Toshiba's 9.5-mm thin laptop disk hits 400GB

Toshiba just bested its own 320GB hard drive with a 400GB offering in the same 9.5-mm height form factor favored by most thin laptops. That's as good as it gets unless you can track down Sammy's elusive 500GB Spinpoint M6. The MK4058GSX spins just 2 platters which means the disk sports an impressive 477Mbit/mm2 (308Gbpsi) areal density while consuming 20% less power (0.0015W/GB energy consumption efficiency) and 2dB less noise than its own 320GB predecessor. Rounding out the specs are a 12-ms average seek and 8MB cache. Toshiba also boosted the rest of its 9.5-mm, 2.5-inch, 3.0Gbps SATA disk lineup to 7,200rpm including the 320GB MK3254GSY. Mass production of the 400GB slab is expected to begin in September while the 7,200 HDDs will hit the market in August. No prices announced.

[Via I4U]

[DiGiC Posted Jul 16th 2008 5:51AM]

I wonder if Apple would use these in a future iPod? Hmmmm

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 6:16AM]

lol, this guy.....

[jgpuff Posted Jul 16th 2008 6:35AM]

I wonder if company X might use this in product Y? Hmmm.

[Ignatius Posted Jul 16th 2008 7:42AM]

Considering that the iPod is actually running on 1.8" drives and not 2.5", I'd say....

NEVER.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 18th 2008 1:20AM]

Slightly off topic- What IS the fastest 1.8" PATA SSD drive on the market?

I just bought a Lenovo U110 and the drive speed is disappointing. I
can't find anything with decent reviews to replace it. Any help?

[collegekid13 Posted Jul 16th 2008 6:16AM]

i'll wait for the 1T version

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 7:11AM]

I'm waiting until the end of this year before getting my current 160GB MacBook Pro drive replaced. By the sounds of things I should have a reasonable choice of drives and the capacity will be significantly larger that what I currently have. Good news for me. I'm not bothered about a 7,200RPM drive since 5,400RPM already seems fast enough and these things should use less battery power and be faster that my existing drive simply because the same amount of data is packed into a smaller space.

And to think I thought 160GB would last me a while...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 8:01AM]

Ha, same here. Went from a 120 to a 160 in my MBP and figured I had some room to spare. Damn clients and all their high resolution plots and project images.

Just recently replaced with a 320GB Hitachi; went with the 5400 model (was around $100 @ macsales.com after rebate). Thought I would be disappointed with the 5400's speed but haven't noticed any difference in day-to-day use.

I don't hold any illusion to the fact that it'll fill up over time, but the swap out wasn't too painful (though I look forward to the MBP revision, where it's rumored the HD upgrade process will be as easy as it is currently on the regular MacBook). One thing is for sure, when I get the revised MBP this year or next, I'll be gunning for the 500GB drive (or whatever the biggest available drive is at the time).

(FWIW, the 500 is only available for the 17" MBP due to the height requirements; it's a 12.5 not a 9.5.)

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 9:32AM]

Yeah I just upgraded my macbook to a 320GB western digital last night. I was really looking to upgrade to one of the 500's but they are hard to find and expensive. The guy at the store told me they had one but it was about $280. Compared to my $130 external 320, I just couldn't justify it.

I think I'll wait till 750GB drives are out before upgrading again.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 7:19AM]

Didnt Hitachi announce a new technology that could produce 1 TB disks, and planned to release a 500 GB version too? That was a few years ago, and they said they would parket the 500 GB in 6 months and the 1 TB in a year.

:|

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 10:47AM]

In January, Hitachi announced a 500GB 2.5-inch drive. But it's 12mm tall:
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/01/03/hitachi_tips_500gb_laptop_drive/

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 10:11AM]

Seagate's 500GB laptop drives (5400 and 7200 rpm) are due in 4Q 2008:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=null&vgnextoid=19549a9dafc0b110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 9:53AM]

Got 2 of the Sammys (@$200 each) before they disappeared.

I'd love a 1TB 9.5mm 2.5", 5400RPM hard drive - would pay $500 for it today.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 10:17AM]

Looks like that will be my PS3's next drive upgrade.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 12:23PM]

I just ordered a Seagate 320GB for my PS3...only to find out the PSN movie/tv store doesn't work in Canada.

[Tony C Posted Jul 16th 2008 1:16PM]

Yeah, too bad you can't just swap out drives so easily in a 360... :oP

Money-grubbing M$ bastages!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 16th 2008 11:15AM]

Aw, MAN! My 320GB Travelstar JUST arrived this morning!

[Tony C Posted Jul 16th 2008 1:15PM]

Sweet gods of notebook hard drive space!!!

Hmmm... I doubled my MacBook Pro's drive space from 100GB to 200GB... Next up 400GB? ;o)

[peter0328 Posted Jul 16th 2008 6:40PM]

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/HM500JIMU2/

That one is better.