Removable hard-disk system to be unveiled at CES

IDG News Service - A consortium of companies developing a removable hard-disk system for consumer use called the Information Versatile Disk for Removable usage (iVDR) plans to unveil a prototype 1.8-in. drive with a serial ATA interface for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month, an iVDR consortium representative said this week.
The iVDR system will be shown outside of Japan for the first time at the event, which will take place in Las Vegas in January.
At CES, three prototypes are expected to be showcased, including a 2.5-in. iVDR disk with a parallel ATA interface, and 2.5- and 1.8-in. iVDR drives with faster and less costly serial ATA interfaces, said Toshiaki Hioki, a consortium representative at Sanyo Electric Co. The drives will be shown at the booth of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the new hard disk drive company established by Hitachi Ltd. after it acquired IBM's hard-disk unit in June (see story).
Alongside the prototype disks, several devices supporting iVDR from other consortium members will be exhibited, including a PC, a drive and a television.
The iVDR removable hard disk was proposed by eight electronics companies -- Canon Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi, Phoenix Technologies Ltd., Pioneer Corp., Sanyo, Sharp Corp. and Victor Company of Japan Ltd. -- which formed the consortium in March. The group now has 28 members, including hard disk drive makers Maxtor Corp. and Seagate Technology LLC, Hioki said.
By standardizing, promoting and licensing the new swappable, removable hard-disk system, the consortium members hope to solve two problems, said Hioki.
One problem is that as maximum hard disk drive capacity doubles each year, consumers must keep buying new products to keep up with the latest drive technology.
The other is that as hard-disk vendors keep adding more data capacity to their products, the prices of the top-of-the-line hard disk drives aren't dropping considerably. Therefore, products that include the latest drives aren't becoming much cheaper.
Since the establishment of the consortium, the members first developed the 2.5-in. iVDR drive and released basic specifications for hardware, a parallel ATA interface and file formats for the development of computer peripherals, Hioki said.
The consortium is now working on the establishment of specifications for the newer serial ATA interface for the 2.5-in. iVDR disk and also for the 1.8-in. iVDR disk. This smaller hard disk is expected to be adopted in applications such as car navigation systems and audio players.
The serial ATA interface specifications for both sizes are expected to be released after they are approved by the consortium