For other manufacturers, see the Microdrive History .
IBM invented the Microdrive format as CF+ Type II, where CF+ stands for the higher current requirements, and Type II for the height of 5mm.
The first generation DMDM models (datasheet PDF and final specifications from June 1999) were available as
The second generation DSCM models (datasheet PDF from June 2000, final specifications PDF from December 2001) were available as
Quick links: Harddisk · Performance
This is a retail version of the IBM 1GB Microdrive DSCM-11000 that I bought in October 2002, just before getting a new digital camera that used CF cards. At that time, the 1GB Microdrive was about the same price as an imported "fast" Transcend or RiData 25× 512MB CompactFlash card. However, there was a significant lag when reviewing photos from the Microdrive, so I decided to get two more 512MB CompactFlash cards instead of another 1GB Microdrive.
The disk reports a size of 1,077,608,448 Bytes (1027MB) with a mapping of CHS 2088/16/63 (2,104,704 sectors). Supported ATA modes are PIO-3 and MDMA-1. As part of the CF+ specification, the disk reports a maximum power requirement of 256mA.
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| IBM 1GB Microdrive DSCM-11000 |
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| IBM 1GB Microdrive DSCM-11000 |
The diagram below was taken on an ICH6R ATA port using a CF-ATA adapter. With a transfer size of 1MB, 1028 samples were taken. The sustained read rate is about 4.3MB/s for the fastest media zone down to about 2.6MB/s for the slowest media zone, with an average sustained read rate of 3.55MB/s.
Quick links: Harddisk · Performance
This is a retail version of the IBM 340MB Microdrive DSCM-10340 from an original IBM Travel Kit. Actually it was offered as DMDM-10340 (first generation), but I decided to keep it, anyways.
The disk reports a size of 358,686,720 Bytes (342MB) with a mapping of CHS 695/16/63 (700,560 sectors). Supported ATA modes are PIO-3 and MDMA-1. As part of the CF+ specification, the disk reports a maximum power requirement of 256mA.
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| IBM 340MB Microdrive DSCM-10340 |
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| IBM 340MB Microdrive DSCM-10340 |
The diagram below was taken on an ICH6R ATA port using a CF-ATA adapter. With a transfer size of 512KB, 685 samples were taken. The sustained read rate is about 4.3MB/s for the fastest media zone down to about 3.3MB/s for the slowest media zone, with an average sustained read rate of 3.92MB/s. The 340MB model is actually a short-stroked single-headed version of the 1GB DSCM-11000 model.
