Massive Data Storage in Tiny Devices
Jan. 10 -- A quick look at the new consumer electronics products being developed by companies quickly reveals a fast emerging trend: many devices are turning into smart, digital data devices.
Cell phones already can capture and send digital photos wirelessly. And soon consumers will see wristwatches that can display news and information from the Internet as well as palm-sized boxes that will contain dozens of full-length, DVD-quality digital movies.
But to cram all of that data into ever-smaller devices, companies are developing novel — and tiny — storage devices.
Recently, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a joint venture between Hitachi and IBM, announced plans to produce an advanced version of IBM's tiny Microdrive hard disk drive.
The miniature storage device measures roughly an inch-wide and functions exactly like traditional hard drives found in any computer. But by using advanced technology developed from IBM research, the Microdrive can store over four gigabytes of data on disks roughly the size of U.S. quarters.
Bill Healy, a manager of Hitachi's mobile storage unit in San Jose, Calif., says that when the tiny drive becomes available by this fall, it will allow for new types of portable multimedia devices.
"I'm really looking forward to Christmas of 2003," says Healy, "That's when you'll start to see digital video cameras that use Microdrive-like devices to store high-quality, DVD-like video."
Marking Up an Old Memory Idea
But for even smaller multimedia devices — wristwatch cameras and cellphones, say — IBM is working on a technology that may make even the Microdrive seem like a boat anchor.
For years, researchers at IBM's research centers in Zurich, Switzerland, have been working on a storage system code-named Millipede. Rather than using magnetic disks such as those found in hard drives, Millipede stores data using thousands of levers that are about 10 micrometers wide.
The levers are arranged in a square grid and travel along a sheet of thin plastic. To record a bit of data, the tip of each lever is heated to 400 degrees Celsius and "punches" into the plastic to create a tiny "pit."
