Toshiba announces 2.5″ 500GB hard drive
Toshiba today announced a 500GB hard disk drive based on 2.5-inch form factor. The super quite and durable MKxx55GSX series is designed for notebooks, netbooks, and game consoles. According to Toshiba, the new 5,400RPM series raises bar in acoustic performances, and sports new mechanical changes in design to minimize noise emanating from the drive. Tosh claims that the drives are almost inaudible with couple of models performing close to the threshold of human hearing. And thanks to its free-fall sensor the drive provides highest level of durability, protecting data from hazardous external events. The best thing about the new 500gig drive? It offers 20% more energy efficiency compared to earlier generation models. The Toshiba 2.5″ 500GB HDD will be available from December.
E, Calif., Nov
rm factor har
ATA) 3.0 Gb/
ce in mobile
Available in c
5GSX series
d energy sta
This new fam
Advanced se
ng from the M
odels perform
n addition, o
s with operat
o further pro
ptions are ava
gy enables th
f they are di
ODUCES H
A-QUIET A
Design Feat
Mobile PCs, G
vember 18,
rd disk drive
/s 2.5-inch H
e application
capacities fro
is targeted f
ar PCs, game
mily raises th
ervo techniqu
MKxx55GSX
ming close to
optimizations
ting shock to
otect user dat
ailable on th
he HDD to r
isturbed duri
HALF-TERA
ACOUSTIC
tures Provide
Game Conso
2008 – Tosh
es (HDDs), t
HDD with a n
ns, as well as
om 500GB1
for integratio
e consoles, p
he bar in acou
ues combine
X drives, ma
o the thresho
s in mechani
olerance mat
ta against po
he new MKx
respond to dr
ing operation
-more
ABYTE 2.5
CS AND ENH
e a Valuable
oles, Printers
hiba Storage
today announ
number of en
other digita
to 120GB, t
on into noteb
printers and e
ustic perform
ed with mech
aking them n
old of human
ics and servo
tching the hi
otentially haz
xx55GSX ser
rop events, p
n.
e-
Earlene
5-INCH HA
HANCED D
e Storage So
s and Extern
e Device Div
nced a half-t
nhanced fea
al devices.
the super-qui
book PCs, su
external stor
mance for m
hanical desig
nearly inaud
n hearing.
o design hav
ighest levels
zardous exte
ries. Toshib
providing ad
M
e Tang or Ka
etang@
kmanning@
ARD DISK D
DURABILI
lution for Hi
nal Storage
vision (SDD)
terabyte 5,40
tures that im
iet and durab
ub-notebook
rage devices.
mainstream hi
gn changes m
dible during o
ve boosted th
s available on
ernal events,
a’s state-of-t
dditional pro
Media Inqui
atherine Man
GolinH
714-662-
213-438-
@golinharris
@golinharris
DRIVE WIT
TY
High-Capacity
), the pionee
00 RPM, Ser
mprove the u
ble
ks, small form
.
igh-capacity
minimize no
operation, w
he durability
n the market
, free-fall sen
the-art FFS
otection to m
iries:
nning
Harris
-5115
-8788
s.com
s.com
TH
y
er in
rialser
m
y
ise
with
of
t
nsor
mobile
TOSHIBA INTRODUCES HALF-TERABYTE 2
2.5-INCH HARD DISK DRIVE WITH ULTRA-QUIET
ACOUSTICS AND ENHANCED DURABILITY
-more-
“With a number of value-added technology features, this new 2.5-inch HDD series
addresses the need for capacity and durability in mobile applications, while enhancing the overall
user experience by minimizing noise from the storage component,” said Maciek Brzeski, vice
president of marketing at Toshiba Storage Device Division. “The acoustic performance renders
these HDDs nearly inaudible, which is ideal for home entertainment applications, while the
durability features appeal to mainstream mobile PC users. This family of products offers a
comprehensive storage solution for integration into a wide range of applications.”
Dedication to Environmentally Conscious HDDs
The new MKxx55GSX family reflects Toshiba’s ongoing commitment to enhance the
environmental soundness of its products by discontinuing use of certain chemical substances and
reducing carbon dioxide emissions during operation for each successive HDD generation.
Toshiba has eliminated specified hazardous halogens and toxic chemicals such as polyvinyl
chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants (BFR), antinomy trioxide and red phosphorus
across all components incorporated in the drive. In addition, the 500GB MK5055GSX achieves
a 20 percent improvement in energy consumption efficiency during operation over previous
generation 2.5-inch products. 2
Series Availability
Toshiba’s new MKxx55GSX series will begin shipping in production volumes to OEMs
and distributors in December 2008. More information regarding Toshiba’s line of industryleading
small form factor hard drives is available at www.toshibastorage.com.
Product Specifications
Model Number MKxx55GSX Series
Maximum Capacity (Formatted) 500/400/320/250/160/120GB1
Number of platters 2/2/2/1/1/1
Areal density Up to 371.9Gb/in2 (max)
Media transfer rate Up to 952.7 Mbps (max)
Average seek time 12 ms
Rotational speed 5,400 RPM
Buffer memory 8MB
TOSHIBA INTRODUCES HALF-TERABYTE 3
2.5-INCH HARD DISK DRIVE WITH ULTRA-QUIET
ACOUSTICS AND ENHANCED DURABILITY
Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s (and SATA 1.5Gb/s)
Serial ATA Revision 2.6 (ATA-8)
Interface transfer rate 3.0 Gb/sec
External dimensions (WxDxH; mm) 69.85mm x 100.0mm x 9.5mm
Weight (g) Dual-platter: 102g
Single-platter: 98g (max)
Energy consumption efficiency Dual-platter: 0.0012/0.0015/0.0019 W/GB
Single-platter: 0.0024/ 0.0038/0.0050 W/GB
Shock resistance:
Operating
Non-operating
3,920 m/s2 (400G, 2ms)
8,820 m/s2 (900G, 1ms)
Acoustics (Bels) Idle: 2.5 (dual-platter)/1.9 Bels (single-platter)
Operating: 2.5 (dual-platter)/2.0 Bels (single-platter)
About Toshiba Storage Device Division
Toshiba SDD, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., leads the market in the
development, design and manufacturing of small form factor 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch hard disk drives. Toshiba SDD
markets high-quality peripherals to original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, value-added dealers,
systems integrators, distributors and retailers in the United States. Inherent in the Toshiba storage family are the
high-quality engineering and manufacturing capabilities that have established Toshiba products as worldwide
leaders. For more information, visit www.toshibastorage.com.
About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division,
Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these
divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry-leading portable computers; projectors; imaging
products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and
consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.
TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States
and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of
Toshiba Corporation, which is a global leader in high technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and
electronic components, products and systems, as well as major infrastructure systems. Toshiba has more than
198,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of surpassing U.S. $76 billion (FY2007). For more information on
Toshiba’s leading innovations, visit the company’s Web site at www.toshiba.com.
© 2008 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. All product, service and company names are trademarks,
registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Information including without limitation product
prices, specifications, availability, content of services, and contact information is subject to change without notice.
1. One Gigabyte (1 GB) means 109 = 1,000,000,000 bytes using powers of 10. A computer operating system, however, reports
storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1 GB = 230 = 1,073,741,824 bytes, and therefore shows less storage
capacity. Available storage capacity will also be less if the computer includes one or more pre-installed operating systems,
pre-installed software applications or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.
2. Energy consumption efficiency is calculated based on power consumption divided by formatted capacity, as defined by
Japanese law. Compared to the previous generation 160GB MKxx52GSX product, the MK5055GSX provides a 20%
improvement in energy consumption efficiency.
###
