Microdrive - Applications

Applications

CF to IDE adaptors and USB card readers enable microdrives to be used in computers, they can then be formatted with any filesystem that the operating system supports such as ext3 or NTFS or FAT32. It is even possible to run an operating system directly from the Microdrive. Such a system would be rather sluggish for today's standards but still a viable option for some embedded applications. IDE adaptors are inexpensive because, like the PCMCIA adaptors, they have no integrated circuits.
Some high capacity USB drives are microdrives with a USB interface; they can often be recognized by a rectangular shape. These devices are sometimes called Pocket hard drives. However there is currently a trend for selling desktop PCs with integrated multi-card readers. If this trend continues this could eliminate the need to integrate them into pocket hard drives with USB connections.
The original JVC Everio camcorders (GZ-MC200/MC100) used 4GB IBM/Hitachi Microdrives as storage instead of the magnetic tape or DVD more commonly seen in products of this type. Current Everio models use the more common 2.5" HDDs.
Some PDA users use Microdrives to boost the storage capacity of their PDA. The LifeDrive has an integrated 4 gigabyte microdrive as its main selling point.
Microdrives are found in the discontinued iPod mini and Creative Zen Micro mp3 players, among others. Companies making such players order the Microdrives in large quantities, which can mean that it is cheaper to buy an mp3 player with an integrated Microdrive than a separate Microdrive to add to an expandable mp3 player. An example is the Creative MuVo; many of these were bought up by those interested in purchasing a Microdrive and stripped for their Microdrive which was then replaced by a lower capacity CompactFlash card.
When combined with a PCMCIA adaptor and used in a laptop Microdrives can be a viable alternative to USB flash drives purely due to their price. The use of Microdrives over chip-based CF cards is unlikely to make any notable difference to the battery life of the laptop, and any impact that would damage the Microdrive is likely to break other components of the laptop as well. However these devices cannot be used with ordinary desktop PCs unless they are fitted with PCI PCMCIA adaptors or CF card readers.
There are third-party devices intended to let users of the Sony PSP use memory cards other than Memory Sticks. Some claim to be compatible with MicroDrives, and some even come with a MicroDrive in the package. However, while such converters work perfectly for other kinds of flash memory (SD and CompactFlash), it is no longer possible (due to firmware upgrades) to use actual MicroDrives on the PSP. The acceptable timeout delay has been decreased from the first firmware revisions, and as a result loading a game from the hard disk results in a timeout error.

Sometimes when a device with an integrated Microdrive stops working the device is taken apart and stripped of its Microdrive, which is then sold on. Unfortunately, Microdrives taken from such devices may not work in digital cameras. These drives must be accessed using ATA mode, which is not supported in all devices. Such drives, therefore, do not sell for nearly as much as CF-enabled Microdrives. An ATA-only Microdrive can be used in simple pass-through CompactFlash to IDE/SATA adapters for embedded use, however most digital cameras and some card readers will be unable to access the device.