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Escalating what some call the "mini-drive war," competitors Seagate and Hitachi separately introduced new 1-inch drives, both of which boast higher capacities.

As if they were throwing down a challenge to a duel, both companies announced their respective drives on the same day. Each drive measures 1 inch and features a 6-gigabyte storage capacity.

Seagate's unnamed hard drive and Hitachi's Microdrive indicate a further move towards smaller, high storage drives. In fact, The Mac Observer reports some industry experts believe these types of drives are quickly becoming the storage device of choice.

"As portable music players and digital cameras become more popular, you're going to find these 1-inch drives in more of these devices," Mike Paxton, senior analyst at In-Stat/MDR, told The Mac Observer. "As demand escalates, prices of these drives will fall and that price reduction will be passed on to consumers by companies like Creative, Apple and Toshiba."

Paxton's comments mirror those of Dave Reinsel, Seagate's IDC program director for Storage Research, who says, "Consumer electronics suppliers demand that drive suppliers meet specific capacity, reliability, and technology requirements. Seagate's launch of its next-generation ST1 Series 1-inch hard drive only six months after entering the handheld storage market demonstrates the company's ability to leverage its technology prowess to serve a divergent, expanding consumer electronics market."

Hitachi prices the Microdrive at $299, while Seagate doesn't mention pricing information in their release. However, one would have to believe it would be competitive, if not lower than Hitachi's version.

For more, please visit either Seagate or Hitachi.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.