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To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (3955)	11/16/1998 12:01:00 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Randy, The question remains, does the device spin-up and down again after each photo, or does it spin continuously for, let's say, 5 minutes for each use. How vulnerable is the drive when it is spinning? Does it produce heat if left on for a period of time? Are maximal write speeds only attained at maximal rates of rotation? I am still optimistic that the 1.5 MB/sec write speeds for flash memory will suffice, that most of the rate-limiting computational power will be demanded of the camera (rather than the storage media) and that file sizes will remain under 1 MB (minimally compressed) for the foreseeable future. I think the idea of incorporating an LS 120, Zip or MicroDrive is the Tim Allen approach to digital photography. Flash memory is a more streamlined, svelte and sophisticated solution. To include a MicroDrive in each new camera sale will likely put digital photography out of reach of many consumers. Ausdauer

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (3955)	11/16/1998 2:43:00 PM
From: Craig Freeman	Respond to of 60323

Randy, a typical 3-1/2" drive will pull ~15 watts during spin-up. If platter mass scales linearly, the micro drive will be .3x.3.x3 or 2.7% the mass the larger drive. Assuming the same motor efficiency, that's only 0.4 watts. My guess is that IBM will actually burn about 1 watt to improve the spinup time to a second or two. A logical strategy would be to put 4+ MB of low-power RAM in the camera and only write to disk when memory becomes full, power is running low, or the camera is powered down. That would greatly reduce total power consumption and wear on the drive. Craig