Hello Doc,
Sure thing. I was just looking at some myself. If rebates are appealing to you AND you live in the US then you might like what you find at Newegg.com.
Either search for "hitachi microdrive" yourself or follow the handy link below for those search results.
"hitachi microdrive" search results:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0The 4 gig model Model #: MD4GB-BP $138.00-$30.00 rebate (direct link):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822147002The 6 gig model Model #: MD6GB-BP $205.00-$40.00 rebate (direct link):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E168221470053-day shipping on any of the models is $6.99
They currently have a 3,4, and 6gb model in stock and the rebates are VERY reasonable especially on the 4 and 6gb drives and as always with Newegg.com shipping is hilariously cheap and super fast. They've gotten stuff to me the very next day before- and I didn't even use overnight shipping.
Also, these drives are 100% compatible with all clamshell and SL-6000L models. I cannot speak completely to the SL-5x00 models. Just beware when comparing these items between vendors that you compare the RETAIL versions! The OEM versions are not always compatible. The retail version is ALWAYS in a blisterpack and is always sold through Pexagon. (I've another post on this topic - just do a search for it, it may be of help.) Also bear in mind that many of the generic competitors drive are also either not compatible or perform very poorly in our Z's.
A friend of mine recently bought me a 4gb version of the Pexagon/Hitachi (identical to the one above) Microdrive series and it is AMAZINGLY fast. The throughput feels every bit as fast when reading from the drive and seems MUCH faster writing to the drive than my Lexar 1gb Professional 80X CF card does when the drive is already spun up. The only downside of course is that you will have a noticeable delay when the drive is not spun up yet- a hazard of any Microdrive. (It's not a hideous long wait and after a few minutes you'll quit noticing spinup times completely.) I was easily able to repartition it and put a swapdrive, an ext2 drive, and a fat-16 drive on the card. I have had zero problems with it and apparently it uses less juice than the old DSCM model 1gb Hitachi Microdrive that I have used for about a year or so because my battery life isn't as impacted as it use to be.
The only reason I know any of this info was that I had a friend who lives in Europe that I was trying to be the middle man for so that he could get one of these while paying less than a small fortune (apparently they cost an arm and a leg over there.) I became quite frustrated because unless you can use the rebate option the deals just aren't that great. And in the case of my Euro friend it would have complicated things tremendously- He would have had to pay full price, then I would have to ship him the item- then in 2-3 months when the rebate check finally came it I would have to go cash it for him (it would have been written in my name) and then either ship him the money in US dollars or pay the fee and use PayPal or a bank etc. to send him the money, (which would again diminish the value of the rebate). So between that and the fact that he apparently has more "irons in the fire" right now than he can easily juggle he decided to wait.
He stays VERY busy- I dunno how he manages to get everything he does done!
But if your in the USA- and yer feelin' froggy for one of these drives- IMHO now's the time to jump!
Sincerely,
-NeuroShock
PS I like the 4gb so well that as soon after as I can afford it and my SL-C3100 arrives the 4gb internal drive may magically become a 6gb.
quote=DrWowe,Nov 21 2005, 07:18 PM]
Prices are getting low enough that I want to get a few high-capacity microdrives. Anyone have any favorite USA sources?
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