Fujitsu unleashes a 300GB 2.5-inch mobile drive

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later: tiny, 2.5-inch, laptop-sized hard drives have hit the 300GB threshold. Yep, Fujitsu has just announced its latest line of mobile hard drives, the MHX2300BT series, about nine months after reaching the 200GB barrier. Apparently this new 4200RPM SATA 2.5 line includes a seek time of 1.5ms, has a 1.6W power draw, and sports "high shock tolerance" -- although we would suggest that you not test that last one out. This new 300 gigger is due to hit the streets in early 2007, but we've got no pricing info for the time being.

[i @ Dec 11th 2006 1:59PM]

xbox 360 anyone?

[msapoz1 @ Dec 11th 2006 2:05PM]

Hmm I think this one will be going in my PS3!!!! Woooohoo finally some real room for mp3s, movies, and linux.

[Mike Browning @ Dec 11th 2006 2:07PM]

That 1.5ms seek time is slightly misleading. The article states it is the "Track to Track Seek Time." This is different from what most people think of when they read about seek time.

For example, if you go to newegg.com you will see that hard drives list the "average seek time."

Average seek time and Track-to-track seek time are two different things.

For example, Dell sells an WD 500GB 7200RPM hard drive. It has a track-to-track seek time of only 2ms. However, the average seek time is 8.9ms.
Link: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=A0616000


Given this, the 300 gigger should still be a very fast drive despite its low rotation speed. And 300GB in a 2.5" drive is amazing.

[JRA219psu @ Dec 11th 2006 2:08PM]

awwwwwwww yeaaaaa!!!! The PS3 just got sooo much sweeter (that is, it WILL be sweeter once I get one...)

[Richard Lai @ Dec 11th 2006 2:10PM]

Oh dear... I gotta go wash my pants...

[Mike Browning @ Dec 11th 2006 2:16PM]

Also, given that a 200GB 2.5" drive is $260 at the egg, I'd expect the 300GB drive to be at least $350. I wouldn't be too surprised if the MSRP was $399 or higher. But that's just my wild guess.

[Ryan @ Dec 11th 2006 2:48PM]

More like $500

[_man1c_ @ Dec 11th 2006 2:22PM]

MS Hello?.?. if you really want to do digital distribution correctly please get this hdd for us to purchase..

[Chris Merchant @ Dec 11th 2006 2:51PM]

What are you guys- high?

A 4200RPM drive for storing anything but text files will be much too slow. Why not just get a normal size SATA/ATA drive and throw it in your PS3s? You all do know that 7200RPM drives come in 300GB sizes, right?

Honestly- the intelligence.

Chris

[Michael B @ Dec 11th 2006 2:59PM]

You realize that there is a lot more to hard drive speed than just rotation speed, right??
Kind of like how a 3.5" 750GB 7200RPM drive is faster in most aspects compared to a 150GB Raptor spinning at 10,000RPMs.

[hesh @ Dec 11th 2006 3:04PM]

Chris, the PS3 only takes 2.5" SATA 150 drives.

[craig @ May 15th 2007 9:34AM]

Speaking of intelligence, Chris, you might want to brush up on basic hard drive performance. Large files perform adequately on slow spindles; small file performance is what suffers the most.

"I stand corrected :) Way to make me look like an idiot in public."

I agree, and in every aspect of your post.

[sidedraft @ Dec 11th 2006 2:56PM]

Anything larger than a 2.5" drive will not fit in a PS3, so you wouldn't be "throwing" much of anything in there with a normal size SATA drive.

[Jon Graft @ Dec 11th 2006 2:59PM]

I'm SOOO dropping this in my PS3!

[Farris @ Dec 11th 2006 3:03PM]

Now shrink it 0.7 inches, and I will finally be able to have a very kickass, albeit with and unneccesarily ginormous amount of storage, iPod!

[Tomppa @ Dec 11th 2006 3:04PM]

Chris

PS3 uses laptop sized drives. Thats why. It's damn stupid, but thats the way things are.

[Chris Merchant @ Dec 11th 2006 3:07PM]

I stand corrected :) Way to make me look like an idiot in public.

Anyone know precisely why Sony did this? It's not like they were at a shortage of space... right?

Hm..

Chris

[BradStar @ Dec 11th 2006 3:06PM]

This should definitely be in the next iteration of the iPod and render every other DMP on the market obsolete.

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 11th 2006 3:30PM]

Actually space inside is at a premium. Everything below the widest part of the PS3 is heatsink You would have to cut some of that heatsink out to fit the bigger drive. Above that is the power supply and optical drive. In front of the PS is the space for the memory cards. There's a disection video on YouTube that's interesting if your into that kind of thing :p

[Nick @ Dec 11th 2006 3:27PM]

Omg...After getting a 200GB 4200 RPM HDD in my Macbook Pro, I definently don't think 4200 RPM HDD's suck anymore....I want that 300GB HDD so bad....That's....So....Hot. Me wants!

[wraith808 @ Dec 11th 2006 3:34PM]

And you *have* seen the size of this thing, right? It's huge!

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 11th 2006 4:03PM]

Yeah, I own one.

[Porsche 911 @ Dec 11th 2006 3:57PM]

Does the Xbox360 also use a 2.5 SATA HDD, meaning by, if we can remove the plastic shell. I have noticed the size of my Xbox360 HDD shell and it is small, I wonder if it contains a SATA drive. If this is true, then I can use a screwdriver, open the shell and replace the HDD. If the price is right I would do this to my PS3 too, since my PS3 contains a 60 GB HDD, I am not in a big rush. I got my Xbox360 on the first day, so it is all filled up. I can save the game saves on my memory card and retransfer it to the new drive, and I can re-download all the downloadable contents. Also now if I order my new MacBook Pro, I can customize it with the lowest GB HDD, so I can replace it with that 300 GB one.

[tiuk @ Dec 11th 2006 3:58PM]

Yeah, the 360 uses a 2.5" SATA drive, but you can only use MS's drive. I don't want to get into the details, you can read about it here:

http://www.xbox-scene.com/

[daevh @ Dec 11th 2006 4:01PM]

Awesome!

I heard they were doing a 250GB (also a 200GB 7200rpm drive) early in '07 but not a 300GB. I'm going to speculate that this is a three platter drive though, won't fit a lot of laptops. Fortunately it'll slip inside my MBP with ease... :D

[Nick @ Dec 11th 2006 4:39PM]

Um, how are you gonna fit a 3 platter HDD into your MBP with ease dude? I own one as well, and I can definently say a 3 platter HDD is not fitting in here...Don't know what kind of crazy hacking you're doing...

[emazur @ Jan 19th 2008 1:08PM]

> Um, how are you gonna fit a 3 platter HDD into your MBP with ease dude? I own one as well, and
> I can definently say a 3 platter HDD is not fitting in here...Don't know what kind of crazy
> hacking you're doing...

Nick, that's complete NONSENSE! I don't know where you get that from. I am typing this from a MBP that has the 300Gb Fujitsu drive in it. It's awesome. PLEASE CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS BEFORE POSTING BLATANTLY WRONG STUFF.

[daevh @ Dec 11th 2006 5:02PM]

My mistake. I was under the impression that the Fujitsu MHV2200BT was the HDD offered as an option from Apple on the C2D Macbook Pros, which is a 3 platter drive at 12.5mm high. Seems they come with Toshiba's MK2035GSS drive which is actually the standard 9.5mm high...

I'd like to know if the 300GB is a two or three platter drive though, i don't think the MHV2200BT uses PMR like the one announced above though. Fingers crossed eh?

[uNext @ Dec 11th 2006 4:52PM]

This on my macbook pro core 2 duo wow
cant wait. Will make my alread ysweet computer even more sweeter.

[Kevin @ Dec 11th 2006 4:55PM]

Let's up that spindle speed a bit eh?

[Dan @ Dec 11th 2006 5:46PM]

Can there be one that is half the size with 150GB for an iPod?

[kdmaster @ Dec 11th 2006 6:33PM]

in your face macbookpro core 2 duo owners! now i can have a bigger drive than you! in my core duo laptop

[E71 @ Dec 11th 2006 7:42PM]

This is going straight into my Archos 504. 160GB? Hah, that's a thing of the past.

[resource @ Dec 11th 2006 8:35PM]

How is that 200 GB 4200 RPM Mac Book Pro?

What was your previous HDD RPM and how does it hold up?

[Michael @ Dec 11th 2006 11:53PM]

Sweet, if you ask me the biggest drawback to owning a laptop is the limited space. Especially if you're trying to migrate your life from a desktop with multiple large hard drives. This may finally get me to switch to a laptop in a year or so when prices come down more.

[theabominable @ Dec 12th 2006 6:33PM]

[i]This is going straight into my Archos 504. 160GB? Hah, that's a thing of the past.[/i]

My thoughts exactly.

[fanb @ Apr 19th 2007 3:09PM]

Do you (PS3) take (300GB 2.5-inch) to be your lawful wedded wife (responds, "I do.") Will you love, respect and honor her throughout your years together? (responds, "I will.")

[MacBandit @ Apr 22nd 2007 12:41PM]

Save your money with the PS3 you can just extend the SATA cable that's in the PS3 and connect to any external SATA drive case. So you could connect to the new 3.5" 1TB drive.

[Didith @ Aug 11th 2007 10:20AM]

4200 RPM ...
i wonder, how slow this little hd can run ?
or is it fast enough ...