facebook rss twitter

Hitachi launches super-slim 7mm 500GB hard-drive

by Pete Mason on 17 December 2010, 15:00

Tags: Hitachi (TYO:6501)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa3m4

Add to My Vault: x

When it comes to mechanical hard-drives, manufacturers are constantly vying to be the first to cram more storage into a smaller package.

Hitachi is the latest to claim one of these 'firsts' with its new Travelstar Z5K500 family. These drives manage to fit up to 500GB into a 2.5in package with a z-height of only 7mm - as opposed to 9.5mm used in most consumer drives - making this the highest-capacity drive ever produced in the form-factor.

The advantages of a thinner drive should be obvious, especially as an increasing number of companies release slim ultraportable notebooks and netbooks. The manufacturer claims that these drives offer a better gigabyte-per-cubic-millimetre ratio than any other SSD or 9.5mm 2.5in or 1.8in HDD, making for more efficient storage

Hitachi's latest Travelstar HDDs will spin at 5,400rpm, be available in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities and make use of the larger 4k sector size that is becoming increasingly common. They'll also ship with 8MB cache, connect via SATA 3Gbps and draw only 1.8W under load and 0.55W at idle.

As well as stand-alone units, the company will be updating its aluminium-clad G-DRIVE Slim USB external hard-drives with the new Travelstars, bringing capacities up to 500GB.

Barebones Travelstar Z5K500 drives should be available to retailers and OEMs sometime before the end of the year, while the updated G-DRIVE will be shipping in Q1 2011. Pricing has yet to be announced.



HEXUS Forums :: 7 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
ditching the screws on the side for something that screws through the drive from top to bottom, we may see thinner drives again, :P
Credit card sized death star. The emperor will be pleased.
offer a better gigabyte-per-cubic-millimetre ratio than any other SSD
yeah that's what you need for a portable device… efficient storage. errr netbooks are for surfing the net. You know what makes surfing the net more efficient? A quick IO subsystem (considering you stay away from Atoms).

The sooner these mechanical abominations disappear the more stress-free computing will be
semo
yeah that's what you need for a portable device… efficient storage. errr netbooks are for surfing the net. You know what makes surfing the net more efficient? A quick IO subsystem (considering you stay away from Atoms).

The sooner these mechanical abominations disappear the more stress-free computing will be

I constantly end up fillling my 120GB laptop drive up… im still in the camp which prefers volume to speed. Not everyone has shifted over yet.
I was talking about netbooks.

If you have a recent laptop then you may have a chance of having 2 SATA drives (either through a 2nd bay or the DVD drive).