Toshiba 7mm 2.5-inch HDDs From 5,400rpm to 7,278rpm

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has expanded its family of 2.5-inch HDDs with a new model that packs up to 500GB in a unit 7mm height.

toshiba_mq01acf

For laptops, ultrathin notebooks and other mobile and power-sensitive applications requiring integrated storage, the MQ01ACF series combines a high-speed 6G/s interface with average seek time of 12ms.

A shock sensor circuit provides protection against shocks of up to 3,430 m/s2 (350G) while the drive is in use. Upon power down, a carriage lock mechanism is automatically activated to protect against shocks of up to 8,820 m/s2 (900G). Furthermore, vibration sensors protect the integrity of data readout against vibrations while the drive is in operation, enabling performance.

The drive is equipped with an adaptive power mode that reduces power consumption to 0.8W typical (low power idle) for the MQ01ACF050, while still enabling the high-speed performance advantages provided by the drive’s 7,278rpm rotational speed.

The new family of sleek HDDs will be available from the end of August across Europe in the following models: the MQ01ACF050 (500GB) and the MQ01ACF032 (320GB).

Model Number: MQ01ACFxxx
Maximum Capacity (formatted): 500/320 GB
Number of platters: 1
Interface speed: 6.0 / 3.0 / 1.5Gb/s
Average seek time: 12 ms
Rotational speed: 7,278rpm
Buffer memory: 16MB
Interface: SATA 3.0 (ATA-8)
External dimensions (WxDxH, mm): 69.85mm x 100.0mm x 7.0mm
Weight: 92g (max)
Shock resistance: operating 3,430m/s2 (350G) 2ms; non-operating 8,820m/s2 (900G) 1ms
Acoustics: idle 23dB; seek 24dB

Comments

The first unit in 2.5-inch form factor was a 20MB device from defunct PrairieTek in 1988. The first 2.5-inch drive we discovered from Toshiba was the MK-1122FC launched in November 1990, at 22MB and 43MB, priced at $425 for 43MB at this time. Now we are at 500MB (7mm high, one platter), 1TB (9.5mm, two platters) and 2TB (15mm, four platters).

Since many years, Toshiba is a strong player in this market. Trendfocus estimates that the unit share of the Japanese manufacturer in 2Q13 was 22.5% in mobile HDDs, behind WD (46.0%) and Seagate (31.4%).

The new (non hybrid) MQ01ACFxxx can be compared with the MQ01ABFxxx, also 7mm high, but at 5,400rpm. Toshiba also offers a 1TB unit, the MQ01ABDxxx, with the same rotational speed but with an height of 9.5mm.

Seagate and WD are also in 7,200rpm 2.5-inch HDDs but with two disks or platter with capacity under 500GB.

The advantage of this faster speed is a better transfer rate, especially in comparison with hybrid units for big files that cannot be totally stored in the flash cache memory.

Toshiba emphasizes about the 12ms average access time of its new device, but this figure is reached since many years by 2.5-inch mobile HDDs.