Better than a Microdrive?!

[SonicSilicon]

I just read a about a Toshiba's new 1.8 harddrive. It seems that it can have a capacity from 2 GB to 10 GB and consumes less than 0.1 Watt/GB. For comparison the Microdrive draws either 0.4 Watt/GB at +3.3v or 0.8 Watt/GB at +5v. Guess we can stop worrying about battery drainage when these start rolling of the assembly line. (And poor Moose already bought a Microdrive.)

[Jaybot]

Hey, I have a 1GB Microdrive too, and still wouldn't give it up for the world.  But if they can roll these things out at a good price... say 200 bucks or so.. I'd think about it.  If you really like capacity a lot, but don't care about size, go to accurite.com and get (the CF-PCcard adapter for Casios and) the 6GB-30GB HDD for PC cards, yes it has a driver for WinCE, I've heard theyre very light and very quiet too....

[Moose or Chuck]

What? How did I get into this conversation? My MicroDrive is kick ass. I personally can't tell that me microdrive is draining it any at all, unless I watch Gone in 60 Seconds on PocketTV.

[Jaybot]

pfft, whatever, you obviously have your E-125 plugged in all day then, or you don't use it much outside of the house.  The microdrive kills battery life, if your using anything that requires memory to be loaded from the microdrive (e.g. Programs, roms, Mp3s, etc.) The battery will die in about an hour and a half.  There are stipulations (if you're just playing Mp3s, you can use ATBlack or Screenoff and get about 3 hours battery life, i've heard 4, but I've never been able to do it) but this is a geneal rule.  And this is on the E-125, which has actually uses less power (internal voltage-wise) than the E-115 which would die in 1 hour flat with the microdrive in it.  If you really want to conserve battery power you have to take the Microdrive out when you're not using it.. but who's going to do that?  I'm never taking mine out ever again, I don't want it to break like it did last time.

[SonicSilicon]

Okay, I guess I should explain about the power drain. It's not as much about how much juice you use up while playing something (game, music, video, etc.) It's how much power a Microdrive sucks down when it spins up. According to many PPC manufacturers (but almost no users) the Microdrive sucks down so much much power at spin up that the unit shuts itself off to prevent its memory from being erased.<br><br>I've kind of been hesitant because I have a CF Ethernet card that can cause the my E-105 to shut off when I insert it at times (on battery only, of course.) And the CF Ethernet uses a lot less juice. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it could have been static electricity causing it. Guess I should try jamming it in a few times now that the air is moister.

[Moose or Chuck]

The MicroDrive only drains battery when it's in use. I can have it plugged into my CF slot all day, not using it, and get a good 3 days use out of my E-125. When I watched an hour and a half long Gone in 60 Seconds at school it only drained my battery by a quarter, maybe slightly more. The 1GB MicroDrive uses the battery power much more efficiently than the earlier 340MB drives. It works great for me and doesn't drain much battery power. I put everything on the MicroDrive too, even programs and games, not just storing mp3s or movies or what-have-you. Maybe I have a "second generation" MicroDrive that works like a utopia, but who knows.

[SonicSilicon]

I suppose Casio is just trying to protect themselves from being sued by recomending not using the Microdrive. (Yeah, even the 1 GB. I already contacted them about it.) And again, it's not how much juice it sucks down during use, it's how much juice it sucks down during spin-up. That changed only very minutely between the 340 MB and the 1 GB (10 mA less.) That still means the 1 GB sucks down 250 mA off a device that only supplies 100 mA. Still, everyone says it works just fine. I think I'll wait and see about Toshiba's offering.<br><br>By the way, did you know you shouldn't use one above 10,000 ft above sea level? The air pressure that high is too low to maintain the cushion of air between platter and head. Probably something similar with Toshiba's.

[Jaybot]

Yes, I knew that. Mine worked fine at 13000 feet though.  ... remebr, static electricity can and will render your microdrive useless.  So be VERY careful.  Moose, I have a 1GB Microdrive, and I guarantee mine's newer than yours  I just wish they weren't so damn slow, completely unnoticeable if a program is written well, or takes a microdrive into consideration, but most don't.  Try playing Metalion or Turjah 2 straight off your Microdrive, any time something has to  be loaded into ram that isn't already there (new enemy, new gun, explosion etc) the microdrive has to load it up and this causes skips and jumps which suck.  Why is it that one of the only apps that actually just loads more memory into ram is PocketTV?  Actually I know the answer, becasue some games would need like 16 megs of RAM free to play them, I wouldn't mind, I've got plenty... oh crap, I'm I still typing?

[Moose or Chuck]

The games should detect how much RAM you have left and use it all up if it can. But I don't care about a 250ms skip in Metallion, which I play frequently off my MicroDrive. It's not like lag where something is happening that you can't see and that will kill you. I think it runs perfectly fine, it's not a Playstation (which also skips when it loads things, btw).Last modification: Moose Master - 04/11/01 at 04:42:47

[Jaybot]

My PS1 and PS2 never skip Maybe I have next generation PS's that run like Utopias though.

[Moose or Chuck]

[myccroft]

[SonicSilicon]

[Jaybot]

[Moose or Chuck]