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A type of IC socket or electrical connector known as zero insertion force (ZIF) requires very little force to insert. With a ZIF socket, a lever or slider on the side of the socket is moved prior to the IC’s insertion, spreading out all the sprung contacts so that it can be placed with very little force—typically, the IC’s weight suffices and no further downward force is needed.
The contacts then shut and grasp the IC pins after the lever is pulled back. Due to the space required by the lever mechanism, ZIF sockets are significantly more expensive than conventional IC connectors and also frequently occupy a greater board surface.
The Global ZIF SSD market accounted for $XX Billion in 2023 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2024 to 2030.
Custom-Built Open Source SSD Aims to Fill the 1.8″ ZIF IDE Hard Drive Gap in Vintage Computing.Collin “dosdude1″ Mistr, a vintage computing enthusiast, has created a board design that addresses the void left by the retirement of the 1.8” Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) IDE hard drive format, delivering an open source solid-state pin-compatible alternative.
Integrated Peripherals created the 1.8″ hard drive form factor as an alternative to 2.5″ discs for portable PCs looking to reduce their size or pack in more components. Even though it wasn’t as small as IBM’s Microdrive, which used a one-inch disc to fit a spinning platter into a CompactFlash-compatible housing, it reduced the storage footprint enough to be adopted by a fair number of people — until it was replaced by 2.5″ and M.2 SSDs, or for some manufacturers, the even more space-saving alternative of soldering flash chips directly to the motherboard.
The original versions of a vintage machine that depends on a 1.8″ drive are failing as they approach the end of their natural lifespan, leaving them trapped. This is where Mistr’s concept comes into play. The board exactly replicates the original ZIF IDE standard thanks to the Silicon Motion SM2236 flash controller, but instead of a spinning platter, it can hold up to four 64GB NAND flash chips for a total storage capacity of 256GB.
