Western Digital delivers 250G notebook drive

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 22 May 2007 13:02

Business IT - Technology

Western Digital's latest Scorpio SATA hard drive sets a new capacity standard of 250G for the 2.5in form factor.

Designed for use in notebooks and portable storage, the company claims the drive is quieter, cooler and uses less power. The capacity is achieved with two 125G platters using perpendicular magnetic recording technology.

Power consumption and noise levels are reduced by employing head seek algorithms that adjust the speed of the actuator so the head reaches the target position just in time to read or write the data. According to Western Digital officials, this smooth motion reduces power usage by more than 60 percent. Despite this, the average seek time is 12ms with an average latency of 5.5ms.

The 5400rpm drive also features an 8M cache. Mechanical improvements further reduce the noise levels while providing excellent shock tolerance to help protect data in mobile applications.

"The WD Scorpio 250G hard drive is a direct result of the significant investments WD has made in proprietary head technologies as well as significant system level feature innovation," said Jim Morris, vice president and general manager of notebook storage.

The retail price of the 250G Scorpio drive is expected to be $US199.99.