44-pin flash IDE adapters cost about $20 in the US. I've seen one as cheap as $14, but even though it was 44-pin, it wasn't self-powered.
I almost bought one of these:
Transcend. Read and write speed of a good flash card should max out the stock IDE controller in an A1200/4000.
I opted to get a 20GB Hitchachi Travelstar instead. I had to drill some new holes in my original hard drive bracket (which was for an 85MB Maxtor), but it was worth it. The spin is so quiet, I can't hear it at all over the whine of my monitor, though I do occasionally hear the heads park. The drive itself is slightly thinner than the IDE plug! Man, these things are small. And, yes, with a real HD you don't have to worry about write cycles.
I don't get the appeal of Microdrives. Laptop drives are friggin' small these days, power efficient, and are very, very quiet if you get one with fluid bearings, which is pretty much all of them, now. I love this Travelstar.
