New 1.8" drives from Toshiba!

[Davide-NYC]

Check this out. http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/13/toshiba.120gb.subnote.hdd/
New drives. Hopefully we get a 50 pin version of the 120GB so I can take my iriver H140 from 40GB to 120GB. W00t.

What would I call that? H1120? Dayum!

[GodEater]

H178 would work

(0x78 to be more accurate)

[woodensoul]

I've gotten my hopes up in the past when a new hard drive was announced  so I could fit the most music possible in a Rockboxed DAP, but once I see the price, I can't justify doing the upgrade.  

Did you not catch the part at the end...

"Toshiba is expected to limit the drives to computer builders and other device makers..."

I'd be happy to find an 80GB drive to throw in my Gigabeat for around $80, but those are scarce on eBay.

[adam917]

Anyone know what Toshiba means on their site by 'ATA-7'?

[GodEater]

What exactly isn't clear about it ?

ATA-7 is the 7th version of the ATA protocol.

[LambdaCalculus]

Oooh, the possibilities! Upgrade an H320 to an H380? w00t indeed!

Hell, I'd get this for a Gigabeat or iAUDIO, even!

[scharkalvin]

Well they ain't cheap.  I found a few 80gb drives for sale.  Some of these may be the 40/44pin connector type, not the 44/50 pin used on gigabeat/early ipod units.  Still an adapter isn't out of the question as the interface is STILL ATA, the signals are the same just in different places on different connectors.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Toshiba-MK8009GAH-1-8-80GB-ZIF-IPOD-ZUNE-PDA-Drive_W0QQitemZ300174055216QQihZ020QQcategoryZ48680QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118
http://www.avereststore.com/servlet/the-9502/80GB-4200RPM-1.8%22-ATA/Detail
http://www.superwarehouse.com/Toshiba_80_GB_Internal_Hard_Drive/HDD1764/p/1502485
http://www.pacificgeek.com/product.asp?ID=55165&C=202&S=1000
http://www.compumusic.com/i205598.htm
http://www.monstronix.com/hdd1764-p-408157.html
http://www.cesell.com/product.php?productid=107138

[markun]

Still an adapter isn't out of the question as the interface is STILL ATA, the signals are the same just in different places on different connectors.

http://www.stolltech.ch/iriver.pdf

[adam917]

What exactly isn't clear about it ?

ATA-7 is the 7th version of the ATA protocol.

Is this compatible with iriver H-series & other older non-ZIF devices?

[Davide-NYC]

There are different interconnects (or interfaces) on the drives.
The earlier iPods, the iriver h100, h300 and the gigabeat F series all had the 50 pin (female) connector. See the first attached pic.

Then they went to ZIF. (iPod 5g, Gigabeat X, etc.) See the second attached pic.
If someone would produce a ZIF to 50pin adapter, like the one made in the stolltech PDF (up two or three posts) it would sell like hotcakes. I guarantee it.

Now they speak of ATA-7 LIF. I am not sure what LIF is but I believe it stands for Linear Insertion Force.

Read the announcement here: http://www.toshibastorage.com/techdocs/PR2007-12-18-inchPC-CEHDDAnnouncement.pdf

If anyone has details or can link to a pic of a Toshiba MK1214GAH drive please post it. Thanks.

Anyways here are the specs (lifted from the PDF)

Product Specifications – For the 120GB model.
Model no.  MK1214GAH
Capacity 120GB
No. of platters 2
No. of heads 4
Logical sector size 512 B/sector
Buffer size 2MB
Average seek time 15 msec
Interface ATA-7 (LIF connector)    <---
Rotational speed 4,200 rpm
External dimensions 54.0 (W) x 71.0 (L) x 8.0 (H)
Weight 59g (max.)
Energy consumption efficiency 0.0025 W/GB
Shock::
Operating: 4,900 m/s2, 500G (2.0ms, 1/2 sine)
Non-Operating: 14,700 m/s2, 1,500G (1.0ms, 1/2 sine)
Acoustics::
Idle:  1.6 Bels
Operating:  2.2 Bels

[AlexP]

There are different interconnects (or interfaces) on the drives.
The earlier iPods and the iriver h100 and h300 series all had the 50 pin (female) connector.
See the first attached pic.

Then they went to ZIF. (iPod 5g, Gigabeat) See the second attached pic.

You need to specifiy which gigabeat here - the gigabeat F has the same connector as the H1x0, H3x0 etc., whereas I believe the gigabeat X went ZIF along with iPod 5G etc.

[Davide-NYC]

Post ammended. Thanks.  


Also, I do believe that the LIF interface is either the same or similar to the ZIF interface. Regarless I do not think it is the older (larger) 50 pin connector. If so, that implies that hopeful 'upgraders' of older devices are still in need of an appropriate ZIF/LIF to 50-PIN adapter that would allow the newer Toshiba drives to be connected to older devices.

I guess I could make one myself but I'd rather not. I've thrown out a couple of dead 1.8" HDs over the years. I now regret having done that.  I could have used the connector.

[UPDATE] Confirmed! LIF is similar to ZIF. Boo.

[scharkalvin]

I think that the LIF connector might be similar to what I have seen used on some thin line floppy disk drives.  It uses a thin foil like ribbon cable that plugs directly into the connector on the drive.  A locking bar is then pressed down on the connector that presses the ribbon cable against the connectors contact pins and holds the cable in place via tension.  To remove the cable the locking bar is pulled up by grabbing the ends and pulling up.  I could post a photo later of the floppy disk drive I have that uses this connector.  I've only seen this used on a slim line micro PC made by MSI.