Hewlett-Packard Co yesterday added the second generation of its Citizen Watch Co-made 1.3 hard drive: the Kittyhawk II Personal Storage Module features increased durability and better power management as well as 42.8Mb capacity, twice that of the original. It is the same 2 by 1.44 by 0.4 and 1 oz weight of the original but is claimed to offer 50% better shock resistance and to use 25% less power. The company says it has worked closely with Microsoft Corp to ensure that the Kittyhawks are compatible with MS-DOS Version 6.0 and its 2:1 data-compression ratio, and sees the drive being used in digital cameras as well as subnotebook computers. The capacity was achieved by increasing storage density on the glass platter and adding one thin-film read-write head. It spins up in one second; evaluation units now at $500.
