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Toshiba creates world's smallest
hard-disk drive
TOKYO -
Toshiba Corp has developed a hard-disk drive (HDD) that measures
0.85 of an inch (22 millimeters) in diameter, smaller than the
record one-inch HDD that Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
released in November, company sources said on Saturday.
The drive, which is small enough to be used in
mobile phones, can store up to two hours of
high-definition moving images and just under 60 hours of
music. Its tiny size will likely lead to the development
of extremely small video cameras.
The one-inch HDD
developed by the US affiliate of Hitachi Ltd is used in
digital single-lens reflex cameras and other products,
but is too big for mobile phones.
Despite the
smaller size, Toshiba's HDD has a storage capacity of two
to three gigabytes, an amount equal to 2,000 floppy disks.
Toshiba aims to start shipping samples
if its HDD to makers of cellular phones next summer and
begin full-fledged production in early 2005 at its Ome,
Tokyo, plant. After order volume rises, production will
be moved to its HDD plant in the Philippines.
The company expects each drive to cost about
30,000 yen (US$280) initially, but projects that mass
production will push down the price to less than 10,000
yen within a few years.
Global HDD sales are
expected to total about 220 million units in 2003, with
3.5-inch products, supplied mainly by US producers,
accounting for more than 80 percent of them.
But
for HDDs of 2.5 inches or less, which are now enjoying
surging demand for use in cellular phones, digital home
appliances and car navigation systems, Japanese makers
are the dominant players in the market.
(Asia
Pulse/Nikkei)
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