The new Travelstar Z7K500 hard drive from Hitachi
(Credit: Hitachi)
Hitachi GST announced today that it's now shipping the Travelstar Z7K500 hard drive. The company says this is the first low-profile (7mm) 2.5-inch hard drive that spins at 7,200rpm, supports SATA 3 (6Gbps), features 32MB of cache, and can handle shock up to 400G.
The new drive uses only one platter and offers up to 500GB, meaning it has a data density of 626 gigabits per square inch. Despite being much thinner, the Z7K500 drive supports standard power and data connectors and can replace existing 9.5mm standard 2.5-inch hard drives, as well as working in thin and light products, such as Intel's new ultrabook.
According to Hitachi, the new 7,200rpm Travelstar Z7K500 delivers up to 33 percent more performance than other 2.5-inch hard drives on the market. The drive also uses just 1.8 watts of read/write power and 0.8 watt low-power idle and operates nearly silently.
The Travelstar Z7K500 drive comes in 500GB, 320GB, and 250GB capacities and will be available for consumers in March. It's currently unclear how much it costs.
Source: CNET
