Hitachi unveils 500GB laptop drive

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (GST) has unveiled a 500GB 2.5in HDD for use in laptops and slimline mobile devices, ahead of its official launch at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008 in Las Vegas.

The new TravelStar drive will be available in two models: the standard 5K500 for laptops and an enterprise E5K500 version rated for 24/7 usage in blade servers and video surveillance systems.

While Hitachi may have the bragging rights for reaching the laptop half-terabyte mark, there is a catch. In order to blast past the current 320GB pacesetters from Western Digital, Hitachi has had to squeeze another platter onto the stack, meaning that the new drives are 12.5mm thick as opposed to the standard 9.55mm. As a result they may not fit in certain laptops.

On the bright side, the drives feature a 3 Gb/sec SATA interface; Bulk Data Encryption; and a "Rotational Vibration Safeguard" system which Hitachi claims can detect when the drive is being jostled and stabilise the drive heads before damage occurs.

Asus will be the first manufacturer to use the 5K500, which will feature in its M50 and M70 notebooks, the latter of which will feature two drives providing 1TB of capacity.

"The Travelstar 5K500 was designed to address some important trends taking place in today's notebook computing market," said Larry Swezey, director, consumer and commercial HDD, at Hitachi GST.

"Consumers tend to think of their notebooks as less of a pure technology tool and more of a mobile entertainment device for taking large libraries of movies, music, games and pictures on the go. As a result, notebooks are now starting to ship with wide, high definition screens and large, high quality speakers for playing digital audio and video. Hitachi's new Travelstar 5K500 responds to these dynamics with the features, design innovations and technologies that enhance the overall entertainment experience."

The Travelstar 5K500 will be available next month, while the E5K500 will be available by the end of the second quarter.

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