Small wonder

Japan-based Fujitsu Ltd has developed the world's smallest magneto-
optical, (MO) disc drive for use in
laptop and computer notebooks.

The drive, 140 by 101.6 mm and
17 min thick, weighs less than 300
grams, It has been developed for
integration into portable computers, potentially replacing standard
floppy disc drives. The researchers
say that the new drive can store on
industry-standard 8.9 cm optical
disc tip to 230 megabytes of information - 160 times the capacity of
the floppy disc. The MO discs are
rewriteable and cannot be erased by
accidental contact with a magnetic field.