Western Digital starts shipping 500GB 2.5-inch hard drives!

Apparently only the 500GB version will have 250GB sized platters.
I hope their black 7200 versions are out soon as well.

 

Will this fit most of laptops, sized 9.5mm?

 

Yep 9.5mm.

This is going to be tough competition for the 320GB/7200rpm drives.

500GB Scorpio Blue $219.99 list.

 

I haven't heard very good things about the latest 500GB drives in terms of reliability; but it could be only the things I've heard. We'll see.

 

Didn't Hitachi already have a 500GB 5400rpm 2.5" out?
What's the difference between the Hitachi one and the WD one? Well other then the brand..duh..

 

The Hitachi has 3 platters and is 12.5mm high so it does not fit many laptops.

Samsung has one, but it has sluggish acces times and uses a lot of power.

 

We 'll have to wait for some reviews and benchmarks simon.

I am sure the prices of the 320GB models will also drop a bit.

 

I'm waiting for the Seagate one.

 

oh..my bad :S
so are most WD 2.5" 9.5mm?

 

Well the WDs meant for notebooks are 9.5mm.

You can also get 2.5" Velociraptor but that's not meant for notebooks.

 

I wonder what would become of access times ?!

 

haha didnt think about, or even knew that they came in 2.5"..but imagine having one of those in a laptop..mad performance increase..

 

But how tech connect presumed that the HDD has 2 250GB platters ?
I don't how know the math is gonna work out for the 400GB one ? (Limited head mobility ?)
I think they have followed the same route as the Samsung HM500LI....

 

SAMSUNG 500GB Drive have 3 Platters right? So WD is first 2 Platter 500GB 2.5 HDD maker

 

But the datasheet doesn't specify anything....
So its hard to say..

WD datasheets are useless. The WD400BEVT most probably has limited head mobility, like the 400GB 5K500.

 

5400 rpm...

 

Tom's Hardware states that the Samsung is two platters...

For what it's worth, according to WDC.com it has the same acces times as the WD3200BEVT.

If this holds true in reality it's going to be a very fast drive.

 

That is incorrect Phil. Can't really go by what various articles state.

HM500LI/400LI has 3 platters - 167GB each.

I am waiting for a similar release by Hitachi, as their datasheets reveal the configuration of the HDD.

Yes Phil, I read that earlier. The fact that the new WDC HDD has been added to the same family as the BEVT, it should be using the same 160GB platters. If new 250GB platters were developed by WDC, then a new nomenclature should have been adopted for the new series.
But who knows, what's what ?!

 

Sorry Phil....Toms is wrong this time.According to SAMSUNG press report it has 3 Platters (166GB Each)

Here's the press release

Edit

Upsss...Andy reply faster than me

 

Thank you, AWESOME news!!

I have been waiting for a good 2.5 inch 500GB hard drive to come out for a while now. The others were either too large, or too slow or too power hungry.

Western Digital has never let me down before.

Everything I have read has said this 500GB model is 2 platters, 250GB per platter. Very nice. As soon as I can find one, I am getting it!

 

^ Where else have you read about the WD5000BEVT ?

 

Believe it or not, I do a daily check for a release like this from WD.

http://www.pclaunches.com/hard_driv...pio_blue_25inch_500gb_notebook_hard_drive.php

http://www.electronicsinfoline.com/...o-blue-25-inch-500gb-notebook-hard-drive.html

http://www.macworld.com/article/135513/2008/09/scorpion.html?lsrc=rss_main

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/12/western-digital-now-shipping-500gb-laptop-drive-220/

These are just a few, there is of course WD's release on its website.

 

I don't remember saying anything about believing and stuff.



I think Hitachi and Seagate 250GB releases are just around the corner.

 

Seagate 7200.4 500GB Coming soon...
http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=56&products_id=22250&osCsid=33580fd

 

No sorry didn't mean for you to take it like that Andy. I mean that I have been checking every morning as crazy as that sounds. I really want a WD 500gb drive.

So no offense meant at all.

 

No need to get all hyped up guys, WD, doesnt actually manufacture the platters. The other harddrive brands will release theirs soon enough. Plus WD is not all that great anyways. Hitachi drives are much more reliable in my opinion.

Dont buy the drive when it comes out. Every time a drive comes out its price is ridiculously high. After about 1-2 months, the price drops greatly, so get it than. Plus people here need to run benchies and make reviews to see if the drve is good or not.

K-TRON

 

Sure it's a bit early K-tron but prices aren't rediculously high anyway, as on SSDs

Someone who needs more space could buy for his laptop a 500GB@5400 instead of a 320GB@7200 I believe.

As far as hitachi drives concerned, I am not sure if they are more reliable (ever heard of deathstar?), but they are offered with a limited guarantee of just 1 year (at least in my country), whereas Seagates or black scorpios with a 5year guarantee.

I am sorry but I wouldn't buy a drive with just 1year guarantee.

 

Hitachi doesnt sell drives with a 1 year warranty. The only drives which have a 1 year, are recertified or open box drives. Hitachi warrants every new drive for 3 years for consumer and 5 years for enterprise.
I said that Hitachi is reliable from my experience. I have had 38 of a batch of 40 WD drives fail continuously. It was a huge expenditure even to have to doa and rma them, and the rma ones were just as bad.
Seagates harddrives in my case have never lasted over a year, and I can say that from about 12 different seagate drives people in my family have owned. The longest lasting Seagate I have is my momentus, but thats just over a year old, and I already have a Hitachi to replace it.
Samsung and Hitachi have never given me any problems, and I have Hitachi drives from 1.8" to standard to their enterprise Ultrastar line.

If you have had good experiences with WD or seagate than you will buy from them. I have had bad experiences with WD and seagate so I do not recommend nor buy from them.

K-TRON

 

Oh, but they have already. I bought my WD Scorpio 320GB HDD for $180 about six months ago. Now you can get 'em for like $100. My, how technology and its subsequent pricing indexes change.

The same could be said of Voodoo laptops as I feel they are delicate and prone to breaking easy. And when you try to seek warranty repair, Voodoo/HP bails out on you. Regardless, the point here is that every brand is subjective to opinion, but none moreso than Hitachi and their "Death"star series of HDDs.

 

This is very true, everyone has their opinions. I stated mine, and I am sure others had great experiences.

K-TRON

 

i happen to have over 20 plus years of tech experience,, and for a laptop hdd, i have to agree with K-tron. i've only had to RMA 2 IBM drives in 20 yrs and one of those was 90% likely caused by a user beating his laptop when it didn't understand him..

and while i've not seen nearly as many wd, seagate, sanyo, and various others,,,, i have seen bad batches(wd and seagate) and entire JUNK models (quantum bigfoot).... and i just base my oppinion on my knowledge and history of incidents.... personally i've seen more seagate drives go bad than any other of the 5 major brands, WD laptop drives would have to come in second place,, but thier desktop drives tend to die after about 2 to 4 yrs.

and believe it or not,, i've had great success out of Toshiba laptop HDDs...
they may not be the best performers,,, but they seem to handle common notebook treatment better than most other brands IMO.... but for my money HITACHI is always my drive of choice for a laptop..... i've got a 20 gig hitachi 20gig travelstar that is from 2001, it was used 12 + hrs a day 5 days a week for 5 yrs... sat idle for 1 yr,, and now has been in an EXTERNAL USB ENCLOSURE that gets tossed around like a red-headed step-child for the past year, with no problems,,, it still holds all my mp3s that i have ripped from my own CDs.. i trust the drive to hold up for another 5 years.... and it probably will..... but buy then it will be a part of a KIT made MP3 player that costs about $120 just for the circut board and most parts.. a 4x20 LCD display can be easily wired up to show id3 tags and navigate the menus and settings...

man what a rant....

 

more HDDs .. hahaha, keep pushing the old technology as far as they can

 

Yeah so...
anybody ever find anywhere selling these hard drives yet?
I've been checking newegg every morning since the announcement, yet nothing

 

No where in stock yet. afaik.

http://www.google.com/products?clie...ceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wf

 

Its going to be out in October, in Europe and US. You might find some available on some Chinese sites or Ebay.

 

Big Ozone,
I think you had a bad batch of quantum drives. I have four bigfoot drives, and all of them work great. Most are 6.5Gb, and one 3.1Gb. I have been hunting for the huge 19.2GB one which was supposedly made. I love the drive for havng 5.25" platters, in a very slim chassis.
Its not very fast, but it still looks really cool.

K-TRON

 

Just an FYI The price of the 320 gig's have dropped in the last couple of weeks. I paid 109.99 for my 320 just 2 weeks ago and now it's 99.99

 

I went and bought another 500GB drive - samsung hm500li is going to be a second drive. Three platters, 166GB/platter is not good for average seek time and quite power hungry as well...so I went and bought the WD my passport essential with 500GB hdd, hope it has the WDs BEVT drive, otherwise I am screwed.

 

If you get the WD 500GB, then it looks to be very good on the power efficiency.

I'm testing one at the moment. Results here. 2.5 to 2.6W power consumption for read / write benchmarking.

John

 

Only 500GB, i am waiting for the 1TB!

Regards

John.

 

Short-stroking this thing might make it pretty performant.