Toshiba will put its 4GB 0.85in micro hard drive into volume production next month, rather sooner than it anticipated when it announced the product in January this year.

Back then, Toshiba said it would begin shipping the 2GB version of the drive at the end of the month. It said it would offer a two-platter version of the product, taking the capacity up to 4GB, mid-2005.

According to Japanese-language site PCWatch, Toshiba will now ship the 4GB part in April, punching out 20,000-30,000 units a month, though the company intends to raise that figure over successive months.

Toshiba announced its 0.85in HDD in December 2003. In September 2004, it said it would put the unit into mass-production by the end of the year, though that ultimately slipped to early 2005. That may explain why it's being a little more conservative about the availability of the 4GB version.

Both versions spin at 3600rpm, weigh less than 10g and operate at 3.3V. They can stand 1000G of operating shock, Toshiba claims.

The manufacturer is pitching the parts at mobile phones, PDAs and compact MP3 players. Earlier this month, Samsung demoed a music-oriented smart phone, the i300, which incorporates a 3GB hard drive. ®

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