Toshiba inspires breakthrough in hard disk storage

Dec 16, 2004: The storage race for higher capacity and smaller sized storage hard disk drives continues with Toshiba being the latest vendor to break into the lead with the release of its newest invention.

The MK8007GAH is an 80GB two platter hard disk drive that will be 1.8 inches in size, which is small enough to fit inside many portable information systems, such as iPods and PDAs.

A 40GB hard drive will also be available, called the MK4007GAL, and both will use the storage technique of perpendicular recording.

The difference between perpendicular recording and longitudinal recording means that data can be stacked like straws in a box, instead of being laid flat on the surface, which means that more information can be tightly fitted into the density.

Toshiba claims that the 206 megabits per square millimetre offered by its new hard drives is the highest ever achieved in a commercial hard disk.

Both of these drives will spin at 4200rpm, offering a seek time on average of 15ms. They can also take 500G of operating shock and 1500G of non-operating shock.

Toshiba is planning to roll out the use of perpendicular storage with its future products too, and it plans to include the technology with its 0.85in drives eventually.

Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital are all expected to responds with similar announcements in the next few months.

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