Industry News Briefs Summary

Hitachi and Samsung have announced 2.5 inch, 5400 RPM mobile drives that will provide 500GB of storage. Currently the highest capacity for a two disk configuration yields 320GB or 160GB/platter. By adding a third disk and increasing the areal density approximately 4% to 167GB/platter, total capacity can be boosted to 500GB. The difference between Hitachi's product and Samsung's product is Hitachi adds additional Z-height (12.5mm) to accommodate the third platter, whereas Samsung is containing the third platter within the standard Z-height of 9.5mm. Fujitsu also introduced three platter products at 250GB in mid 2007 and 300GB in the latter half of 2007. Both products had Z-heights of 12.5mm. Products from Samsung and Hitachi are both due out in the first quarter of this year.