lonestar Offers Lunar Storage For Ultimate In Security
'Scarif, the off-site backup of all the secret knowledge of the Empire'
100X Improvement In DNA Information Storage
'A record that wouldn't get lost and couldn't be destroyed.' Barbara Hambly, 1982.
Twist Bioscience High Density Digital Data On DNA
'They tied the memory to the bloodline and that was their record!' - Barbara Humbly, 1982.
Store One Bit On One Atom
'...each individual molecule has a meaning.' - Robert Heinlein, 1951.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
'The remotely-operated robot tank is an old idea...'
3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
'The autofreighter smashed into the boat...'
Carpentopod Walking Table
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations
'You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now.'
SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
Robot Janitors Get To Work
'A few mechanical cleaning devices crept here and there...'
Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
'That little robot rabbit knew what it was talking about...'
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
