DailyTech - Toshiba Boosts 1.8", 5400 RPM HDDs to 160GB

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Hardware Toshiba Boosts 1.8", 5400 RPM HDDs to 160GB
Brandon Hill (Blog) - June 11, 2008 8:30 AM

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16 comment(s) - last by Samus.. on Jun 12 at 1:29 PM

Toshiba takes the fight to SSDs with an expanded lineup of 5400RPM 1.8" HDDs

Back in late February, DailyTech reported on Toshiba's introduction of 5400 RPM 1.8" HDDs into the marketplace. Traditionally, 1.8" HDDs were only available with a 4200 RPM spindle speed, but the boost to 5400 RPM was a welcome addition to help improve performance on the smallest notebooks and UMPCs.

At the time of the announcement, Toshiba announced the availability of 80GB and 120GB models. Today, Toshiba's 5400 RPM 1.8" lineup is expanding to include a 160GB model and a revamped 80GB model.

The new 160GB (MK1617GSG) drive uses two platters while its new 80GB (MK8017GSG) counterpart used a single platter -- Toshiba's 80GB offering launched in February required two platters to reach the same capacity. Both drives feature 8MB of cache, 15ms average seek time, a micro-SATA connectors and comply with SATA 2.6 specifications.

"Toshiba's eight years in perfecting 1.8-inch HDD technology puts us in a unique position to address explosive growth in the mobility segment with proven products that deliver the performance and capacity that system manufacturers need," said Toshiba Storage Device Division Marketing VP, Maciek Brzeski.

At these capacities, our 1.8-inch HDDs are enabling the miniaturization of mobile PCs by providing better power consumption efficiency and improved ruggedness over larger form factors."

Toshiba’s new mobile HDDs will be available to OEMs in August of this year.

Toshiba's recent development in the area of 1.8" HDDs should give it more ammunition to go up against the increasing performance and falling costs of solid state drives (SSDs). Super Talent is currently leading all players in the SSD field by further driving down costs and recently introduced 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB 1.8" SSDs priced at $299, $449, and $679 respectively.

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Sucks for Toshiba

By Lonyo on 6/11/2008 8:49:17 AM , Rating: 2

Well, apart from the fact the drive probably has 8MB of cache, and not 8GB, the unfortunate situation is that 1.8" drives will be the first to fall to the onslaught of SSD's.
Give the low power and high speeds offered by SSD's, and the fairly high cost of 1.8" drives compared to 2.5 or 3.5" drives, we will see SSD's hit price parity, or value parity, with 1.8" drives fairly quickly, as they will either be a similar price, or offer better performance characteristics than their mechanical counterparts.
When you include the fact that many 1.8" drives are found in devices which are only used infrequently (vs a PC which might be on a lot more), the limited write (inasmuch as it is a problematic limit) pretty much disappears from SSD's as they would spend most of their time (in an mp3 etc player) doing reads.

Toshiba are just putting out something towards the end of the life cycle of these drives. I would guess there's only a few years left to run.

RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By Samus on 6/11/2008 8:58:20 AM , Rating: 2

I doubt you'll ever see 32GB SSD's as cheap as 160GB 1.8" drives for the entire existence of hard drive technology, let alone having any SSD capacity near HD capacity.

There will never be price parity. Hard disks are much, much, much cheaper to engineer, manufacture and support. Most importantly, they are generally just as practical for mobile applications where performance isn't neccessary (playing a mp3 or a movie from an iPod) as SSD drives, although SSD's do offer a substantial reduction in power, the reductions in performance (if any) and heat just don't justify the price.

1.8" drives are also amazingly reliable over the long haul in even the most physically abusive environments.

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By StevoLincolnite on 6/11/2008 9:29:32 AM , Rating: 3

Never say never in the world of technology, several years ago, a 64mb Flash Disk was in the $120 range, now you can pick up a 2gb flash disk for 25 bucks, thus there is reason to believe as density's increase, prices will fall, until the market matures and is a major player.

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By Seemonkeyscanfly on 6/11/2008 10:31:20 AM , Rating: 3

8 year ago a 5GB hard drive would have been around $200 maybe more...I remember selling 2GB hhd for $300 in 1998-99 time frame and people were very happy to pay it.
It's not a question of if SSD will be cheaper then HHD, it's a question of when.
Remember 1.8" drives have moving parts and will break down in time. Yes, I know SSD can only be written to so many times, however it's still very new technology this will increase and in time it will far out preform the 1.8" drives in a short amount of time (maybe 1 year maybe 5 years).

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By xsilver on 6/11/2008 11:05:54 AM , Rating: 2

What is being discussed is not if SSD's will become cheap enough to use everyday but rather if there is always going to be a price parity between HDDs and SSD's.
I think it is most likely that HDD's will always retain at minimum a 5x space discrepancy for the same price.
eg. 160gb hdd will always be cheaper than 32gb ssd even 5/10 years from now. Only problem is that 160gb hdd wont be considered useful anymore, in 2 years let alone 5 so it will no longer be sold.

A more appropriate comparison would be of dram price vs hdd price over the last 10 years, the gap there may have been closing but probably not fast enough. Also the dram density/pricing ratio is also bound to hit a wall just as the hdd market has.

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By Seemonkeyscanfly on 6/11/2008 1:49:48 PM , Rating: 3

yep, I know what was being discussed... What you are missing is that for the stage of life that SSD is in they are already much cheaper then what hard drives were when they where at that same stage of life (development). In a short amount of time SSD will become much cheaper then HDD....just a question of when and not an if question. Unless some new technology comes along to replace the SSD before the price point drops enough. Think of it this way... HDD are equal to VHS, SSD are equal to DVD. Blank DVD disks are cheaper then blank VHS in todays market. Blue ray of course would be what what replaces SSD.

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By xsilver on 6/11/2008 9:48:47 PM , Rating: 2

only one critical flaw in that comparison, dvd is superior in every way (maybe except durability in handling) to vhs.
whereas hdd's for the forseeable future will always have the space advantage. 5x advantage at least

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By Maskarat on 6/12/2008 4:15:03 AM , Rating: 2

Keep living the dream. In a couple of years we'll be amused at how we used to think that current technology was any good!

But if you want to keep your blindfold you're free to do so.

I agree it's a matter of when, not if! SSD is interesting technology in it's infant stage!

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By Samus on 6/12/2008 1:29:03 PM , Rating: 2

they're cheaper in the initial stages compared to hard disks because there is competition.

if they could charge $2000 for 64GB SSD, they would. duh ;)

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By Clauzii on 6/11/2008 10:25:11 PM , Rating: 2

Yes. And at the point of time when we finally get the polymer-plastic transparent discs, and lasers are focused on 3D placement, the size of HD's will explode.

BUT: The moving parts in a spinning, old record type device, makes it more fragile. And when stacking 8 SSD's become feasable, the disc speed is through the roof.

Personally I'd also prefer more smaller discs instead of one big. Oooops, 750 gigs down the drain! Dataloss is a pain in the a..! No then rather 200 should it really happen.

True, as BIG data storage for day to day music and movies, HD's are the king of times. But as SYSTEM discs, a bunch of small sized SSD's setup in a secure and speedy RAID. And TOTALLLY silent at that, one has got to love.

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RE: Sucks for Toshiba

By The0ne on 6/11/2008 1:33:21 PM , Rating: 2

Hence, I hope the 1.8" drives will fill in the gap until SSD becomes more viable for your regular consumer for purchase and use. At this point in time, SSD is not moving quick enough (imo) and the cost is too high. Therefore, having a 1.8" drive in notebooks, PMD, etc would be nice for a while.

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