Samsung 500GB 2.5-Inch HDD in Mass Production

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced the mass production of the world’s highest capacity hard drive for laptops – the new Spinpoint M6, and mass production of one of the world’s fastest laptop hard drives – the new Spinpoint MP2. The Spinpoint M6 features a stunning 500GB capacity and the MP2 has a 250GB capacity operating at a 7,200rpm rotation. Both hard drives are currently shipping. The Spinpoint M6 has a $299 MSRP and the MP2 has a $199 MSRP.

"The Spinpoint M6 is ideal for notebook power users who require vast amounts of storage space for their data, video and music files," said Hubbert Smith, Director of Storage, Samsung Semiconductor. "The MP2 has speed, features and capacity similar to a 3.5" hard drive and is perfect for users who require a smaller form factor with advanced data storage needs."

Size Matters: The 500GB Spinpoint M6 Hard Drive
The Spinpoint M6 fits the industry’s standard 9.5mm height dimension and is armed with a massive 500GB capacity consisting of three 167GB platters, notebook PC manufacturers can integrate the Spinpoint M6 into the tens of millions of notebook PCs that ship every quarter as well as slim form factor PCs and high density mobile applications.

Mainstream notebook PCs can now support capacity of up to one terabyte by employing two Samsung Spinpoint M6 drives. For premium notebook PCs, the Spinpoint M6 meets the Microsoft fast-boot design requirements and supports ramp load and unload of up to 600,000 times.

The Spinpoint M6 500GB hard drive features a 5400rpm spindle speed, a 8MB cache, and 3.0Gbps SATA interface with a Free-Fall-Sensor available as an optional feature. Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology enables the 500GB drive to store 160,000 digital images, 125 hours of DVD movies, or 60 hours of high definition video images. The drive also features Samsung’s Flying-on-Demand head technology that improves recording stability over changing temperature ranges.

The Need for Speed: Spinpoint M2P Hard Drive
The Spinpoint MP2 is a 250GB 2.5" hard drive consisting of two 125GB disks. Operating at a 7200rpm rotation speed, the MP2 is ideal for high performance, desktop replacement notebook PCs, and entry-level enterprise applications such as workstations and RAID or blade servers.

In step with the surging growth of multimedia content and the demand for smaller form factor devices, 2.5" drives meet the stringent environmental demands of notebook PCs and slim form factor desktop PCs. The high performance characteristic of Samsung’s MP2 expands the scope of applications for 2.5" drives to entry-level enterprise applications.

The Spinpoint MP2 features 7200rpm speed rotation, SATA II 3.0Gbps interface and Native Command Queuing functions for advanced performance. Samsung’s proprietary SilentSeek and NoiseGuard technologies are incorporated in the drive to offer ultra quiet operation. An optional Free Fall Sensor is also available for data protection in case of any unexpected external impact. The Spinpoint MP2 drive has a 16MB buffer memory and is available in 80GB to 250GB capacities.