Conclusion

The benchmarks results allow us to draw pretty simple and definite conclusions.

The miniature IBM Microdrive can’t compete in terms of performance with any of the four CompactFlash cards tested. In all practical tests it gets completely ruined by the opponents. Only the Sandra results can be a little consolation, however, we shouldn’t forget that it is mostly a theoretical test.

Taking into account that the price of Microdrive is almost equal to that of CompactFlash cards, it doesn’t make much sense to buy it. Especially since the competing solutions are constantly getting cheaper and any more or less significant price drop in case of IBM Microdrive is hardly possible. Although it could undoubtedly make this product more competitive.

The CompactFlash cards we tested show very big difference in write speed and a somewhat smaller difference in read speed. When we were saving the pictures from the digital camera buffer onto the flash-cards the performance difference got somewhat smaller. Of course, the cards pricing is also different, but you will not be able to feel the real performance advantages with the slow USB 1.1 interface. That is why hunting for more expensive and faster flash-cards is only worth if you have real opportunity to use their potential to the full extent, that is if you have USB 2.0 devices or FireWire. The fastest CompactFlash card appeared the one from transcend marked as 30x. It was the best almost in every test. The slowest of all testing participants turned out the PQI product, as it lost almost everywhere.

This time we took a close look at the storage media compatible with CompactFlash standard and featuring 1GB storage capacity. Many manufacturers have already started to release products like that, however, this is far not the top yet, and bigger flash-cards are already popping up here and there. Later this fall we will be able to forecast the way this market will take in the nearest future. At that time Hitachi should finally start selling the new Microdrive officially launched on January 6, 2003. The new model will boast 4GB storage capacity and will be able to compete with another generation of CompactFlash cards, which is expected to reach 5GB bar by then. I wouldn’t say which side will win, as both device families have very promising growth prospective.

Miniature hard disk drives have very good potential for further data density increase, but are not free from the bottlenecks typical of “large” HDDs, such as high heat dissipation and peak workloads. Among the advantages of CompactFlash cards we should mention the growing number of manufacturers ready to offer their products, which makes the competition more exciting and caused inevitable price reduction. Of course, as the time passes, these devices get more stable and reliable in idle as well as in work mode.

I assume that in case the storage capacities and performance of CompactFlash cards and IBM Microdrive solutions are similar, the better value product will win the market. And in terms of price, CompactFlash has more chances, in my opinion. But time will show...