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First helium-filled 6TB hard drive launched, just not for you
At first glance, an enterprise-class hard drive with unparalleled areal density sounds like a pretty dull affair, right? While the new Ultrastar He6 drive from Western Digital's HGST subsidiary does fit that nap-inducing description, it's also got a couple of exclusive honors to boast about. You see, not only is this the first sealed, helium-filled HDD, but also the largest in a standard 3.5-inch footprint, packing 6TB over seven stacks. We learned during the drive's development that helium's lower density compared with air allows for this storage bump, as well as making it lighter and more energy efficient. It's destined for data centers and the like, with outfits like HP, Netflix, Huawei and CERN already registering their interest. You'd think these HDDs are pretty pricey currently, but let's hope HGST can dial its costs down and do the noble thing of bringing it to consumer rigs in the future.
HGST develops helium-filled, high-capacity hard drives: no, they won't float away
With certain exceptions, talk of advanced hard drive technology regularly has a tough time escaping research labs. Western Digital's HGST is promising a much more tangible project that could boost data capacities by a wide margin. By filling the gaps between drive platters with less buffeting-prone helium instead of air, HGST can safely fit as many as seven platters in a typical, 3.5-inch desktop hard drive instead of the current five. Going with the lower density gas creates a raft of side benefits, such as fitting more data on a single platter along with reducing the drag that both slows down and heats up the disk. We'll have to wait until 2013 to see shipping helium-filled drives in our PCs; given the slightly exotic nature of the technique, though, we wouldn't count on HGST or Western Digital handing out drives for free like balloons at a birthday party.
HGST launches new CinemaStar drives for media PCs and set top boxes
What's 2.5-inches wide, 7mm tall and silent as a whisper? Well, hopefully it's HGST's new CinemaStar hard drives. We know for certain that these platters of polarized bits will fit in your standard 2.5-inch drive bay, we'll just have to take this Western Digital subsidiary at its word (for now) on the silent bit. Three new families of disks just hit the market, the Z7K500, Z5K500 and budget-friendly C5K1000. The first two options are 7mm high, allowing them to slide nicely into small form factor PCs, DVRs and even laptops. Both top out at 500GB, but the Z7K ekes out better performance by whipping its platters around at 7,200 RPM, while the Z5Ks save energy and noise by ratcheting back to 5,400 RPM. The C5K comes in a slightly bulkier 9.5mm height, but this 5,400 RPM drive does reach the lofty storage size of 1TB. For now the drives are available in limited quantities to OEMs, but hopefully that will change soon enough. Check out the PR after the break for more details.
Western Digital drops $4.3 billion to acquire Hitachi GST, enter staring contest with Seagate
Yow. Western Digital -- the company responsible for shipping the planet's first 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive way back in 2009 -- just announced a monstrous deal to acquire one of its primary competitors, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Both outfits have actually shown quite a few interesting HDD designs in recent months, and it's pretty clear that WD would rather not go at it alone any longer. Granted, these types of deals aren't entirely unheard of -- in fact, Seagate swallowed up Maxtor back in 2005 for a cool $2 billion. Under the deal, which is a mix of $3.5 billion in cash and $750 million in WD common stock, the two will combine in a way that sees the Western Digital brand and headquarters surviving, while Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, will join WD at closing as president. Hard to say what this will mean for consumer pricing and competition, but we're pretty certain the powers that be will be looking it all over for fairness before they hop in the blender during Q3. Full release is after the break.
Hitachi introduces 2TB SimpleDrive for digital pack rats
Hitachi GST has been pushing 2TB hard drives for quite some time, but for whatever reason, the outfit's long-standing SimpleDrive line has been held back from enjoying the spoils. Until today, obviously. The outfit has just introduced a 2TB edition of its external SimpleDrive, and it also announced that all of its 3.5-inch retail drives are now available in 2TB capacities. There's also an upgraded Hitachi SimpleTech Pro Drive and Duo Pro Drive (2 x 2TB), with prices for the entire lot checking in at $249.99, $299.99 and $499.99 in order of mention. Oh, and in just case your 250GB drive from 2002 just hit its limit today, you'll be elated to know that each of these are available as we speak.
