2.5" / 9.5mm hard drives OVER 1TB

This new WD drive little over 1TB with 24GB Cache:


Only 7mm thick! Source

 

If WD actually produces these drives with Write Caching enabled (unlike the promises Seagate made over a year ago...) this could be the best of all worlds for notebooks.

24GB nand cache - implemented at the hardware level - hmmm, I might be rebuilding a few notebooks I have...


Can't wait for proper testing (Anand!) and even more: 48GB+ Cache and 2TB+ capacities (yeah - I'm ready to spend up to $600 for these versions TODAY).

 

Ok, that 1 TB drive still has to be 2 platters though, so somehow they managed to shave 2 mm off the drive.

Thinner case? Thinner platters? Thinner logic board? I wonder if there's any potential impact on reliability.

 

24GB NAND cache, that sounds like someone finally caught on that you need more than 4 or 8 GB of cache. Here's hoping that it can cache writes as well. I'll be on the lookout for performance data.

 

Damn, it's always like this, Hitachi throws something really good, and then comes WD and I end-up with the second Considering the thickness the WD is probably 5400rpm drive, but I guess 24GB of cache should be enough to compensate, since it's named Black. Hopefully it would be 7200rpm, but it's highly unlikely.

 

It's a 'Black' - it must be a 7200 RPM version.

Otherwise, I am losing hope that this will be a 'performance' HHDD and wouldn't place too much hope of trading current SSD's based systems for simply more capacity.

Btw, WD bought out Hitachi a long time ago - this could be Hitachi tech after all...

 

Seagate appears to have the same technology: Seagate embraces SSHDs, phasing out 7,200rpm laptop HDDs | CES 2013: Computers and Hardware - CNET Blogs

7mm two platter drives and 5 mm single platter.

It seems that hard drive manufacturers managed to figure out how to shave half a mm off the platters and 1.5 mm off the housing. It's quite possible then we'll see 9.5 mm three platter drives.

Going back to the OP's question, this could very well mean 1.5 TB 9.5 mm hard drives in the next few months. When combined with the incremental increase in areal density and we could very well see 2 TB 9.5 mm drives before the end of the year.

 

Taking a second look on the WD's pictures and taking into account the topic above, it seems that unfortunately, both would spin at 5400rpm, and the difference would be that the 'Blue' is going to have 12GB cache, while the 'Black' one - 24GB. I hope that I would be proved wrong though, but there is another thing to consider - the past iterations of the 'Blue' drives had only one vacuum hole (I don't know the exact name of it), while the 'Black' had three of them (on the top and one one on the bottom). It could be new design, but physics is physics after all, even with new design there should be slight difference if the 'Black' was running at 7200rpm.

 

Do you think guys it will be 9.5mm or 12.5 mm hard drive in this box?
Toshiba HDTB115EK3BA 1.5TB USB 3.0 inch Stor.E Basics External Hard Drive - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

Probably a 15mm drive.

 

Might as well get a 2.5" 1TB SSD + USB 3.0 enclosure. Would be cheaper and much faster. Definitely a bit bulkier but not unreasonable or uncomfortable to carry around. Now if only someone made a mSATA to USB 3.0 enclosure. With Micron/Crucial's 1TB mSATA SSD, it would be a lot smaller and lighter to carry.

 

I already purchased two of these drives and may get a third so I can replace my two current Hitachis that have been responding sluggishly lately. I have placed one in an external Acomodata enclosure for backup. The results:

 

Congrats! Are they hot? (Compared to your previous drives)

 

Funny you should mention that. The readings were so dramatic I suspect I did something wrong. These were taken right after start up. What do you think?

C Drive

Drive 2

External HGST
View attachment 90529

 

Finally 1TB 7K2, good drive.

 

Seems OK The reason I asked is because I was expecting more heat, and it turns out to be the opposite. Impressive.

 

*has seizure* niiiiiiiccceee now if they just make a 7k 1.5tb 9.5mm drive. Are there any pictures of this drive?

 

Nice news! However many of us will be content with a 9.5mm 2TB 5400rpm drive. The shrinkage in form factor is nice and all but not exactly a pressing concern for most.

Can't wait till the day I can have all my data inside my laptop

 

actually 5400 rpm isn't gonna matter at that high of density. the 5400rpm 1tb performs close to a 500gb and 720gb 7200rpm.

Dude is this the 7k drive? WD Black SSHD - Hard Drives - CNET Reviews

what did i miss?

 

No, not even close - the higher RPM drive should be substantially less laggy - up to 60% or even more in my experience.

The higher density actually hinders performance (the heads are less accurate (moving track to track), there is more error correction (overhead) because of the smaller and thinner data 'bits' and on top of all this; the magnetic force per bit is substantially less than a lower density drive (from the same generation).

While the sequential speeds keep improving with higher density drives - in actual O/S use, the higher RPM drive with the lowest platter density of any given generation of drives will usually/always perform better, have lower power requirements and less heat output (Hitachi TravelStar drives follow this ideology...).

Don't look at benchmarks to see the performance of a drive - install it in a daily use system and compare them over a few weeks (each) time. The 7200RPM version should always be faster for O/S and program responsiveness, installs, updates and small file editing/updating (think database files and/or PDF creation/editing). In other words in all cases, all while using the same or less power for the same amount of work performed (granted, idle battery time may be slightly decreased - but I don't start a system to leave it sit idle...).

While I am still happy that up to 24GB nand cached HDD's will be finally available - I don't have too much expectations from them if the workload is varied (as certain ones of mine can be).

Even Anand has found that a 128GB Samsung 830 SSD with very aggressive proper caching (reads and writes) is still too small for his workflow style. And this is arguably the 'best' implementation of an SSD caching scheme yet.

See:
AnandTech - A Month with Apple's Fusion Drive



As I have found in the past couple of years - a 240/256GB SSD or larger (with either an internal or external HDD or no extra mechanical storage if not required) is the best setup period - no caching, no compromises, no glitches and you get the full SSD performance possible/available.

Caching/Hybrid schemes will always be second best - and so far - I haven't seen sustained real-world performance from them to rival a 'full sized' solution as the paragraph above - even when the $$$ is taken into consideration.

Of course that is true for (mostly) multi-bay systems - for notebooks with a single drive bay option - Hybrids do offer an improvement over strictly HDD based platforms - but boy! Do you pay for that privilege (in $$$ and the performance hit).

 

Curious, is that HGST 1TB 7200 Drive actually available for purchase? Checked all my usual spots and nothing is showing up...

Trying to decide what I want to do storage wise with my new machine, as I've always been spoiled by having tons of storage with 2 internal HDD slots... now that I've shrunk down to a smaller machine I only have one bay, and while I LOVE the speed of the new SSD I purchased, I feel rather cramped in space...

That WD Black hybrid drive looks appealing too, but I haven't seen any hints of a release date. The Seagate hybrid drives were always tempting but I was never sold on such a small SSD cache.

 

All i know is after bench marks my drive was compared with 7k drives in real world applications. I also know it performs alright. Not to say a 7200rpm version would light my 5400rpm version fire.

A 7200rpm 1.5TB or 2TB would be ideal for me.

 

Do you have the links?

 

HGST 0J1TB7200 1.0TB 2.5" Travelstar 7K1000 7200RPM... in stock at OWC

 

I did i had them booked marked forever, i bought that 1TB drive almost just because of the benchmarks that i have 517+GB of games as well as 135+GB of music never mind movies. All in a 15" laptop so i'm stuck with a single drive setup, no mSATA.

Thankfully for the link it is THE first Google result, Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB Review (WD10JPVT) | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews It most certainly does not perform badly and it definitely trails the other drives it not it ARGUABLY trails the other drives. If i remember right they do some benches and few real worlds test or at least test that theoretically represent real world demands/performance/usage.

All I know for sure is that I'm happy with it though hungry from space and performance but, since i'm happy enough with it it will have to be a notable upgrade in size or speed or even both.

 

Thanks for the link, but all that does is show what my original post stated was correct:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...9-5mm-hard-drives-over-1tb-7.html#post9043922


As a matter of fact, from your link the 'conclusion' was:


Charles Jefferies said:

Even the 7200 RPM 1TB drives will put this performance to shame (look at the maximum write latency (your link) to give you an idea how bad it performs as an O/S and/or Program drive).


Couple 24GB nand cache with 7200 RPM performance and we're finally talking a worthy successor to the Seagate Momentous Hybrid 750 from two+ years ago.

But two+ years ago we only had Arrandale based setups - today, any type of Hybrid is already obsolete (see my link to my original post) - even at 128GB capacity, let alone 24GB nand cache as we have here.


Glad you're satisfied with the performance given the high capacity requirement/needs you have - I too was making those trade-offs a couple of years ago because SSD's were too small, too expensive and too flakey to replace my similar performance/capacity requirements for my workloads.

However, a lot has changed drastically in the last year or more and I also changed my workloads to accommodate the still small (but not 'too small') SSD offerings we've had available. The last Hybrid I used was in May of last year and I have it sitting on my desk since then (like an antique).

The biggest thing that has changed? Just as Intel predicted with their original X25-M - processors will need SSD level storage sub-system performance to allow the newer processors to shine. While all (generations of) systems are more responsive with an SSD - the latest generation platforms 'need' an SSD to fully exploit the raw processing power inherent in the current SNB and IB processors we are using.

This is where hybrid storage are a step in the wrong direction moving forward in 2013 - they really can't keep up to the cpu's at all anymore.

 

Well it didn't say it was perfect but, that i liked it. so maybe i was wrong in thinking that it kept up with 7200rpm drives, oh well 1TB+ notebook drives are in their infancy. There more options soon.

 

ATM, prices are too high for 1TB/9.5mm hard drive.

Western Digital is coming out with a Hybrid 1TB 9.5mm hard drive with 24GB cache this summer, from CES 2013 WD says it's going to be cheap so I'm guessing the same price as a Momentus XT 750GB and 7K1000 1TB right now.

Look for 1TB/9.5mm 7200 RPM drives to drop down to $100 from now till summer time as new drives comes out.

 

i paid just a little over $100 for my 1TB, i got just before the floods.

 

I looking for hdd enclosure for 15mm thick drive WD20npvt green.

Do you think guys this delock box can take it? Support is max 14.5mm thick hdd, maybe can hold 15mm?

Delock > Produkte > Gehäuse > 42477

Where i can find any enclosure with USB 3.0 for WD20NPVT?

 

For those who looking for the HGST 1TB@7200RPM at a decent price:
Check here.

 

That's very decent, just so everyone is aware the Touro Mobile Pro 1TB has the exact HGST 7K1000 1TB inside.

I know this because I have a 500GB Touro Mobile Pro that has a 7K500 500GB inside, confirmed with same cache and SATA-II connection.

I said it once before on another thread when the Touro Mobile Pro 1TB was just released for NA earlier this year (came out before OEM bare drive 7K1000 was available in NA) but OP the of the thread did not believe me.

 

That's not the new TravelStar 7K1000 though, it's an older model (0S03563) from September 2012 that has a 3Gbps interface. Still a good drive, and OK price.

 

I was trying to figure that out, thanks for clarifying... I was pretty sure the new HGST was SATA III instead of II so wasn't sure if they labeled it wrong or was a different drive.... also noticed they are now out of stock.

EDIT: I can't make any sense of this drive, I have currently given up.... 0S03563 shows up on some sites as SATA3 and others as SATA2, some show 16mb cache, others show 32MB.... I don't have a clue what the proper drive is anymore... I'll just wait until more options are on the market.

 

I highly doubt sata 2 or 3 matters with an HDD but, cache sure would.

 

It's got 16MB cache, SATA 2/3Gbps, 9.5mm, 7200rpm, 1TB. For some reason that info is hard to find...

 

Dammit didn't notice that, so the Touro Mobile pro probably has the 3Gbps interface and 16MB cache.

I just placed an order for the 0S03563 the other day too since the store selling the drive had it advertised as 32MB cache and SATA3, I'm now going to cancel the drive off my order since it hasn't yet shipped and now knowing that drive I ordered is indeed the 16MB SATA 3Gbps version after digging up the info from a more reliable source.

Thanks a lot for clearing this up, I think it maybe worth it for some to wait for the real 1TB HGST 32MB with SATA 6Gbps to arrive on NA.

 

Any news on upcoming 12.5mm/9.5mm internal notebook drives that are larger than 1TB? Thus far Toshiba's PX1830E-1HK0 and MQ01ABD150 are 12.5mm 1.5TB notebook drives.

 

i'm guessing late spring or mid summer something might get announced... maybe.

 

I'm still thinking how mount 2.5' 2TB 15mm hight hard drive to my laptop without external hdd needed. That Toshiba is also in my mind, possible mount to optical drive bay. One still for sale on ebay Toshiba MQ01ABC150 1 5TB 2 5" SATA 2 3GB s 5400 RPM Hard Drive 12 7mm | eBay
Those Toshiba 1.5TB 12.5mm drives are installed in Toshiba Canvio or Stor.e models. See feedback from Mark http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149255
Not for 100% sure, but very soon i will get Toshiba Stor.e 1.5TB model for proof.)

 

The capacity increases seem to be slowing down - is there some better tech on the horizon which will enable 5+tb notebook drives?

 

5+TB HDD's lol...

I think we'll see SSD's hit that size before we see notebook sized (9.5mm or 7mm) HDD's.

 

Hmmm. Are there any estimates for when the 5+tb SSDs will come?

 

Considering that since (late) 2009 the 'recommended/available' 32GB SSD size has been upgraded to 256GB (8x increase) and it looks like we'll have a 1TB SSD (Crucial M500) in less than 6 weeks... I would guess that we'll have 5TB SSD's before 2017 is out, if not before.

The capacity is not the only thing I crave to see sooner than later: I also want notebooks (and desktops) to have multiple (6 or more) mSATA and/or newer SSD connectors incorporated into their design. While we can laugh at having a 50TB capacity or larger notebook today - in a few years time this will be the new 'normal' - no matter what the cloud marketing guys will have us think.

Yeah; 2017 seems so long away... but don't blink - it will be here faster than you can say supersize my ssd at your local Micky D's.

 

newegg is selling 1tb-2tb SSDs. OCZ Octane OCT1-25SAT3-1T Solid State Drive - Newegg.com

 

2017 is right around the corner.

Are there major, MAJOR tech hurdles to cramming more data size into SSDs? Eg, till when will we get linear progression on SSD capacity? 10 TB? 50TB?

 

Tech hurdles?

Nand density. Controller channels. Process node size. Available production capacity. Available raw resources.

There will never be a linear progession; while in 100 years from now it may look linear - tech upgrades are always in fits and spurts (and sweat and $$$$$$$$$$ and research time spent).

Easy peazy; you just have to breathe in and out a few times for the forces that be to sort it out properly.




But way before the time they do - be ready for the next big thing in storage subsystems, okay?

 

Are there any hard barriers to NAND density? Like normal HDDs have to deal with mechanical issues?

 

Of course, nand density is related to process node size. With a smaller process node; more error control (ECC) is needed as well as needing to react to changing characteristics (for example; during the erase cycle the 'older' the nand is the longer it takes to properly erase it) on the fly. Some of this is being addressed now with DSP logic on the 19nm nand sizes (and even some larger ones too).

While the 'hard' barriers may seem to be mostly $$$$$ related - it is also a function of how widely they (nand suppliers) can readily sell the available chips. I'm sure we can build TB sized nand today - but nobody would be willing to buy that because they know at current prices they couldn't use it profitably.

 

These probably won't be affordable like the M500, but 2TB SSDs should be coming out this year as well.
Foremay claims to have the first 2TB, 2.5-inch SSDs

I really hope to replace all of my mechanical drives with SSDs in a couple of years... every time there's a small earthquake, or when I hit my desk while my HDD is writing, or when my HDD makes a weird noise, I freak out and spend hours checking to see if my data is alright. With SSDs I don't have to worry as long as I keep everything connected to a UPS!