As a general rule of thumb, there is an inherent trade-off in the world of laptops. You can have a notebook that’s thin and light, but it’s probably not going to be as powerful or have as much storage. You can have a notebook with plenty of power and storage, but it’s going to be big and heavy. What if you didn’t have to make that trade anymore? The latest innovation in mobile hard drives by Seagate is pushing us in that direction.
You might remember when we were introduced to the Seagate Seven slim external drive (pictured above) at CES earlier this year. It’s only 7mm thick and boasts 500GB of capacity. Seagate has continued with that evolution, going back to internal mobile drives, to produce the thinnest drives with the greatest areal density possible. The net result is a new drive that can provide as much as 2TB of capacity in a drive that’s just 7mm thin.
This is in the 2.5-inch form factor perfect for laptops, as well as the newest wave of tablets, 2-in-1s, and convertible PCs. This should “give OEMs the flexibility to design and build virtually any kind of mobile device they can envision, with plenty of storage to boot.” Can you imagine having 2TB of capacity in your ultra-thin notebook? These drives are also 25 percent lighter than the previous generation.
The press release below contains further details about the new ultra-thin mobile hard drives. There’s no mention of consumer availability or pricing, so this may be targeted much more at the OEMs for the time being.
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Sept. 1, 2015 12:02 UTC
Seagate Develops World’s Highest Density Mobile Hard Drive Technology
New Ultra-Mobile Breakthrough Enables Up To 2TB Capacity in a 2.5-inch, 7mm Hard Drive
CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)— Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ:STX), a world leader in storage solutions, today announced it has achieved a major milestone in areal density with a new hard disk that can offer as much as 2TB of capacity in a slim 7mm package. This achievement is significant because in final product form it will give OEMs freedom to design a new generation of elegant mobile products that are extremely thin and stylish, light-weight, fast, power-efficient and cost-effective.
“In an industry first, our engineers have been able to boost areal density to 1TB per platter in a 2.5-inch form factor, which will give OEMs the flexibility to design and build virtually any kind of mobile device they can envision, with plenty of storage to boot,” said Mark Re, Seagate’s chief technology officer. “Combining new mechanical firmware architectures, with state of the art heads, media and electronic design, this technology is a real game changer- providing four times more capacity than a 0.25TB SSD at a substantially lower cost.”
Featuring cutting-edge storage technology, the new drive technology is the first to incorporate recording-subsystem components—head, media, preamp, channel—to achieve even greater areal densities, well ahead of competitive offerings. Its advanced, high-spatial efficiency mechanics deliver lightweight, low acoustics and strong mechanical robustness capable of new levels of drive stability even when subject to intense shock and vibrations.
The new drive weighs just 3.17 oz., and is 25 percent lighter than the previous generation of Seagate’s mobile hard drive products. Smaller drives free up valuable space in a mobile device to accommodate additional designed-in features, such as bigger batteries, more memory and better air circulation. With up to 2TB of space, the drive can also enable affordable high capacity storage— storing more than 500,000 songs, 320,000 photos, 240 hours of high definition video or 26 hours of 4K ultra-high definition content.
“The notebook PC continues to be an important productivity tool, especially for content creators who are producing an enormous volume of data,” said John Rydning, IDC’s research vice president for hard disk drives. “Seagate’s new ultra-mobile HDD technology is ground breaking for Seagate and the HDD industry, making it possible for notebook PC users to have generous storage capacity in a thin and light PC.”
While the new areal density milestone was achieved in a traditional HDD format, Seagate is also examining a hybrid format as well. A Hybrid version would combine NAND flash with Seagate’s proprietary learning algorithms, to deliver supreme performance and a richer consumer experience at a much lower cost than comparable solid state drives.
For more information on Seagate products please visit www.seagate.com.
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