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
California Fireman Arrested For Starting Fires
'Fire is bright and fire is clean.'
Robots Need A Better Sense Of Touch
'First, it rubbed my arms...'
MouthPad Supports Head And Tongue Tracking
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'
REALLY Remote Control Excavators
'It takes over a second for the signal to get to the Moon...'
Disney Helping Robots Dance
Dance, Robots, Dance.
Kolors Virtual-Try-On Predicted, And TRIED, By Harry Harrison
'Bill blinked at his own face under the plumed helmet...'
Detecting Drones In Ukraine With Candy (Sukork)
'...a robot detector circuit closed, activating a bell."
Nevada Will Use AI To Decide Worker Benefits
'They had screwed up and been blacklisted by Manna.'
Tether Cryptocurrency Flow Rate US$190Bn Per Day
'Alex did not find it surprising that people... were electronically minting their own cash.'
First Trips To Mars Announced By Elon Musk
'I had determined that my first attempt should be a visit to Mars.'
WaPOCHI Micro-Mobility Robot Follows Like A Pet With Your Bags
To follow the user like a pet while carrying their cargo!
Ultra-Realistic Robotic Arowana Robo-Fish
'Deveet unhooked his catch and laid it on the bank beside him. It was a metal fish.'
GITAI R1 Lunar Rover Like NASA Robonaut Centaur
'...waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'
Meshworm Soft Robot, With Peristaltic Crawling, Is Getting Better
'Seen close it was not completely flexible, but made instead of pivoted and smoothly finished segments.'
Mushroom 'Robot' Is Just A Start
'Some unknown race ... decided to help them out.'
Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany
'...the cars are wedge-shaped at both ends.'
