Hitachi Z7K320 Single Platter 320GB 7200RPM 7mm Hard Drive

Should be a fast and quiet drive. It's an extra thin drive measuring only 7mm high. I found some benchmarks on a Chinese web page. Looks like the fastest sequential read and write speeds ever.

 

Are there laptops that take a 7mm 2.5" drive?

 

I would guess every laptop. But I haven't tried it myself.

Here's the random access benchmark compared to a 7K500. Performance seems very similar.

 

That might actually be tricky.

If Hitachi designed the mounting screw holes so that they are in correct position in relation to the SATA connector, then the reduced size should not be a problem.

 

It would be more dependent on hard drive caddies and they're position.
From my experience around 30%-40% would have issues with it's height.

 

great for a single platter. too bad if you tried putting it in a black plate wouldn't fit and you'd get a laptop that is not leveled.

 

I thought specifically abotu the caddies. But I think that as long as the mounting screw holes are in correct position in relation to the SATA connector on the back, then it would work just fine.

 

I would think it works fine. If it didn't it wouldn't be very smart from Hitachi.

Would be nice though if someone can confirm it.

 

I see it starts at 34C when cool and goes up 40 - 42C while in use. Is that its normal operating temperature?

 

yeah seems like a normal temperature for a HDD. usually 37c+

 

I agree 36 to 38C would be ideal, I'm just saying maybe the person that tested the drive attached some sort of padding directly onto the harddrive to compensate the height difference and that would make it run hotter than normal. The drive is smaller than normal and very fast it justifies the extra heat.

 

I have read that some thin notebooks will be designed to take this drive thickness and thereby become even thinner. Personally, I would use the spare 2.5mm to fix on an SSD so that people can have both performance and capacity in one relatively affordable package.

John

 

SSD's never create heat. like never. it doesn't even seem to generate heat @ all with a touch of a finger.

 

but you nver know... there's no temperature sensors for SSD's... this drive looks quite good and only issue is height but i guess 7mm might be next standard over the current 2.5" to reduce thickness..

 

Any reviews of it yet?

I have thought of either getting the Hitachi Z7500 or the WD Scorpio Black.

But this one here is even faster and yet consumes less power and produces less vibrations/noise!

I would immediately buy it, though i just don't know whether it will have a good fit with the Acer 3820TG.

 

Here's what they have to say:

Travelstar™ Z7K320 is the industry's first 7200 RPM, 7mm, 2.5-inch hard drive with capacities ranging from 160GB to 320GB. The 320GB per platter one-disk models are designed as a direct replacement for standard 9.5mm HDDs, for use in notebook PCs, external storage and compact systems. The Z7K320 offers design flexibility to accommodate new thinner and more robust devices/systems and delivers up to 18% better application performance than 5400 RPM models of the same capacity

Travelstar Z7K320 | Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

 

Well, that still doesn't really ensures that it will be fitting in safely.

I really wonder.

It's avaible in Germany, but no reviews yet.

 

You having a laugh? SSD's do create heat. Some older MLC drives created plenty more than a HDD. This drive sounds interesting. Maybe a 640GB/750GB 9.5mm drive is just around the corner!

 

Thats the best idea come from this thread yet.

However, for the raid fiends you could probably figure out how to stack up 2 of these in a normal slot... a lot of HDD caddys require little modification to go from 9-12mm, 14 would be not so much of a jump.

 

So when will this be released to North America or Europe? I'd love to see some comparisons against the Momentus XT and Scorpio Black.

 

In my opinion that does ensure it.

 

Ok, let's say it fits in.

The rest of the height, can you use it to put in some noisereduction pad in it?

Or will it get to hot then?

Still waiting for reviews...

 

I don't think this drive has any benefit over the 7K500 250GB, except for the size and capacity of course.

As can be seen on the first post it has very good sequential performance but it's random performance is nothing special.

 

This entire z-series line is being pitched more for ultra-mobile devices for sure, but also gaming consoles, blade servers, routers, video equipment, etc. I'm not sure Hitachi plans to see very many in traditional notebooks. Incidentally, we're testing the Z5 drives right now, the Z7's aren't available yet. The Z5 isn't very impressive, but should be fine for the second series of tasks I mentioned above. It also uses more power than listed on the spec sheet, at least our review unit does.

 

Thanks for giving the insights.

What about the seek times?

According to Hitachi:

Seek time: Average (typical)ms(read) 13
Seek time: Track to track (typical)ms(read) 1
Seek time: Full Stroke (typical)ms(read) 25

That's quite slow, the 7k500 was specified with 20ms on fullstroke and even then according to reviews it was a bit slower than the Scorpio Black if i remember it correctly.

 

Don't wanna derail the thread.

But if i had to decide between the Hitachi 7k320/7k500 and the WD Scorpio Black 320/500, which one should i get?
The Hitachi is more quiet and consumes less power but is a bit slower, is this correct?

 

What are the dimensions of 1.8" drives? Is this even close? Or is it basically footprint of a 2.5" reduced in thickness to 7mm?

 

Well you can actually buy the WD now from just about anywhere, the Hitachi is much tougher to come by. I can only find one place in the US that sells them out of Southern California, 2 in Europe. None have any in stock. Has it even been released yet?

A drive that consumes more power but is slower than another 320gb choice (for me at least) is more than enough reason to cross it off the list if putting it into a laptop. The performance is so similar nowadays, we're talking seek time differences of a few milliseconds that 99.9+% of the populace will not notice in real life.

If the Black and the Hitachi are your considerations, don't forget about the Momentus XT either!

 

I see a lot of stores in Europe have it in stock:
Hitachi Travelstar Z7K320 320GB, SATA II (HTS723232A7A364/0A78743) Preisvergleich bei Geizhals.at EU

 

Did anyone try this drive in a regular (9mm) notebook?

 

My X220 which uses this drive along with a msata ssd should arrive in a few days. I can see how it fits in a machine that takes 9.5mm drives. I don't know why anyone would use it if they didn't have to though.

 

Because it's one of the largest single platter 7200 rpm drives.

Is it quiet?

 

I won't receive the X220 till next week sometime.

 

I use the Z7K320 (320GB) in my Lenovo R500.

But the performance I hope for, is not as fantastic, as in the shots at #1.

Look here:



I use it as system-drive, some people told me, that performance would be about 10% worse. I don't know, if it's the truth?

As I said, it annoys me, that performance is "much" worse, that in post #1.

I hope for max. transfer rates (read/write) >110mb/s, Access time <18sec. and of course burst rate >200mb/s*

My transfer rate is about 20% worse and burst rate even about 80% worse!!!

*Chipset & storage drivers are all installed & up to date.

The niose is very quiet for 7.200rpm - audibly - but only as a soft whoosh.

What about your opinion?

regards

ole258