Toshiba has announced new 6 and 8GB microdrives. Originally codenamed Mikey, they will now be known as Hitachi Microdrive 3K8. They are almost 20-percent smaller and consume 40 percent less power than their predecessors. They also feature a new interface called CE-ATA which is designed to support the specific relationship between small-form-factor hard drives and the handheld consumer electronic devices in which they are embedded and ESP technology which works by immediately parking the read-write head safely away from the surface of the disk when it detects a fall, preventing head/disk contact which may cause data loss.
Limited quantities are shipping now and will reach volume shipment levels in October.