Toshiba Intros 1.8" 320GB Hard Drive

Toshiba Intros 1.8" 320GB Hard Drive

Toshiba has introduced a new family of 1.8-inch hard drives. The new MKxx33GSG series is available in 320GB, 250GB, and 160GB capacities and feature a SATA interface. Additional specifications include a 5,400RPM spindle speed and a 16MB cache.

Toshiba also introduced the MK1235GSL, which the company claims is the most power-conservative hard drive on the market. The 120GB single-platter drive has a 4,200RPM spindle speed and only a 5mm profile.

The MK1235GSL is shipping now while the MKxx33GSG series will enter mass production in early December.

Toshiba Press Release (PDF FILE)

 

That is good news for those with the thinner notebooks that don't have room for a 2.5" HDD. Bigger capacity also means faster transfer rates.

John

 

Max speed is 830Mbps for the 320GB.
It sounds interesting, considering those 1.8" can be 4200RPM only, and that sounds like a pain.

 

There are some 5400 1.8" HDDs.

 

Sigh, I want more SSD innovation, not hard drive innovation! I suppose this is a good thing though.

 

Cool can't wait to install this into an Envy 15 when it gets E2E.

 

320GB in a 1.8 factor is very impressive. Maybe they will start using 1.8 as the new standard drive size. That would easily yeild notebooks with 3 and 4 hard drive slots as standard

 

Hm, Toshiba should be focusing on SSD IMO. There HDD's are not that bad but they have a good opportunity now that SSD is coming down.

 

Such small discs are inherently crippled by slower transfer speeds due to the smaller diameter. The outside (fastest) tracks of a 1.8" HDD will have similar transfer speeds to the slowest tracks on a 2.5" HDD. However, the smaller size also means lower power.

John

 

Yet hard drives are already the largest bottleneck on computers today, so these 1.8" drives are only going to exasperate that. I expect to mostly see these in the thin and light low voltage class anyway, which is a good fit, but SSD's are still going to be the way to go eventually.

I wonder how much battery life will be gained with these? A couple minutes or so? And also, the power usage compared to SSD's.

 

Assuming that the smaller HDD saves an average of 0.5W compared with a HDD and is in a computer which runs for 6 hours with an 8W average power drain using a normal HDD, the benefit would be an extra 24 minutes of run time. One of the more power efficient SSDs would use even less power, particularly on idle.

John

 

Most companies claim 10% increase in battery life with SSD.

 

Very true, but thats what SSD's are for. I use those for all of my OS/Application needs so the speed of the storage device(s) is largely unimportant.
The only problem i see is that 1.8in drive are just now getting to 1/2 the density as 2.5in drives so i doubt they will ever catch up in a capacity that makes them really worth while, though the power saving (not sure about temps) will still be nice for the mobile market

 

Well, SSDs are A LOT MORE expensive than an HDD. This is a viable solution for a small laptop trying to keep the prices down, without having to go to the SSD area in order to fit it.

Less expensive, larger/same capacity. It is worth a chance for laptops with these small drives.