USB микроHDD from MSI

Evgenie Rudometov

http://www.rudometov.com

Recently known computer MSI corporation has presented the transportable disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15 created on the basis of an one-inch hard disk (HDD) on the computer market

Perfection of processing techniques and architectures mentions all without an exception of a subsystem of computers. As a result not only processors, but also other accessories become objects of prompt upgrade. As consequence, their internal arrangement becomes complicated according to Moore's known law, productivity promptly grows, technical parametres and consumer properties improve. In a word, it is available fruits of scientific and technical progress. All in the computer promptly varies: processors, motherboards, videoadapters, hard disks ….

By the way, about hard disks — compact savers of the information which appearance once, to steam tens years ago, academician Ershov has named as the revolutionary event which has changed all architecture of computers. This type of disk drives has allowed to store fantastic quantity of bats of the information. Carrying on the family tree from the enormous arrangements presented at first by magnetic drums in size some kilobyte, and further megabajtnymi magnetic disks, these arrangements promptly decreased. Today already the few remember volume, the value in the big desktop EU disk drives. Their size made fantastic 7 Mb in the seventieth years . And what reaching seemed in the eightieth years germetizirovannye disks on 5 Mb as a part of personal computers «Electronics 85» and "DVK". It is necessary to recollect, that in the late eighties when disk drives of this type have reached sizes of 40 Mb, in serious technical journals clever uncles, operating with serious formulas, proved, that the limiting size lays somewhere around 200 Mb. It was named as "a paramagnetic limit». This "limit" limited the sizes of the magnetic domains promptly reaching the values, when for their casual magnetic reversal enough temperature oscillations existing in arrangements. And generally speaking, foretellers of a close limit were absolutely right, but with certain stipulations: all is true for existing then ways of writing and correction of data. But, as is known, all varied, all developed. Have appeared and continue to appear new magnetic mediums, magnetic heads and processing techniques. As a result information bit densities promptly increase by disks, and, after it and the common size of the arrangement. Construction perfection has allowed to increase dependability essentially.

And here now it is a high time to talk about dependability. It is terrible to recollect this parametre for arrangements of twenty years' prescription.

Computer coryphaeuses remember guidelines to park heads of hard disks on the operation termination before computer turn off. There were even special utilities.

And that there are guidelines to instal the computer on a heavy marble or metal plate for reduction of vibrations and consequences of the casual pushes shortening a life of disk drives in size of 20-40 Mb.

However designers did not sit, slozha hands, and today it is possible to present similar guidelines unless in a dreadful dream.

Perfection of processing techniques and a construction of disk drives on hard disks was lifted by metrics of density of an information storage and dependability of operation on such height that there were a reality compact transportable arrangements of a high capacity. About similar "divajsah", created on the basis of hard disks of a form factor of 2,5-inches, already repeatedly wrote on pages of this issuing. Queue of more miniature products, for example, those arrangements in which basis one-inch hard disks lay now has come. One of such products which have received name MSI MEGA CACHE 15, known computer MSI corporation recently has presented.

Fig. 1. Package MSI MEGA CACHE

Fig. 2. Disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15 in a protective cover

Fig. 3. Disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15

The arrangement is oriented to the computer market of the compact transportable disk drives which dimensions are that, that such arrangements easily are located in a breast pocket of a shirt.

As basis of disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15 the one-inch disk drive of Cornice corporation in size of 1,5 Gbytes has served .

Short parametres of disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15

Applied interface USB 2.0 PnP does not demand driver installation, we will combine with all operating systems and provides a data transfer high speed.

In arrangement MSI MEGA CACHE 15 the aluminium tank of stylish design which provides the high dependability necessary for transportable arrangements uses.

The package ON includes following useful utilities:

·         Secure lock. Gives possibility to users to instal the password, preventing not authorised data recording/reading on USB a flesh-disk.

·         Flash mail. Allows to send and receive e-mail when necessary and anywhere.

·         FD Backup. Allows to create a backup copy and synchronises the personal given PCs.

In the order bookings accompanying the arrangement the estimation of a transfer rate of the information — 5,5 Mb per second is resulted  .

In conclusion of the given short browse of disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE of 15 some estimations received in the course of testing of the given arrangement.

As arrangement MSI MEGA CACHE 15 (MSI MicroDrive) is taken up a position for market sector where the dominating role is played by flash-memory arrangements, it was accepted to compare solution MSI MEGA CACHE 15 to one of such products — Transcend 64 Mb (USB 1.1) — FlashDisk 64 Mb.

Arrangement MSI MEGA CACHE 15 easily and was defined at once by WindowsXP operating system.

Fig. 4. A menu fragment «the Manager of arrangements» after hooking up to a notebook of disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15

And now some digits of testing.

Transfer rate

Fig. 5. The Transfer rate

Access time

Fig. 6. Access time

As follows from results of testing, disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15 can represent itself as a carrying over and information storage effective remedy.

Transportable disk drive MSI MEGA CACHE 15 has been given on testing by the Moscow representation of MSI corporation