WD's HGST Begins to Use 500GB 2.5" Platters in Hard Drives

From X-bit Labs: HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), a division of Western Digital, has introduced a new generation of hard drives for consumer electronics applications. The new CinemaStar hard disk drives (HDDs) utilize latest-generation 2.5" platters with 630Gb/inch2 areal density and thus provide 500GB capacity while being very - 7mm - thin, or up to 1000GB in 9.5mm models.

"The ever increasing appetite for on-demand entertainment is driving the adoption of high-capacity 2.5" hard disk drives into a growing number of CE applications. Not only is there a desire to increase the storage capacity in these devices to hold more programs, but they must deliver predictable A/V streaming performance," said Brendan Collins, vice president of product marketing at HGST.

All CinemaStar drives feature HGST’s patented SmoothStream technology, which supports the industry-standard ATA‑7 streaming command set, and SMART command transport (SCT) that provide time-limited error recovery and thermal monitoring capabilities for a longer system life. Together, the SCT protocol and HGST SmoothStream technology minimize disruptions in stream delivery by adapting buffer management behavior and error recovery timing to match the characteristics of typical streaming applications.

"With our broad new family of 2.5" CinemaStar drives, we continue to give our customers the flexibility to select a variety of reliable and robust drives to meet their cost, performance, power or capacity requirements, while helping them to deliver smaller, more aesthetically appealing designs," added Mr. Collins.

The new 2.5" CinemaStar family is now shipping in limited quantities. CE OEM samples are now available.

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