Seagate Unveils 12GB 1-Inch Hard Drive

As consumer devices such as phones and MP3 players continually shrink, storage has remained a persistent drawback that limits their usefulness. Seagate thinks it may have found the answer thanks to perpendicular recording technology. The disk maker on Monday unveiled a 12-gigabyte drive squeezed into a 1-inch form factor.

The new ST1.3 drive doubles the capacity of Seagate's current 1-inch drive, while reducing its footprint by 23 percent and utilizing 30 percent less power. Seagate is targeting the drive at the mobile phone market, which has been converging with digital media to offer users audio and video capabilities while on the go. The ST1.3 is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2006.