Hard drives, not just for PCs anymore. Nope, these days they are in mobile devices, DVRs and ton of other consumer devices. Not only that, but the ability to share information with these mobile devices will also become more commonplace.

You know, as I think about it, I would be interested in seeing a toaster with a hard drive. Sounds weird, but hey. Given enough time I think it will happen. We just have to be patient.

The same day the hard drive-based Apple iPod got a face-lift, In-Stat/MDR predicted that consumer electronics products will account for about 33 percent of hard drives shipped in 2008, up from about 5 percent in 2003.

“As the PC market matures, and the amount of digital content available to the consumer and the desire to store it continues to increase, the number of devices integrating hard disk drives in consumers’ homes will explode,” the firm said in a statement.

Hard drives historically have made their homes in computers, such as desktop PCs and the higher-end machines found in corporate data centers. But in recent years, makers of consumer electronics devices such as personal video recorders and music players have been buying drives for their products. Often, the drives for consumer products are smaller than a typical desktop computer disk drive, which has a platter diameter of 3.5 inches.