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Hardcard is the genericized trademark for a hard disk drive, disk controller, and host adapter on an expansion card for a personal computer. Typically a hard disk drive (HDD) installs into a drive bay; cables connect the drive to a host adapter and power source. If the personal computer lacks an available bus on a compatible host adapter, then one may have to install an adapter into an expansion slot. The Hardcard supplies its own host adapter, and doesn't require an empty drive bay. Plus Development, a subsidiary of Quantum Corporation, developed the first ISA Hardcard, and released it in October 1985. By June 1986, 28 of Plus Development's competitors were producing similar products.〔''1985 First HDD mounted on card Quantum Hardcard''〕 The term has been used generically to refer to any hard disk on a card.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Definition of Hardcard )〕 == History == Quantum Corporation formed the Plus Development subsidiary in 1983. Plus Development invested their efforts in developing a hard disk drive that the average computer owner could install easily without much technical knowledge. By 1985, Plus Development had engineered their first Hardcard; it had a 10 megabyte (MB) capacity; its suggested retail price was $1,095. In the mid-1980s, hard drives were as small as 1.6 inches tall, but in order to fit into a single ISA PC card expansion slot a custom one-inch thick hard drive had to be designed. Having spent $15 million on the project, Plus Development started shipping Hardcard in October 1985, and trademarked the Hardcard brand in 1988. The Hardcard provided the computer industry with the first one-inch-thick HDD,〔 but it was an interface and form factor only compatible with the full length card slot of the ISA〔"Plug in Hardcard and turn your PC into an XT." "Size -1.0x4.2x13.4 inches." Plus Hardcard Promotional Brochure, © 1985〕 bus first introduced with the IBM PC. As such it had a thicker head disk assembly〔The Hardcard head disk assembly is the full 1-inch thick while the standard 1-inch HDD has both a printed circuit assembly and a head disk assembly in the 1-inch height.〕 than the subsequently introduced 1-inch high standard form factor 3½-inch HDDs. While sources inside the company during the launch of Hardcard claim it was the first HDD controller integrated into the drive printed circuit board,〔 Xebec, a HDD controller manufacturer in the early 1980s, had already done that with their Owl product around August 1984. It was a complete 5.25 inch half-height HDD with an integrated controller and drive electronics on the same printed circuit board with a SASI interface.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Xebec Brochure )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hardcard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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