A new micro drive type storage device has been developed by Cornice, the 3GB mini-drive is a 1-inch hard drive with “crash guard”. The storage element will hold slightly less data than current high-end drives on the market, but will have a mechanism that physically locks the arm inside when not in use. This will prevent any type of crashing if the device or drive were to be dropped, even when in use it can still be dropped from about 5 feet without any damage.

Not only durable, but efficient and cheap. The Cornice mini-drive will run in devices that can last for around 20 hours on batteries and devices with the 3GB drive will cost anywhere from $139 to $199 in 2005 when released.