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BOISE, Idaho & SANTA CLARA, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Feb 01, `08 — Intel and Micron Technology today unveiled a high speed NAND flash memory technology that can greatly enhance the access and transfer of data in devices that use silicon for storage. The new technology – developed jointly by Intel and Micron and manufactured by the companies’ NAND flash joint venture, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) – is five times faster than conventional NAND, allowing data to be transferred in a fraction of the time for computing, video, photography and other consumer applications.

The new high speed NAND can reach speeds up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) for reading data and 100 MB/s for writing data, achieved by leveraging the new ONFI 2.0 specification and a four-plane architecture with higher clock speeds. In comparison, conventional single level cell NAND is limited to 40 MB/s for reading data and less than 20 MB/s for writing data.

“The computing market is embracing NAND-based solutions to accelerate system performance through the use of caching and solid-state drives,” said Pete Hazen, director of marketing, Intel NAND Products Group. “At up to five times the performance over conventional NAND, the high speed NAND from Intel and Micron, based on the ONFi 2.0 industry standard, will enable new embedded solutions and removable solutions that take advantage of high–performance system interfaces, including PCIe and upcoming standards such as USB 3.0.”

For example, the specific performance advantages of high speed NAND in today’s most popular devices include:

* When used in a hybrid hard drive, high speed NAND can allow the system to read and write data anywhere between two or four times the speed when compared to conventional hard drives.
* With the popularity of digital video cameras and video on demand services, high speed NAND can enable a high-definition movie to be transferred five times faster than conventional NAND.
* With the pending USB 3.0 interface, high speed NAND is expected to effectively deliver on the increased data transfer rates of the new specification, where conventional NAND would act as the bottleneck in system performance. USB 3.0 is aiming for 10 times the bandwidth of current USB 2.0 solutions, or approximately achieving 4.8 gigabits per second.
* As NAND continues to move into the PC platform, the Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) can take advantage of high speed NAND in solutions such as Intel Turbo Memory, allowing for even better system performance. NVMHCI is designed to provide a standard software programming interface allowing operating system drivers to access NAND flash memory storage in applications such as hard drive caching and solid-state drives. More at Micron.

Tokyo, Japan — Hitachi, Japan’s biggest electronics conglomerate, plans to exit the business of making small hard disk drives as demand shifts to flash memory chips, Reuters reports citing the Nikkei business daily reports on Sunday.

“Hitachi’s hard drive unit, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has already stopped production of 1-inch hard drives and plans to stop shipping 1.8-inch drives around next summer, the newspaper said.

The Nikkei also said Hitachi rival Fujitsu has given up on plans to enter the market for small drives. Fujitsu had been developing 1.8-inch drives with U.S.-based Cornice with plans to bring a product to market in 2007.

Hitachi will focus on 2.5-inch and 3.5-drives, anticipating strong demand for the bigger drives that are used in personal computers and digital electronics such as DVD recorders, the Nikkei said.” More at Reuters.

SAN JOSE, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 19, `07 — Samsung Electronics announced today its high capacity 2.5-inch hard drive, the new Spinpoint M6 featuring 320GB of storage capacity.

The new Spinpoint M6 HM320JI is a SATA hard drive designed for notebook PCs, as well as slim PCs and blade servers. With its ultra-high 320GB capacity, the Spinpoint M6 can store the most content of any 2.5” drive and is ideal for notebook users who need large storage space for videos, photos, music and multiple multimedia applications.

Created to thrive in the toughest environments where notebook PCs are used, the Spinpoint M6 provides superb reliability. It utilizes perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology, and the disk drive design has been optimized to allow ultra-precision adjustment of the head parking ramp position for high-density recording. The Spinpoint M6 features an optional Free-Fall Sensor that protects data from accidental drops and includes an optional Rotary Vibration Controller that minimizes the influence of external vibration.

The Spinpoint M6 has been developed to meet the most stringent environmental demands of notebook PC and portable consumer electronics, where minimal noise and low power consumption is critical. Samsung’s Spinpoint M6 hard drives operate between 2.6Bel and 2.4Bel in idle mode.

The M6 Series features a 5,400rpm spindle speed, 1.5Gbps SATA interface and 8MB cache memory. The M6 Series is currently available with a $249 MSRP (where? only - the Worst (non-existent) On the Planet Samsung-PR - knows ). Can’t find it at Samsung Global Hard Disk Drive page or anywhere at Samsung, except user manual.

SAN DIEGO & SEOUL, Korea –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 17, `07 — DivX and LG today announced the launch of two additional models in the DivX Certified Time Machine TV Series specifically targeted for South America.

The two new models of LG’s DivX Certified Time Machine TV Series join millions of DivX Certified devices on the market today that play back high-quality DivX video content.

The two additional models, the 42LB9RT and 32LB9RT, are LCD offerings that deliver high image and audio quality for digital content using much less bandwidth than regular analog devices. These devices boast a simultaneous watch-and-record function and the ability to transfer high-quality DivX content directly to the TV through the USB port.

Maintaining the exceptional standards of the Time Machine TV Series, these models include a built-in 80 gigabyte hard disc drive for Time Shift function and recording as well as a USB 2.0 port, for backing up recorded content and enabling the direct playback of MP3, JPEG and DivX formats. More here.

New S3200 specification delivers higher speed than competing technologies - and much sooner - with no changes to connectors or cables.

Dallas — On Dec 12, The 1394 Trade Association announced a new specification to quadruple the speed of FireWire to reach 3.2 gigabits per second.

The new electrical specification, known as S3200, builds upon the IEEE 1394b standard, preserving all the advantages of FireWire while offering a major and unprecedented boost in performance.

The new speed uses the cables and connectors already deployed for FireWire 800 products, making the transition forward easy and convenient for 1394 product vendors and their customers. Because the 1394 arbitration, data, and service protocols were not modified for S3200, silicon and software vendors can deploy the faster speed FireWire quickly and with confidence that it will deliver its full potential performance.

The S3200 specification is expected to be ratified by early February. More at 1394TradeAssociation.org.

New low-power, rugged 1.8-inch HDDs feature up to 120GB capacity with an 80GB light-weight model for PC applications, along with a series of 60GB drives optimized for CE devices.

IRVINE, Calif — On Dec 12, Toshiba Storage Device Division announced expansion of its 1.8-inch HDD lineup with a series of five new HDDs for PC and consumer electronics (CE) applications.

Highlights include a high-capacity 120GB model for thin and light mobile PCs, as well as slim, single-platter 80GB and 60GB models for ultra-mobile PC and portable handheld CE devices.

Toshiba’s new 1.8-inch HDDs for PC applications include the 120GB MK1214GAH, the 60GB MK6028GAL and the lightweight 80GB MK8025GAL, weighing two grams less than traditional 5-millimeter-high 1.8-inch HDDs. All three models are equipped with a PATA interface, 2MB buffer and 512 byte-per-sector format for tablet, mobile PC, ultra-portable, ultramobile PC (UMPC) and other applications.

For CE applications, Toshiba introduced two single-platter, 60GB 1.8-inch HDDs in the slim, 5-millimeter-high form factor with special attributes for mobile and handheld products.

The MK6014GAL offers a 4,200 RPM spin speed and 2MB buffer for faster data throughput, while the MK6015GAA supports a 3,600 RPM spin speed for quieter operation. Toshiba’s two 60GB CE HDDs demonstrate the company’s lead in the design and manufacture of long data sector technology with 1K byte-per-sector formats optimized for CE.

In addition to spurring miniaturization and mobility for PC and CE devices, 1.8-inch HDDs deliver better power efficiency, improved ruggedness and quieter acoustics for music and video playback over long periods of time, compared to larger form factor HDDs.

More at ToshibaStorage (in pdf).

TOKYO, Japan — On Monday, Dec 10, Toshiba announced its entry into the emerging market for NAND-flash-based solid state drive (SSD) with a series of products featuring multilevel-cell NAND flash memories.

Offered in a range of form factors and densities, Toshiba’s solid state drives are designed primarily for notebook PCs. They will be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from January 7th to 10th. Samples and mass production will follow from the first quarter (January to March) of next year.

Moving NAND-based storage architecture forward, Toshiba’s first solid state drives offer three densities: 32 gigabytes (GB), 64GB and 128GB. SSD realize low power consumption, a fast boot time, and lightweight, but market penetration has been held back by low densities and high prices.

Toshiba’s new SSD integrate an original MLC controller supporting fast read-write speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling, and achieve performance levels comparable to those of single-level NAND flash SSD. By applying MLC technology, Toshiba has realized a 128GB density in a 1.8 inch form factor. Toshiba expects the launch of its SSD line-up to speed up acceptance of solid state memory in laptops and digital consumer products, and to widen the horizons of the NAND flash market.

The new products utilize NAND flash memory fabricated with 56nm process technology, along with controller chips and DRAM, on a 70.6mm (L) x 53.6mm (W) x 3.0mm (H) platform. The maximum read speed is 100MB a second, and the maximum write speed of 40MB a second with the SATA2 interface (transfer rate of 3Gbps), which is compliant with high speed serial interface. The operating life is 1,000,000 hours. More at Toshiba.

Dec 06, ‘07 — LaCie is accepting pre-orders for its user-friendly 320GB External Hard Drive, which is designed by Neil Poulton.

Here’s what LaCie says about its newest addition: LaCie Hard Drive, Design by Neil Poulton adds sophisticated style to your desktop yet its presence is quiet and unobtrusive. It has a unique distinguishing feature - a cool, blue LED strip on its underside that creates an ambient glow.

Its subtle, all-black design blends perfectly into dark home entertainment setups and workstations. Very small for its vast capacity, this lightweight, compact drive has a fashionable, mirror-polished finish. The smartly engineered design allows for heat dissipation and near-silent, fanless operation.

You can pre-order one for $119.99 at LaCie.

Dec 05, ‘07 — A long-running California lawsuit over whether all megabytes and gigabytes are created equal may have reached its end on Friday, reports Declan McCullagh of CNET News.

The article further describes, “the class action lawsuit, against Kodak, Sandisk, Lexar Media, and other memory card makers, says a binary definition is appropriate, meaning that one megabyte equals 1,048,576 bytes and that the memory card sizes were overstated by 4 percent to 5 percent.

When memory capacity was smaller, the difference didn’t mean much. A decimal kilobyte, at 10^3=1,000 wasn’t very different from 2^10=1,024.

But as capacity grows, the differences become more significant (technically, the ratio between the decimal and binary representations increases). This explains why your new terabyte drive isn’t as capacious as you hoped it might be. A 10^12=1,000,000,000,000 decimal terabyte is roughly 10 percent smaller than the binary equivalent of 2^40=1,099,511,627,776.

At this point it’s reasonable to note that there actually are terms that avoid all this confusion, and those include IEEE 1541 terms Gibibyte and Tebibyte.

More at CNET News.

LAKE FOREST, Calif — Dec 03, ‘07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Just in time to make a perfect holiday gift, Western Digital today announced that its new 320 GB capacity WD Passport Portable Drives are now available for $229.99 at select retailers and this week at WD’s online store ShopWD.com.

At less than five ounces, this lightweight drive fits neatly in a pocket or backpack and is the perfect gadget to back up today’s increasingly large files.

WD Sync software allows consumers to take desktop content with them by simplifying the synchronization of essential personal files and
Microsoft Outlook data on a PC. Should owners misplace the drive, they know their data is protected with 128-bit encryption. Google software on the drive allows users to quickly locate files with the Google Desktop Search search tool, manage photos with Picasa photo organizer software and simplify Web searches with the Google Toolbar search bar.

Tokyo — On Nov 28, Toshiba Corporation announced the latest additions to its market-leading lineup of 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDD) for automotive applications: an 80GB drive offering the industry’s largest capacity, and a 40GB drive.

The drives will be used in such applications as car navigation systems, and will be released in industrial and retail versions. Sample shipping of the drives has started and mass production will start in March 2008

Toshiba’s line of automotive HDDs enable a variety of applications, such as GPS navigation, digital music and video, and other telematic systems. With an altitude specification of 5,500 meters, the rugged MK8050GAC and MK8050GACE drives meet the operating extremes of a road environment. More at Toshiba here and here.

Nov 28, ‘07 — Brando is offering this USB to SATA / eSATA with 5 USB Ports Combo Hub turns any SATA or eSATA mass storage device into a convenient external USB 2.0 High-Speed drive.

This adapter supports 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA hard drives, SATA CD/DVD drives and eSATA drive enclosure. It is a great test bench device perfect for technicians or anyone needing to copy or offload files from one hard drive to another. In additions, it contains a 5-Port hub, it is more convenience to use.

Get yours for $33 or $43 with power at Brando.com.hk

Tokyo, Japan — November 27, 2007 — Fujitsu Limited today announced the development of the MHZ2 BH series of 2.5-inch hard disk drives with a maximum capacity of 320 GB. Sales of the new series will begin in February 2008.

Featuring a storage capacity for 2.5″ HDDs that is among the highest in the industry, the MHZ2 BH series delivers transfer speeds of up to 300MB per second. The series is designed primarily for use in compact desktop PCs, notebook PCs, and consumer electronics products, such as HDD recorders.

Supporting Serial ATA3.0Gb/s interface, the MHZ2 BH series delivers transfer speeds of up to 300MB per second. Moreover, the new series achieves the world’s lowest levels of power consumption, operating at only 1.9 watts when reading or writing data. More at Fujitsu.

Buffalo has surprised everyone this week in becoming the first company to market with a 320GB portable external hard drive, says TrustedReviews.

TR further writes, “Despite its gold medal win, the ‘MiniStation TurboUSB’ (HD-PS320U2) is no slouch either with Buffalo admirably having chosen to go down the quicker 5,400rpm route - a decision which means the drive will boast transfer rates up to 64 per cent faster than the traditional 4,200rpm speeds with which the latest high capacity portable HDDs usually debut.

Furthermore, the PS320U2 has security covered too with the Buffalo’s own ‘Secure Lock Ware (SLW)’ utility which offers drive and file encryption to protect data with up to 256bit AES Encryption. On top of this data can be protected further with the bundled ‘Memeo AutoBackup’ software (Windows only) which offers additional options such as scheduled backup and password protection. The PS320U2 launches in December with the cutting edge premium price tag of $319 (£155).” More at TrustedReviews.

SANTA CLARA, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Nov 20, ‘07 — Seagate Recovery Services, a Seagate today announced an agreement with Staples, the world’s largest office products company, to provide data recovery services to Staples’ customers throughout the United States via its in-store EasyTech services staff.

Through this agreement, Staples’ customers can now take any brand or type of digital media requiring data recovery services to one of more than 1,400 Staples stores across the country. In each store, personnel will determine the specific data recovery needs and provide the appropriate services.

Today, the value of data far outweighs the cost of the media and computer systems on which the information is stored. When digital content is lost or inaccessible, customers need reliable, secure and professional recovery services. Staples, working with Seagate Recovery Services through its Security by Staples initiative, now provides a convenient and trusted environment for customers to receive the highest quality data recovery services.

Seagate Recovery Services has nearly 20 years of experience in recovering valuable data from a variety of media, including computer disc drives, RAID arrays, external drives, flash media, tape and optical media including CDs and DVDs.

Data loss can be caused by mechanical failure of a device, contamination, fire or water damage, human error or other factors. In most cases, the data can be recovered by trained technicians by using a combination of software technologies and/or physical reconstruction of the device.

Staples customers who have lost data can take their digital media to Staples EasyTech technicians who are trained to help customers with services such as hardware and software installations, data protection and security, and repair and troubleshooting. All recovered data will be returned to the customer on an external USB hard drive with a two year limited warranty. If no data is recovered, the customer is not charged for the service. Kool!

What’s on your old hard drive? If you think a) There’s nothing interesting on my drive or b) Reformatting/repartitioning a hard drive is good enough or c) Deleting all of the files is good enough, think again.

A lot of information is stored on your hard drive. What you look at on the internet, emails, personal photographs, passwords to online banking, social security numbers, the list is endless. Probably enough for an attacker to know your name, address, location, what you look like, and probably quite a bit more. If nothing else, the people in your email contact list deserve anonymity.

Starting at $100 for a standard version to $200 for a Drive eRazer Versatile bundle, WiebeTech is offering its newest hardware solution to completely erases all your data from a hard drive quickly and easily. Stand-alone operation. No computer required! Faster than software.

Why use hardware? Drive eRazer is faster than software programs, and Drive eRazer doesn’t tie up a computer. What’s more, it’s far easier. Simply connect it to a drive and flip a switch. No computer needed. More info at WiebeTech here and you can get one at here.

Taipei, Taiwan — Nov 11, ‘07 — Taipei Times is reporting on Investigation Bureau officials warning of “Focused Attack” of Trojan horse viruses on Large-capacity hard disks, often used by government agencies. 

The newspaper further writes, “Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said.

Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said. The tainted portable hard disc uploads any information saved on the computer automatically and without the owner’s knowledge to www.nice8.org and www.we168.org, the bureau said.

The bureau said that hard discs with such a large capacity are usually used by government agencies to store databases and other information. Sensitive information may have already been intercepted by Beijing through the two Web sites, the bureau said. The bureau said that the method of attack was unusual, adding that it suspected Chinese authorities were involved.

In recent years, the Chinese government has run an aggressive spying program relying on information technology and the Internet, the bureau said. The bureau said this was the first time it had found that Trojan horse viruses had been placed on hard discs before they even reach the market.”

China and Taiwan regularly trade accusations of spying and last month Germany accused China of being behind Internet espionage attacks on its companies and government. China said it opposed such accusation

The Taiwanese newspaper later reported, “VIRUS: Investigators say the tainted Maxtor portable hard disc, made by Seagate, uploads information saved on the computer automatically to Web sites in Beijing.

Further investigations suggested that “contamination” took place when the products were in the hands of Chinese subcontractors during the manufacturing process.

In September, TheRegister said that Kaspersky Labs had found a pre-installed virus named Virus.Win32.AutoRun.ah on Maxtor 3200 external hard drives sold in the Netherlands.” More at TaipeiTimes here and here.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — BUSINESS WIRE — Nov 06, ‘07 — Debuting today, the newest members of Hitachi GST’s CinemaStar cast of hard drives are ready for their close-up. Hitachi is offering multiple form factors to address a wide variety of needs in the growing consumer electronics market. A 3.5-inch drive with capacities up to 500GB provides industry-best power utilization and performance, while the more compact 2.5-inch drive with capacities up to 250GB is well-suited for use in sleek set-top boxes and portable digital video devices.

The abundance of digital video has been fueling consumer demand for digital video recorders (DVRs) with more storage capacity and new slim, space-saving designs. The CinemaStar C5K250 and P7K500 are the latest in a long line of Hitachi drives optimized for use in home entertainment applications.

More at Hitachi, Press Release, CinemaStar 7K500, Cinemastar C5K250.

Round Rock, TX and Nashua, NH — Nov 05, ‘07 — Dell has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire EqualLogic, a leading provider of high-performance iSCSI storage area network (SAN) solutions uniquely optimized for virtualization. The acquisition will strengthen Dell’s product and channel leadership in simplifying and virtualizing IT for customers globally. iSCSI SAN technology represents the fastest growing part of the storage business.

“Our customers will be dealing with the largest increase in data we have seen in our history over the next few years,” said Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell. “Leading the iSCSI revolution will help Dell accelerate IT simplification and virtualization and will drive the Dell value proposition into more areas of the enterprise storage business,” Mr. Dell said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dell will purchase EqualLogic for approximately $1.4 billion in cash. The acquisition of EqualLogic is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of Dell’s fiscal year 2008 or early in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. The company expects the acquisition to be dilutive to earnings per share, excluding the amortization of intangibles, by $0.02 to $0.05 in aggregate for Fiscal 2009 and Fiscal 2010. The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

After completion of the transaction, Dell plans to grow EqualLogic’s successful channel-partner programs with current and future EqualLogic-branded products, and also plans to incorporate EqualLogic technology into future generations of its Dell PowerVault storage line available through the channel and direct from Dell. More at Dell.

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - October 31, 2007 - Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced it is now shipping its new WD Scorpio® 320 GB 2.5-inch SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives for notebook computers and portable storage devices.

WD uses advanced head and media technology to achieve the world’s highest capacity 2.5-inch, slim, 9.5mm form-factor hard drive and includes proprietary features that make the drive extraordinarily quiet while running at cool operating temperatures. The WD Scorpio 320 GB hard drives deliver high performance with 3 Gb/s transfer rate and are destined for use in OEM notebook platforms that offer the highest storage capacities to the worldwide market.

Key Features:

- WhisperDrive: WD’s exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to yield the WD Scorpio 320 GB as one of the quietest 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch drives available
- ShockGuard: Leading-edge ShockGuard technology combines firmware and hardware advancements to protect the drive mechanics and platter surface to meet the highest combined shock tolerance specifications required for mobile and notebook applications
- IntelliSeek: Another unique WD Scorpio 320 GB feature is its IntelliSeek technology, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration

Availability: WD Scorpio 320 GB drives (model WD3200BEVS) are available on the company’s online store for $199.99 at ShopWD.

San Jose, CA–Oct 29, ‘07–Seagate Technology, the world’s largest maker of hard drives, said Monday it is shuttering one of two manufacturing facilities in Northern Ireland, resulting in a cut of 780 employees, about 1.5 percent of the company’s global work force. 

The company is closing a 10-year-old plant in Limavady in County Derry that manufactures substrate materials used in disks for hard drives, Seagate spokesman Woody Monroy said. 

Monroy did not know how much money the company would save from the move but said it is part of Seagate’s ongoing effort to streamline operations. He said Seagate expanded substrate manufacturing at its facilities in Singapore and Malaysia last year while external suppliers have lowered their costs. 

“It’s no longer competitive from a business standpoint” to keep the Limavady plant open, Monroy said. 

A larger plant in Springtown, in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland, will not be affected. That location has 1,400 employees and manufactures the recording-head components for hard drives. More at AP

Even though TiVo Expand page displays the “check back soon for details” message,  Best Buy for Business has started selling the first TiVo external hard drive, Western Digital - My Book TiVo DVR Expander WDG1S5000 - 500GB - external - eSATA-300 - for $219.99.

Order yours at Best Buy for Business

GeekSyuff4U have this awsome hard drive USB docks just for $47. This is as simple and convenient as it gets to connect a HD to a PC or Mac.

You can get one at GeekStuff4U

Company Achieves 520 Gb/in2 Areal Density in Demonstration; Result of Ongoing Technology Investments. Says Western Digital. TOKYO and FREMONT, Calif. - Oct. 17, 2007 - Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has achieved 520 Gb/in2 areal density - the hard drive industry’s highest demonstrated density to date using continuous media. The company revealed the milestone this week at the Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference in Tokyo after an earlier demonstration in California.

Following WD’s growing investments in technology the past five years, the company achieved 520 Gb/in2 using its own perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR)/tunneling magneto-resistive (TuMR) head technology. This level of density produces a 3.5-inch hard drive storing 640 GB-per-platter and single hard drive capacities as large as 3 TB. Based on the industry’s current density growth rate of more than 40 percent per year, those capacities are expected to be available in the 2010 timeframe.

Current industry-leading hard drive densities shipping in high volume are about 200 Gb/in2, as featured in WD’s 250 GB WD Scorpio 2.5-inch drive for notebooks and mobile applications, which began shipping in May 2007.

“WD was the first hard drive manufacturer to ship in volume the 250 GB capacity point in the 2.5-inch form factor,” said Hossein Moghadam, chief technology officer for WD. WD demonstrated 520 Gb/in2 density in its Magnetic Head Operation labs in Fremont, Calif., earlier this month. Moghadam added, “The milestone was realized using our current-technology MgO reader, illustrating the extendibility of PMR-TuMR head technology generations into the future.”

More at Western Digital

According to Hitachi GST Press Release, Hitachi Achieves Nanotechnology Milestone for Quadrupling Terabyte Hard Drive. TOKYO, Oct. 15, 2007 – Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) announced today they have developed the world’s smallest read-head technology for hard disk drives, which is expected to quadruple current storage capacity limits to four terabytes (TB) on a desktop hard drive and one TB on a notebook hard drive.Researchers at Hitachi have successfully reduced existing recording heads by more than a factor of two to achieve new heads in the 30-50 nanometer (nm) range, which is up to 2,000 times smaller than the width of an average human hair (approx. 70-100 microns). Called current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistive1 (CPP-GMR) heads, Hitachi’s new technology is expected to be implemented in shipping products in 2009 and reach its full potential in 2011.

Hitachi will present these achievements at the 8th Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference (PMRC 2007) to be held October 15-17, 2007 at the Tokyo International Forum in Japan.

More at Hitachi GST