1 gig IBM Microdrive for $359

[tyan80]

http://eppersonphoto.com/indexOrig.html


Best price i have see. I just bought one for my IPAQ. The drive retails for
around $450. Can be used in anything that has a compact flash slot or pcmcia slot (comes with an adapter).

The picture might show the 340meg, but the 1 gig is $359 for sure. 340 is less.

Link

 

[IronTek]

I found the drive at

after some searching...the direct link *should* work and will save some time...UPDATED: THE LINK DOESN'T WORK!


not a bad deal, really...

the 340MB is $279.99, if anyone's interested...but I'd spring for the 1gig (of I had any use for this drive...unfortunately, I don't)

 

[chanfo]

I think the drive is marketed under the Fuji name brand just like how microtech markets the same drive. Warranty is via Fuji as is with Microtech if you bought the Microtech brand. The drives are still IBM though.

 

[immortalis]

What a stupid site!
tyan80, are you sure you will get it there?

 

[shokunin]

I got one from them on fleabay a few weeks ago for the same price $359+shipping. It's a good deal, although Kingston has a 2gb drive for around $500 however that's a PCMCIA Card vers a CF card for the microdrive. So far I'm very happy with the 1g Microdrive and the iPaq.

 

[tyan80]

immortalis,

its there, call them. I ordered one today. They are just redoing their site. Their search isnt even working but i promise its there.

 

[immortalis]

tyan80 , thanks for the info, but I would NO WAY order there!
This is very fishy.

 

[Capster]

One note to add to this is that this does not work with anything that has a compact flash slot. It must be a type 2 slot and even then must be supported in firmware. I discovered this when I was shopping for a digital camera this last xmas. The common thought is that if the device takes type 2 compact flash media that it would be ok but there are a few vendors out there not supporting it in their firmware so beware.

And for those curious I purchased a Canon S10 with a 340MB microdrive. The 340MB drive was something like $202 and it was worth every penny. With the camera set to 1600x1200 and the highest quality(lowest jpg compression) I can get about 236 pictures on the drive according to the camera display. The next quality setting which looks damn good to me gets me around 589 pictures if I remember right. On the current cameras these 1+ gig drives are overkill in my opinion but in another few years will be the way to go.

At any rate this is a pretty nice price but you must decide if it's worth it for your needs.

 

[amnesiac]

Capster - they're not overkill if you have one of those high-end 3 or 4+ megapixel pro Digital SLR cameras.. those hi-res pics can eat up 15-20 megs apiece easy. The microdrive is a lot faster than normal solid state CF cards too AFAIK

 

[Knightshade]

Eh... I still think it'd overkill... I have a 3.3MP Casio 3000... and the 340MB microdrive... even in 2048x1536 I can take about 245 pictures on the drive... I can't think of many situations I'd take MORE than that before I could download to a PC... in 1024x768, which is MORE than enough for anyting being put on the web, I can hold just a bit under 1000 with the 340mb drive...

Now, the one GOOD reason to go with the 1 gig is it supposedly has better (lower) power consumption...

 

[randomlinh]

the thing about this is i've heard the drives failing after some time? Maybe it was only when it first came out... and it has moving parts.. so i would still rather have CF for a camera. and are you sure it's faster than CF?

 

[HeinekinMan2]

Hey Capster,

How do you like that Canon S10? I was under the impression that it only supported Type I CF devices so I was looking at the S20...but hell if you're using an IBM microdrive than I need to revisit the S10 idea!!! The S100 is a beauty but doesn't support Type II's if I'm not mistaken...

 

[Knightshade]

The S10 DOES take the microdrive, but if I recall there were firmware issues initially, so when the S20 came out everyone was recommending that for Microdrive use...

The microdrive -is- faster than CF by a little bit, but of course it eats batteries a bit faster... haven't heard anything recent bout drives dying though... might've been something with the 1st gen 170mb ones or something...

 

[Souka]

Wow...this wil be great for taking 640x480 JPEG pics on my digital camera......hehehe

Maybe 10,000 pics?

 

[MJB]

Anyone have experience with the difference in battery life when using CF versus the Microdrive? I believe that even with technology improvements of late, that the Microdrive consumes significantly more power than CF. Also, consider that the shock/vibration susceptibility of the Microdrive is higher, as it's basically a miniature hard drive.

 

[sygyzy]

Difference in battery life - CF = 4 hours of music on an iPaq. Microdrive = 1 hour of music.