Hitachi Launches Z-series Family Of 7mm Ultra Thin Hard Drives
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced the Z-series family of ultra slim and light 7mm z-height drives.
With the entire family offered in capacities up to 320GB ? the industry's highest 7mm drive capacity in a one-disk design ? Hitachi is leading the shift from 9.5mm 2.5-inch drives to 7mm 2.5-inch drives across a broad range of market segments.
Hitachi's new 7mm Z-series family of Travelstar and CinemaStar drives are designed as a direct replacement for today's standard 2.5-inch, 9.5mm hard drives. All Hitachi Z-series drives feature common connectors and common mounting points for simple integration into existing systems.
When combining cost per gigabyte and gigabyte per cubic millimeter (GB/mm3), Hitachi 7mm drives are the most cost-effective and space-efficient storage solutions when compared to solid state drives (SSD), 2.5-inch 9.5 mm and 1.8-inch hard drives, the company claims.
Largely cost prohibitive for the mainstream ultra-portable consumer market, SSDs can be 17 times, and 1.8-inch drives can be up to seven times more expensive on a cost per gigabyte basis when compared to the new Hitachi Z-series drives. When comparing GB/mm3, Hitachi 7mm drives are 36 percent more space efficient than 2.5-inch SSDs and 9.5mm hard drives, while offering 73 percent more space efficiency than 1.8 inch SSDs.
New Hitachi Z-Series Family Includes:
Travelstar Z7K320 Family - First 7200 RPM, 7mm, 2.5-inch hard drives
The Hitachi Travelstar Z7K320 drive has a 16MB cache and a Serial ATA 3Gb/sec interface. For use in notebook PCs, ultra portables and netbooks, and compact desktop systems, the Travelstar Z7K320 drive delivers up to 18 percent better application performance than 5400 RPM models of the same capacity.
The drive offers 1.8 watts (W) read/write power and 0.8W low power idle for more unplugged computing time. It also delivers 2.3 idle / 2.4 seek bels.
Travelstar Z5K320 Family - High capacity 7mm, 5400 RPM 2.5-inch hard drive at 320GB
The new Hitachi Travelstar Z5K320 ? a 7mm, 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch, 8MB cache, Serial ATA 3Gb/sec interface hard drive ? meets the needs of mobile and ultra-portable applications in an eco-friendly environment. The Travelstar Z5K320 drive offers 1.6W read/write power and 0.55W low power idle, and delivers quiet acoustics at 1.9 idle / 2.0 seek bels.
CinemaStar Z5K320 Family - 7mm drives for A/V streaming devices
Hitachi CinemaStar drives are specifically designed for A/V streaming devices. This fifth generation 2.5-inch, 5400 RPM, 8MB cache, Serial ATA 3Gb/sec interface CinemaStar drive is delivering the right balance of capacity, power-management and low acoustics.
Hitachi has implemented several design improvements to enhance its new CinemaStar Z5K320 drive family. At 1.9 idle / 2.0 seek bels, the new CinemaStar Z5K320 family delivers the quietest 7mm 2.5-inch experience for bedroom-quiet systems. Reliability enhancements include an improved protection scheme for power fluctuation and enhanced Thermal Fly-Height Control for improved error rates.
Travelstar Z-series family is the company's fourth generation of drives featuring optional BDE for hard drive level data security. These self-encrypting drives (SED) are designed to meet the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal Storage Security specification. The drives support Pre-Boot Authentication, and offer better administrative controls for data protection and an easier drive re-deployment process.
The Travelstar Z7K320 and Z5K320 drive families will also be offered in Enhanced Availability (EA) models in capacities of 250GB and 320GB, which are designed and fine-tuned for applications needing "always-on" protection in 24x7, low transaction environments.
The new Hitachi Z-series family is based on an one-disk design hitting capacity sweetspots of 160GB, 250GB and 320GB. Qualification samples of the Travelstar Z5K320 family are now available; volume shipments will begin in July. Volume shipments of the Travelstar Z7K320 and the CinemaStar Z5K320 drive families will begin in August.
Hitachi's new 7mm Z-series family of Travelstar and CinemaStar drives are designed as a direct replacement for today's standard 2.5-inch, 9.5mm hard drives. All Hitachi Z-series drives feature common connectors and common mounting points for simple integration into existing systems.
When combining cost per gigabyte and gigabyte per cubic millimeter (GB/mm3), Hitachi 7mm drives are the most cost-effective and space-efficient storage solutions when compared to solid state drives (SSD), 2.5-inch 9.5 mm and 1.8-inch hard drives, the company claims.
Largely cost prohibitive for the mainstream ultra-portable consumer market, SSDs can be 17 times, and 1.8-inch drives can be up to seven times more expensive on a cost per gigabyte basis when compared to the new Hitachi Z-series drives. When comparing GB/mm3, Hitachi 7mm drives are 36 percent more space efficient than 2.5-inch SSDs and 9.5mm hard drives, while offering 73 percent more space efficiency than 1.8 inch SSDs.
New Hitachi Z-Series Family Includes:
Travelstar Z7K320 Family - First 7200 RPM, 7mm, 2.5-inch hard drives
The Hitachi Travelstar Z7K320 drive has a 16MB cache and a Serial ATA 3Gb/sec interface. For use in notebook PCs, ultra portables and netbooks, and compact desktop systems, the Travelstar Z7K320 drive delivers up to 18 percent better application performance than 5400 RPM models of the same capacity.
The drive offers 1.8 watts (W) read/write power and 0.8W low power idle for more unplugged computing time. It also delivers 2.3 idle / 2.4 seek bels.
Travelstar Z5K320 Family - High capacity 7mm, 5400 RPM 2.5-inch hard drive at 320GB
The new Hitachi Travelstar Z5K320 ? a 7mm, 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch, 8MB cache, Serial ATA 3Gb/sec interface hard drive ? meets the needs of mobile and ultra-portable applications in an eco-friendly environment. The Travelstar Z5K320 drive offers 1.6W read/write power and 0.55W low power idle, and delivers quiet acoustics at 1.9 idle / 2.0 seek bels.
CinemaStar Z5K320 Family - 7mm drives for A/V streaming devices
Hitachi CinemaStar drives are specifically designed for A/V streaming devices. This fifth generation 2.5-inch, 5400 RPM, 8MB cache, Serial ATA 3Gb/sec interface CinemaStar drive is delivering the right balance of capacity, power-management and low acoustics.
Hitachi has implemented several design improvements to enhance its new CinemaStar Z5K320 drive family. At 1.9 idle / 2.0 seek bels, the new CinemaStar Z5K320 family delivers the quietest 7mm 2.5-inch experience for bedroom-quiet systems. Reliability enhancements include an improved protection scheme for power fluctuation and enhanced Thermal Fly-Height Control for improved error rates.
Travelstar Z-series family is the company's fourth generation of drives featuring optional BDE for hard drive level data security. These self-encrypting drives (SED) are designed to meet the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal Storage Security specification. The drives support Pre-Boot Authentication, and offer better administrative controls for data protection and an easier drive re-deployment process.
The Travelstar Z7K320 and Z5K320 drive families will also be offered in Enhanced Availability (EA) models in capacities of 250GB and 320GB, which are designed and fine-tuned for applications needing "always-on" protection in 24x7, low transaction environments.
The new Hitachi Z-series family is based on an one-disk design hitting capacity sweetspots of 160GB, 250GB and 320GB. Qualification samples of the Travelstar Z5K320 family are now available; volume shipments will begin in July. Volume shipments of the Travelstar Z7K320 and the CinemaStar Z5K320 drive families will begin in August.
