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Toshiba announces 320GB 1.8-inch hard drive
Toshiba has expanded its line of 1.8-inch hard drives today with a new dual-platter model that can hold up to 320GB of data -- a world's first in this form factor. The MK3233GSG features a 3Gbps SATA interface and 16MB cache buffer, produces just 19dB of noise during seeks and spins at 5,400 rpm for a maximum transfer rate of 830Mb/s.
The company is positioning its 1.8-inch line as more suitable for portable media devices and thin laptops than competing 2.5-inch drives. According to Toshiba, the tiny storage devices can handle non-operational shock up to 1,500Gs and operational shock up to 500Gs, marking respective improvements of 50 percent and 25 percent. They also consume 42 percent less power when seeking than the best 5,400rpm 2.5-inch HDDs.
There's still no word on pricing but the company says the new MK3233GSG will go into mass production in December 2009. The drives will also be available in 250GB and 160GB versions.
The company is positioning its 1.8-inch line as more suitable for portable media devices and thin laptops than competing 2.5-inch drives. According to Toshiba, the tiny storage devices can handle non-operational shock up to 1,500Gs and operational shock up to 500Gs, marking respective improvements of 50 percent and 25 percent. They also consume 42 percent less power when seeking than the best 5,400rpm 2.5-inch HDDs.
There's still no word on pricing but the company says the new MK3233GSG will go into mass production in December 2009. The drives will also be available in 250GB and 160GB versions.
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User Comments (19)
Post a comment| freedomthinker on November 5, 2009 11:21 AM | Well seems ok , not a monster though , but decent  Hehe
but since there no pricing we can't tell at the moment sadly
|
| limpangel on November 5, 2009 11:30 AM | Small size factor and low power consumption make it an ideal
hard-drive for netbooks (less heat, more battery time, less
noise). I can already see the next generation netbooks with
15+ hours battery time. Better yet, you might even be able
to replace the 2.5 inch HDD from your own netbook with a 1.8
inch one (with a liitle extra effort of course 
).Some will say that it will improve battery life for notebooks also, but I don't think that's the case. In notebooks the HDD is the lesser consummer, compared to the CPU and GPU, so the 42% less power when seeking will maybe get you around 5-10 minutes of extra battery time. Hope they will not be priced much higher than the 2.5 inch. |
| fref on November 5, 2009 11:31 AM | Wow, 320GB in such a tiny hard drive! Also saw that Western
Digital is coming out with a 640GB 2.5" hard drive
soon. This is great because a lot of people are switching to laptops instead of desktops now, and with all the multimedia content people use these days, large hard drives are a must. Who will be the first to offer 1TB in a 2.5" form factor?
|
| lynxon on November 5, 2009 11:41 AM | Wow, that's not bad for such a tiny HDD.... But my laptop
holds two 2.5in HDDs so I'm good!
|
| slh28 on November 5, 2009 12:33 PM | I wonder how many laptops out there which actually use 1.8in drives? And wouldn't it be a better idea for Toshiba and other hard drive makers to concentrate on making affordable SSDs rather than trying to make smaller magnetic hard drives - surely their days are numbered. |
| Anasazi on November 5, 2009 12:43 PM | Lots of devices use the 1.8 inch drives... not too many
computers... but the smaller IBM and Lenovo. Now Toshiba needs to get its act together and design some Solid State drives that are large enough and fast enough to retain their market share. Over time, we have not seen a more reliable drive, with Seagate and WD closes seconds, but IDE and SATA drives are now old hat. They will be hard to find in three years... maybe less. |
| PUTALE on November 5, 2009 2:26 PM | it's nice to see small drives are getting bigger and bigger. This would come very useful for those small portable devices. |
| Colonel Lance on November 5, 2009 2:46 PM | The Technology Mantra: Smaller and better. |
| shalimar on November 5, 2009 3:37 PM | Price will be insane I bet.. and realistically SSD's will
slaughter this in the very near future. |
| limpangel on November 5, 2009 3:57 PM | @slh28 and @Anasazi: You don't find 1.8 inch drives in
laptops because most of the models have only 4200 rpm. These
new drives have the same speed as 2.5 inch ones, plus they
use less power and make less noise. SSDs still have a long way to go before they reach the right $/GB and realiability to replace mechanical drives for good (@Anasazi: more than three years anyway). |
| Xclusiveitalian on November 5, 2009 6:33 PM | For its size...wow! Imagine in the future our cellphones will have more memory than us! lol |
| skitzo_zac on November 5, 2009 6:35 PM | Something like this as an external hard drive would be
awesome for portable storage. Transfer speeds would still max out a USB 2 connection, but not an eSATA or USB 3. |
| Kibaruk on November 5, 2009 6:47 PM | This smells like new notebooks and netbooks generations, umpcs will be on peak. |
| ken777 on November 5, 2009 8:12 PM | Now we can get a 320gb ipod classic for people who need to carry their favorite 80,000 songs with them. |
| psycholexx on November 6, 2009 6:14 AM | The capacity, very small form factor, and the insane shock
resistance, recommend this drive for a very portable usb
storage device. Also because of the sustainable 830Mbit/s
rate it could be used with ease in netbooks, and small
factor tablets. |
| pioneerx01 on November 6, 2009 1:15 PM | Wow, I did not even know that 1.8's go that high. It has been only few weeks ago that 2.5's hit 640GB. But how fast is it? |
| Guest on November 13, 2009 10:07 AM | That is good news. My laptop has 1.8" drive which works at 4500RPM respectively very low data transfer. In general my laptop has very good characteristics, but this little thing trip up the whole system. I hope that soon 1.8" drives will reach the speed of 2.5" drives. |
| Guest on November 28, 2009 6:51 PM | I bought it yesterday from bestbuy, but it shows only 298 gb. Can anyone tell me why is it? |
| regansdad on January 29, 2010 6:52 AM | I just bought one of these yesterday and have the same question you did. Have you been able to find out why it only shows 298 gb? |
