Toshiba intros 80GB, 120GB 1.8-inch hard drives

Hot on the heels of a pair of roomy 2.5-inchers comes Toshiba with a duo of even smaller drives likely destined for PMPs and cereal boxes of the future. The 120GB MK1216GSG and 80GB MK8016GSG are both designed to the latest SATA 2.6 specification and also feature the micro-SATA connector. Furthermore, the 5,400 RPM units weigh in at just 62 grams apiece and feature 8MB cache and a 489 Mbits/sec data transfer rate. Per usual, pricing on these buggers remains a mystery.

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 4:10PM]

But will it blend?

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 4:13PM]

Nope. No clever flames from me at least. Good bait though.

[Aguiluz @ Feb 26th 2008 4:18PM]

LOL... Obviously it will blend.

http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe

"Blend the Vote" and "Don't Blend me Bro!" was the best yet!

[prateeko @ Feb 26th 2008 4:19PM]

Good bait? Clever flames?

But I was just asking a question!

[Andrew @ Feb 26th 2008 4:47PM]

If you have a strong enough blender, it should. The metal casing on these drives is super flimsy.

[ethana2 @ Feb 26th 2008 5:44PM]

Oh. That's an actual blender. All this time, I figured that was a relevant question to ask about information technology related products.
You know, www.blender.org
Meaning that if something can blend, it has
1. a chip with an ISA supported by linux
2. a non-linear Memory Management Unit
3. a 3d acceleration unit with a functional OpenGL driver
4. a minimum of however many MB of RAM blender uses

Apparently, I was wrong.
...You guys /are/ idiots.

[satanhimself @ Feb 26th 2008 4:15PM]

What happened to those tiny coin-sized drives that Toshiba was working on a couple of years ago?

AA.
http://satanhimself.wordpress.com/

[bob sakamano @ Feb 26th 2008 4:18PM]

eh, how come nilay never writes about things like hard drives

does he think he is too good for storage capacity?!?

[KangMin @ Feb 26th 2008 4:20PM]

in the near future, i hope there will be interactive cereal boxes
maybe play some saturday morning cartoons
or news
somfin like that....
but cheap enough that we can just toss it...
in the near future...i just hope

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 5:03PM]

kangmin, your Haiku was too long

[Carl Vitullo @ Feb 26th 2008 4:24PM]

too bad for MBA.
it could've used a 5,400rpm drive, but since you can't swap out the drive...

[Casey @ Feb 26th 2008 5:23PM]

How come this won't work with the Macbook Air? Am I missing some sort of technical requirement?

AnandTech already posted instructions on swapping out the stock 4,200 RMP drive
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=13

[Nipponese @ Feb 26th 2008 5:24PM]

I believe you can swap the drive. As long as they're the same thickness (5mm). I think the 120GB is 3mm thicker though so that's a no-go.

[morcheeba @ Feb 26th 2008 5:32PM]

The MBA uses a 5mm thick drive; this is 8 mm. Samsung (the mfg of the MBA's drive) already makes an 8mm 120GB drive, the same as the toshiba: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=72&type=60&subtype=68&model_cd=338&tab=fea
... but, obviously, apple decided for the thinner drive. The MBA probably has SATA on the unused secret connector next to the I/O controller: http://www.maushammer.com/systems/mba/USB_files/shapeimage_4.jpg

[ssdforums @ Feb 26th 2008 4:31PM]

Wow. Too bad this wasn't solid state. From what I've heard, 1.8" drives aren't very robust and will break easily. I hope they're at least cheap

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 5:04PM]

so you prefer SSD to platter? it's still unclear from your name and post

[Phil Perman @ Feb 26th 2008 5:46PM]

As they're usually intended for PMP's, 1.8" drives are actually intended to be pretty robust, good shock tolerances etc.

[Mr Lizard @ Feb 26th 2008 6:29PM]

Who told you they break easily?

[ssdforums @ Feb 26th 2008 4:32PM]

This sums up my feeling of this post actually...

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Bleachers/6055/boring.wav

[asphixiated @ Feb 26th 2008 4:37PM]

ugh..

too many retards/12-year old kids trolling the engadget comments today. Shame, as there are some pretty interesting articles today.

[ethana2 @ Feb 26th 2008 5:48PM]

Meh. Every windows user is entitled to their opinions.

[ethana2 @ Feb 26th 2008 5:56PM]

Let me rephrase that:

Statistics show that 93% of obnoxious preteens and mentally challenged individuals use Microsoft® Windows®. Your potential. Our passion.

[asphixiated @ Feb 26th 2008 6:04PM]

again, too many retards/12-year old kids trolling the engadget comments today.

[Hung @ Feb 26th 2008 4:48PM]

I'm impressed that even though Toshiba has a virtual monopoly in the 1.8-inch HDD market, they still try to innovate.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/05/hitachi-to-phase-out-1-0-and-1-8-inch-drives-fujitsu-scraps-pla/

Surprising, to say the least.

[Anthony Schaefer @ Feb 26th 2008 5:05PM]

Wow engadget posted something about Toshiba not bashing HD-DVD

[Marcos @ Feb 26th 2008 5:22PM]

Coming soon to a MacBook Air near you (hopefully).
The 80 GB thing is probably the biggest limitation of the MBA... then again maybe not.

[ethana2 @ Feb 26th 2008 5:47PM]

Don't get me started on Apple products and limitations.

[ZeroCorpse @ Feb 26th 2008 6:08PM]

Don't get me started on Apple-haters and their manic idiosyncrasies.

[Baba Booey @ Feb 26th 2008 6:15PM]

so can you put this in an ipod photo or 5g/5.5g video? Rockbox!

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 6:32PM]

some call me.... Tim?

[Baba Booey @ Feb 26th 2008 6:49PM]

wha?

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 7:22PM]

i hope that "wha?" was in character, else I'm confiscating your Tim the Enchanter avatar

[Baba Booey @ Feb 26th 2008 8:08PM]

It's a Fred Norris photoshop with a character from (apparently) lord of the rings.

[phanbouy @ Feb 26th 2008 8:14PM]

oh the humanity of it all. give me your geek card, NOW. then go hit the googles, n00bella

[Baba Booey @ Feb 26th 2008 8:24PM]

sorry for not being a fan of Monty Python...

[Reader @ Feb 26th 2008 10:34PM]

That's not possible. /Everyone/ is a fan of Monty Python, you don't get to make that choice.

[Michael @ Feb 27th 2008 6:31AM]

You are NOT allowed to have that icon and not know who he is.

Remove it. Remove it at once or I shall use the sacred word.

Then... fetch me a shrubbery!

[tyecies @ Feb 26th 2008 6:43PM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the two largest factors in determining read/write speeds hard drive speed and data density? And given that a 120GB 1.8" drive is higher density than a 200 GB 2.5" drive and that they both spin at 5400RPM, than wouldn't the 1.8" be faster? Why does everyone bitch about the macbook air's hard drive performance?

[Miikun @ Feb 26th 2008 7:34PM]

You're forgetting that the platters are smaller, so while their angular speed is just as high, the speed of the surface passing under the head at the outmost cylinder is much slower than a 2.5 or 3.5" drive. The usual solution to a smaller platter is to spin the sucker even faster. You can make up for the difference and gain faster access time to boot.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Feb 26th 2008 8:00PM]

Man Sony should get rid of umd and put these in the psp. That would be so awesome. With a keyboard coming out for it(psp) next year. Also PSP games are being made available to play directly from memstick( like homebrew...) for faster read times. This would kick umd and pro duo ass!

[caramelzappa @ Feb 26th 2008 9:08PM]

aren't there already 160gb 1.8" drives, like in the ipod?

[Greg @ Feb 26th 2008 11:02PM]

Yes, what is the news here exactly: That it's Toshiba? That it's SATA? Engadget's great at being oh so hip and cool (and covering a lot of ground -- their one real virtue); not so good at actually conveying information. (Engadget editors: If I see one more "needless to say" or "obviously" on this site... Just say it.)

[Michael @ Feb 27th 2008 6:33AM]

No. The iPod currently has a double platter 80 GB 1.8" hard drive.

This means that if this 120 GB was built as double platter they could have 240 GB iPods.

Anyone down for a 240 GB iPod next year? I totally am.

[martin @ Feb 27th 2008 11:12AM]

isnt 1.8 inch what they use in the ipod classic?

[Badger @ Feb 28th 2008 7:42PM]

Stuff one of these into an eee! Mmmmmmm