New 160 GB 1.8-inch drives could revive HDD-based small devices

Toshiba today announced plans to launch two new 1.8-inch serial ATA hard drives that will ship as much as 160 GB -- the first in that form factor with such a high storage capacity, the manufacturer claims.

Toshiba's new small HDDs will be available in 80 and 160 GB. Both have a spin speed of 5400 rpm and interface speeds up to 1.5 Gbps, with the 160 GB weighing 62g and 80 GB weighing 60g. The 160 GB model MK1617GSG is a dual-platter product with four heads, while the 80 GB MK8017GSG is a single-platter HDD that has two heads. They're expected to be shipped in August.

As companies continue to try and become "environmentally conscious" by releasing eco-friendly technology, hard drive manufacturers are focused on lowering power consumption and reducing the storage footprint on their products. Toshiba's latest 1.8-in. HDDs reportedly can lower the storage footprint for notebooks and UMPCs by 40% when compared to the 2.5-in. HDDs currently used. But perhaps more importantly, they could widen the storage capacity gap between flash memory and hard drives in small, handheld devices.

In late February, Toshiba first introduced an 80 GB 1.8-inch 5400 rpm HDD, the MK8016GSG, with the industry previously relying on sluggish 1.8-in. 4200 rpm drives. The MK8017GSG will replace the two-platter 80 GB MK8016GSG, which will be phased out later this year. Toshiba has dabbled with 1.8-in. HDD technology for eight years, and has launched more than 15 different models.

The demand for small and fast HDDs should increase as demand for products such as the Asus Eee PC and similar UMPCs also increases. Furthermore, Toshiba competitors like Samsung and Western Digital are expected to announce faster 1.8-inch HDDs in the future.