Micro Drive Memory

The MicroDrive card is actually a miniature hard drive housed in a Type II CompactFlash chassis. The IBM MicroDrive was the first compact memory card to offer a full 1 Gigabyte storage capacity. Although flash memory has bypassed the MicroDrive in capacity, the MicroDrive is still the best buy on a dollar-per-byte basis.

MicroDrives have a reputation for being delicate and unreliable. They are more prone to failure since they have moving parts that can wear, or be damaged. But when handled normally and not abused, they are very reliable. Because of their moving parts, MicroDrives use more battery power than flash memory. And compared to new, high-speed CompactFlash cards, MicroDrive seek and write times are fairly slow. But if you need Gigs of cheap digital camera memory, MicroDrives are still the most bang-for-the-buck.

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