It's all here: 2.5-inch, 9.5-mm thick form factor; 3.0Gbps SATA interface; 250GB per platter for a 500GB total capacity; 5,400 RPM spin; and hardware-based data encryption using a 128-bit key (we presume, they don't say). That puts Hitachi's new 500GB Travelstar hard disk drives on par with
pretty much everyone else. Even the 1.4 watt read/write power draw that Hitachi says, "is lower than any other 500GB 2.5-inch hard drive on the market today" was just
matched by Fujitsu who goes even further with 256-bit encryption. No use crying Hitachi, that's what happens when you show up late for a party. Expect to see the 5K500.B disk ship worldwide in December while the 1.4 watt E5K500.B ("E" for Eco) is expected by the end of March 2009.
