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Western Digital ships 7mm WD Blue, world's thinnest 1TB hard drive
Move over, Seagate -- there's a new sheriff in slimtown. Not content to introduce the first 5mm thick 500GB HDD, Western Digital just announced that it's shipping the world's thinnest 1TB hard drive, the 7mm WD Blue. It features StableTrack which secures the motor shaft at both ends to reduce vibration and improve tracking, plus dual-stage actuators -- electromagnetic for coarse displacement and piezo for fine movement. SecurePark keeps the heads clear of the disk surface and increases shock resistance. It's the same HDD we caught in prototype form at IDF 2012 and we reckon the 7mm WD Black (hybrid) version we saw at CES 2013 can't be far behind. The 1TB model (WD10SPCXX) is priced at $139 with a two year warranty and is available to OEMs, integrators and consumers right now. We fully expect this drive to appear in one of the laptops / tablets launching at Computex this week, so don't miss our coverage.
Western Digital ships upcoming WD Black hybrid drives to OEMs
As devices get thinner and thinner, there's no place in the world for chunky hard drives, and to that end Western Digital has been talking about bringing ultra-thin 5mm hybrid drive technology to the market. We just got a look at the new drives here at CES, which will be branded WD Black -- two 2.5-inch models consisting of a 500GB, 5mm thick (or thin) unit with 24GB of NAND memory, along with a 1TB, 7mm drive that also has 24GB of NAND. A spokesperson said that NAND could eventually go up to 32GB. There's no performance figures or pricing available yet, but WD has already started shipping copies of the new models to OEMs, and expects that they'll land in the laps of consumers within the next 6 months. %Gallery-175646%
Western Digital brings wafer thin 5mm hard drives to IDF, we go hands-on (video)
We're a jaded bunch here at Engadget sometimes, and with most of us using SSD-based systems these days it's hard to get too excited about good old spinny disks. Still we're also suckers for impressive technology, so our interest was piqued when Western Digital announced its 5mm thin 2.5-inch hard drives the other day. Luckily, the company saw fit to bring samples of its skinny new WD Black hybrid drive and WD Blue HDD to IDF 2012 and let us handle both briefly. The verdict? These are impossibly thin -- perfect for all those nice Ultrabooks we're expecting to see hit the market in the next few months. Details on performance, availability and pricing are scarce since these drives are intended for OEMs. Take a look at our gallery below, which includes thickness comparisons with WD's upcoming 1TB 7mm thin HDD and a standard-sized loyalty card -- then peek past the break for our hands-on video.%Gallery-165180% Update: yes, the loyalty card was demagnetized in the making of this video, and you now owe us all coffee.
Western Digital builds 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, Ultrabook makers sign on early
Those 7mm-thick hard drives you've seen in some Ultrabooks are already looking a tad on the chunky side. Western Digital has started producing sample versions of a hybrid hard drive (you're not yet looking at it here) that measures just 5mm (0.2in) tall, even as it crams in both flash and a 500GB main disk. If you think the slimmer drive is just the ticket for a best-of-all-worlds laptop that's both fast and capacious, you're not alone: Acer and ASUS have mentioned their collaboration in the same breath, which may be a strong clue as to where future Aspires and Zenbooks are going. The remaining question is when they arrive. Sampling isn't the same as mass production, which could leave us with months to go before the 5mm drive lands in future extra-skinny PCs.
Intel 313 SSDs bring improved caching to ultrabooks, desktops, life in general
Just like Intel's older 311 batch of small cache SSDs, the new 313 series is designed to sit alongside a traditional spinning HDD in order provide a tasty blend of speed and capacity. These newer drives are still SATA II, so there's no 6Gbps action here, but they use superior 25nm SLC flash, offer faster speeds for the same price (starting at $120 for 20GB) and are explicitly approved for use in the coming wave of Ultrabooks -- so don't be surprised if that's where you meet 'em next.
Plextor announces M3 Pro SSD with 24nm flash and 7mm form factor
Bored by Plextor's safe and steady M3S? Then ponder on its new performance model, the 2.5-inch, SATAIII-sporting M3 Pro. It notches up random read/write speeds by around seven percent to 75,000/69,000 IOPs, while sequential read/writes have also had a marginal bump to 540MB/s and 450MB/s. It's not yet clear how much the new drives will cost when they reach stores in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB varieties next month, but the use of 24nm toggle flash -- which squeezes more storage onto less silicon -- should help to keep pricing relatively sane. Oh, and the 7mm height also means that the M3 Pro will slide happily into the compressed bowels of your Ultrabook -- unless that slot has already been reserved for a Crucial. Read on for the press release.
Crucial outs Adrenalin Solid State Cache Solution, less long-winded m4 SSDs
Until the cost of flash storage comes down to the same plane of existence as most human wallets, hybrid solutions -- which pair an HDD with an SSD cache -- remain a smart way forward. OCZ scored some attention with its Synapse products, so now Crucial has to wave its arms in our faces and point to its own offering: the Adrenalin Solid State Cache Solution, which pairs a 50GB m4 SSD with proprietary caching software, and which will be out sometime this quarter for an undisclosed but surely rivalrous price. In the meantime, a fresh range of pure-breed m4 drives is already available, looking much like their predecessors but now whittled down to a mere 7mm in thickness so they can be squeezed into ever-narrower crevices. Pricing starts at $119 for 64GB and tops out at $795 for 512GB -- like we said, not your average plane of existence.
RunCore outs new storage solutions for CES, Marvell-based Falcon series included
If you're looking to quell your inner storage enthusiast after the holidays, RunCore may have something to satisfy your appetite. The company announced that it has two products intended for launch at CES. The Falcon series is a Marvell-based storage solution that boasts R / W IOPS speeds that best the outfit's Pro V SATA 6Gb/s SSDs. Speaking of the Pro V series, RunCore is looking to set up shop in Ultrabooks with a 7mm model of its 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s SSD with 540 MB/s read and 500 MB/s write speeds. Looking for a bit more info? Hit the full PR after the break.
Hitachi's 7mm-thick hard drives grow to 500GB, keep slimline profile
If you can't beat SSDs (and you can't, we've checked), you might as well try and dress like them by squeezing into the unreasonably low profile of just 7mm. Such must be the reasoning behind Hitachi's svelte 7mm-thick HDD series, which today gets augmented with a new top-of-the-line drive boasting 500GB of storage room. This single-platter archivist measure 2.5 inches diagonally, but as its Z5K500 product name suggests, it only spins at the tame rate of 5400RPM. The less generously proportioned Z7K320 offers 7200RPM if you're after more oomph, but it's most likely that your first real contact with either of these drives will be when you see them built into whatever larger device you're buying. Like, say, an ultrathin netbook or a PMP that's eager to swallow your music collection whole.
Hitachi stuffs 320GB into world's fastest 7mm hard drive
Well look at that: it's the world's first 320GB hard disk drive to spin at 7,200 RPM in a 7-mm high package -- take that Seagate. The 2.5-inch Serial ATA 3Gbps Travelstar Z7K320 features a 1,334Mbps max transfer rate assisted by a 16MB cache. The HDD draws 1.8 watts during read/write operations and 0.8 watts on lower-power idle while humming along at 23dB when idle or 24dB when seeking. And that skinny 7-mm form factor means it'll go places no standard 9.5-mm thick drive could even dream of when it hits the mass production lines in August -- like say next generation ultra-thin netbooks.
Seagate unveils USB 3.0 BlackArmor PS110 hard drive
You knew it wouldn't be long before Seagate hopped on the USB 3.0 bandwagon, right? Right. Here in Vegas, the company just announced its BlackArmor PS110, which is its first USB 3.0 portable HDD. What makes this one a touch different than the rest is the "performance kit" that it ships in, which is comprised of a 500GB USB 3.0 HDD (a 2.5-incher with a 7200RPM spindle speed), a power cable and an ExpressCard USB 3.0 adapter. 'Course, your shiny new MacBook won't take too kindly to this type of gesture -- but hey, at least you can read SD cards without breaking a sweat! The kit is up for purchase right now for $179.99, and if you're looking to take a closer look before pulling the trigger, you'll find our hands-on below along with a glance at a for-demonstration-only 7mm 2.5-inch drive that was first announced last month. %Gallery-81590%
Seagate's Momentus Thin to ship in 160GB / 250GB sizes this January
We weren't waiting on too many more details surrounding Seagate's 7mm thin laptop hard drive, but one critical tidbit has just now been unearthed by the outfit itself. The Momentus Thin will make its official unveiling at CES here in just a few weeks, where it'll be available in 160GB and 250GB capacities and with 8MB of cache, a 5400RPM spin speed and a SATA 3Gbps interface. We're also told that it'll be far less expensive than similarly sized 1.8-inch HDD options, which means this bugger could soon be planted into Atom D410 / D510-based netbooks. The drive is slated to ship to OEM and integrator partners next month, though specific price points have yet to be mentioned. Have a peek at the first press shots below. %Gallery-80243%
Seagate's 7mm Momentus Thin 2.5-inch hard disk for slim, high-capacity laptops: a world's first
Any advancement in commercial storage is big news 'round here so we're stoked to learn of a new ultra-thin hard disk from Seagate meant to slake our jones for super-slim portable computing. Seems that Seagate's already sampling a 7-mm high disk as part of its Momentus Thin series of drives scheduled to be launched at CES in January. Impressive, especially when you consider that just about every 2.5-inch SATA disk we cover measures in at 9.5-mm high. Although Seagate doesn't give specifics, we assume the drive will be spinning a single platter. And knowing that dual-platter 2.5-inch disks currently max out at 640GB (or 320GB per platter), we expect Seagate to at least match that single-platter capacity, but probably improve upon it via a boost in areal density. Feel free to offer your guess in comments until all is revealed on January 5th.
