Toshiba has rolled out a series of four new 1.8-inch drives, two 60 GB drives aimed
at CE devices, as well as a single-platter 80 GB drive and a double-platter 120
GB drive aimed at portable PCs and handheld devices.
The new drives represent Toshiba's eighth generation of 1.8-inch hard disk drives,
and Toshiba has shipped over 60 million devices in the segment, making it the leading
1.8-inch drive manufacturer.
The 120 GB
MK1214GAH
sports an average seek time of 12 ms, a 4,200 rpm speed, a 2 MB buffer, an a PATA
interface. The single-platter, 80 GB
MK8025GAL
offers an 8 MB buffer and weighs two grams less than traditional 1.8-inch drives.
Both drives are aimed at the mobile computing market, and feature quiet operation,
low power requirements, and rugged designs.
For CE devices, the 60 GB MK6014 GAL and MK6015GAA offer a 5mm-high form factor,
with the 6014GAL offering a 4,200 rpm spin rate and a 2 MB buffer, while the 6015GAA
spins at a quieter 3,600 rpm and sports a 160 KB buffer.
Manufacturers should be seeing these drives in December, which means they'll be
turning up in mobile devices and media players in early 2008.