Toshiba touts lower power 500GB 2.5in drive

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Toshiba's storage division has announced a 2.5in drive for notebooks with 500GB of capacity that it said is the greenest in the industry.

The company is not the first to reach this capacity milestone, with Fujitsu, Hitachi and Samsungall offering 2.5in hard drives of this capacity. The MK5055GSX however, spins at a faster 5,400rpm and - though its capacity is spread over two platters - it offers the highest aerial density of any currently available 2.5-inch drive at 371.9GB per square inch.

Power consumption comes in at a 1.7W when seeking and 1.4W while writing, which should see it eking out more battery life from notebooks and other devices into which it is fitted. Toshiba also said the drive is halogen free, further boosting its green credentials.

The drive uses a SATA 300 interface and other specifications include a 12ms seek time and an 8MB buffer.

Toshiba said it is also offering drives ranging from 120GB to 400GB that feature 5,400rpm operation, short seek times and a free-fall sensor option, enhancing the drives ability to withstand shocks. The company also said that the 250GB and below capacity drives use single platters to achieve whisper quiet acoustic specifications of 20dB (seek) and 19dB (idle).

As well as laptops, the new drives are expected to appear in consumer devices such as televisions and DVD recorders.

Production of the new drives devices is said to begin in December this year with availability to OEMs shortly after, though prices have not been announced.

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