July 17, 2006 Personal storage devices continue to get smaller as can be seen from this picture of Sony’s "byte-sized" Micro Vault Tiny drive family. We’re fascinated by the continued evolution of the personal solid state drive in its many forms and wonder where it might lead given a few years. About the thickness of a quarter, Micro Vault Tiny differs from its peers on several fronts, the most obvious being its tiny size, and five color-coded capacities -- 256MB (orange), 512MB (violet), 1GB (blue), 2GB (green) and 4GB (purple). Measuring roughly 1/2 inch wide and just over one inch long, the unit comes packaged in a clip-on carry case that can be worn as an accessory, attaching to a cell phone case, purse strap, key chain, or clipped onto a notebook cover.
Tiny is preloaded with Virtual Expander, which expands the capacity to virtually store up to three times as much data by automatically compressing and decompressing files.
The Micro Vault Tiny is now shipping in capacities of 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and 2GB, with a 4GB model planned for release later this year. The drives suggested retail prices are on par with the Classic line, ranging from US$29.99 to US$199.99.