Toshiba raises hard disk density bar

Toshiba’s storage division has announced six new 2.5in hard disk drives for use in laptops.

The highest capacity of these is the 400GB MK4058GSX. While this is not as capacious as the 500GB drives announced earlier in the year by Hitachi, Samsung and Fujitsu, Toshiba says this is the highest areal density ever in a disk drive at 477Mbit per millimetre squared, with the 400GB spread over only two platters.

The drive spins at 5,400rpm and Toshiba says it features a “silent seek function”, which uses acoustic dampening techniques to reduce noise during disc activity. It also claims the drive offers a very low energy consumption of 0.0015W/GB. Toshiba claims that the drive lowers energy consumption over its larger 3.5in brethren by as much as 70%.

For those looking for the fastest performance, the 320GB MK3254GSY may be more appealing as while it’s 80GB shy of the larger drive, its rotational speed is 7,200rpm, equivalent to most desktop drives, which makes for quicker data access.

Along with this drive, Toshiba also announced the 250GB MK2554GSY, the 160GB MK1654GSY, the 120GB MK1254GSY and the 80GB MK8042GSY.

“Consumers are downloading vast amounts of digital content in and outside the office,” says Martin Larsson, vice president and general manager of Toshiba’s European storage device division. “Toshiba is developing high-performance components with the capacity to deliver on the raised expectations of today’s consumers and our 2.5-inch HDDs are proof of this.”