2.5-Inch 500GB Toshiba HDD 7mm High

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) Storage Products Division has announced the availability of the MQ01ABF series of slim HDDs aimed at ultrabooks and high-end multimedia devices.

toshiba_mq01abf

It packs up to 500GB storage from a 2.5-inch (6.4cm) HDD housed in a unit 7mm high and 92 grams.

The MQ01ABF series incorporates a SATA 6Gbit-per-second interface and is designed to deliver a higher internal transfer rate with leading recording density, making it suited to media intensive applications.

It features low energy consumption and is designed to be durable with the same safeguards against shock and vibration as its 9.5-millimeter high MQ01ABD, 320GB to 1TB, series counterpart. This makes it for portable gadgets like slim-line laptop computers as well as space-constrained digital video recorders.

"The launch of the MQ01ABF means that OEMs across Europe don’t need to compromise between form factor, performance and capacity. This range packs a powerful punch in a tiny package and is a great for a variety of applications and devices where space and performance is key", said Martin Larsson, VP, Toshiba Electronics Europe.

The new family of sleek HDDs is available across Europe from October 2012 and features the following products; the MQ01ABF050, the MQ01ABF032, the MQ01ABF025, all with capacities of 500GB, 320GB and 250GB respectively.

All drives are free from halogen, antimony trioxide and red phosphorus.

Model Number: MQ01ABFxxx
Maximum Capacity (Formatted): 500/320/250GB
Number of platters: 1
Number of heads: 2
Areal density (max): 1153.4Mb/mm² (MQ01ABF050)
Interface speed: 6.0Gb/s
Average seek time: 12 ms
Rotational speed: 5400 RPM
Buffer memory: 8MB
Interface: Serial ATA 3.0 (ATA-8)
External dimensions (WxDxH): 69.85 mm x 100.0 mm x 7.0 mm
Weight: 92g (max.)
Shock resistance: Operating 3,920m/s² (400G) 2ms; Non-operating 8,820m/s² (900G) 1ms
Acoustics: Idle 19dB; Seek 21dB

Comments

All the current HDD manufacturers now offer 2.5-inch devices with 7mm z-height, and all of them with one disk and two heads.

Seagate appears to be the first one in this slim form factor for small computers with the Momentus Thin (5,400rpm, 250GB) in December 2009 then upgraded in June 2011 at 500GB and also at 7,200rpm.

Hitachi GST, now a WD's company, also revealed a 7,200rpm model in June 2010, the Travelstar Z5K320 at 320GB and then the Z7K500 with 500GB last February. The company also offers 7mm 5,400rpm HDD. The first version was the Z5K320 (320GB) in June 2010 followed in December of the same year by the Z5K500 (500GB).

WD was relatively late with its first 7mm unit launched in April 2012, the Scorpio Blue (500GB), but did a better job than anyone with the thinnest notebook drive never revealed, and a hybrid one, only 5mm height, with a capacity of 500GB.

All the 7mm HDDs weight around 95 grams.