Hitachi releases high-performance 500GB laptop hard drive
The 7K500 drive is 16% faster than its predecessor
September 1, 2009 12:56 PM ETComputerworld - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies today announced it's shipping the fifth generation of its 7200-rpm, 2.5-inch laptop hard disk drive that, at 500GB, has more than twice the capacity of its predecessor and is 16% faster.
The Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 SATA drive is designed for notebooks, gaming systems and professional external storage enclosures, according to Hitachi.
The company also said the drive provides operating shock resistance and advanced power management capabilities for "sturdy, unplugged notebook performance."
"Hitachi's new 500GB mobile 2.5-inch HDD with a 7,200-rpm spin-speed provides PC OEMs an opportunity to differentiate PCs with both capacity and performance." John Rydning, research director for hard disk drives at IDC, said in a statement.
Rydning went on to say that portable PC shipment growth continues to be one of the most significant market drivers underpinning 2.5-inch disk drive demand, and is a major reason why the 2.5-inch mobile HDD market will see a 16.8% compound annual growth rate between 2008 and 2013.
Like the past four generations of the Travelstar mobile drive family, Hitachi includes hardware-based Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) as an option on its Travelstar 7K500. When the Hitachi BDE option is enabled, the hard drive will encrypt all data that comes from the system as it is written to the media. When read back, the drive decrypts the data so that it can be understood by the system. Since the hard drive is doing the encryption work, there is no impact on system performance, Hitachi said.
By deleting the encryption key, the data is rendered unreadable, thereby eliminating the need for time-consuming data-overwrite.
The Travelstar 7K500 consumes 0.69 watts idle power and 1.8 watts during read/write operations, which contributes to longer battery life in laptops and other mobile applications, the company said.
The Travelstar 7K500 is now shipping in limited quantities to resellers, with volume shipments beginning later this month. Capacities include 120GB, 160GB, 250GB, 320GB and 500GB. Hitachi will offer an enhanced-availability (EA) version, available in 160GB to 500GB capacities in November. The EA version is specifically designed for applications requiring 24x7 operations in lower transaction environments, such as blade servers, network routers and surveillance systems.
Lucas Mearian
Additional Resources



Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.
White Papers & Webcasts
Data Protection is not an insurance policy -you cannot buy-back lost data
Find out why you need to maintain access to critical information to run your business and remain competitive.
Essential Archive Requirements for E-Discovery
Register Now!
Strategic ECM Webinar
Learn what new strategic business benefits can be realized through ECM!
CIO Strategies for the Retention and Deletion of Email
Register Now!
Rethinking Business Continuity and High Availability in Storage - HP and Forrester Pre-Recorded Webcast
Download it.
CIO Viewpoints: Exchange 2007 Risks and Mitigation Strategies
Download This Whitepaper Today!
5 Architecture Issues that Impact BES performance
Register to attend this LIVE Webinar to learn 5 Architecture Issues that Impact BES performance!
The Power/Density Paradox: The Result of High Density without Power Efficiency
Download this brief to explore what the power/density paradox is and how IT professionals can mitigate the risk.
Four Principles for Reducing Storage TCO
View cost reduction strategies in this video! Provided by Hitachi Data Systems.
