WD Leads in 2.5-inch Areal Density with New 750 GB Notebook Hard Drives

[btarunr]

WD today announced that it is now shipping 750 GB of storage capacity in a standard-height 2.5-inch notebook hard drive -- the industry's highest capacity to date in this form factor. Designed for mainstream notebook computers, the WD Scorpio Blue 750 GB hard drives utilize WD's leading 375 GB-per-platter areal density and Advanced Format technology.

An ideal solution for notebook computers and other portable devices whose users require extreme capacities in a small package, extended battery life and cool, reliable operation, the WD Scorpio Blue 750 GB hard drive is also one of the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market.



"WD continues to lead the market with capacity points that enable consumers and business professionals to store large quantities of data and rich media content," said Jim Morris, WD's senior vice president and general manager of Storage Products. "Our leading power efficiency, achieved without compromise to performance, is another example of the added features and value that our customers have come to expect from WD."

Features of the WD Scorpio Blue include:

• Advanced Format technology - Technology being pioneered by WD and adopted by other drive manufacturers to increase media format efficiencies, thus enabling larger drive capacities.
• WhisperDrive - WD's exclusive WhisperDrive technology combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to yield one of the quietest 2.5-inch hard drives on the market. These algorithms also optimize the way a drive seeks for data, which significantly improves power consumption.
• ShockGuard - Leading-edge ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks.
• SecurePark - WD's SecurePark technology parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved non-operational shock tolerance.
• Fast and efficient - Ultra-fast 3 gigabits per second (Gb/s) SATA interface speed yields performance fit for demanding mobile applications.
• Tested for compatibility - WD performs extensive tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in its FIT Lab and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give our customers confidence that our drives will work in their systems.

Price and Availability
WD Scorpio Blue 750 GB (model WD7500BPVT) hard drives are shipping now through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Scorpio Blue 750 is $149.00 USD. WD Scorpio Blue hard drives are covered by a three-year limited warranty. More information about WD Scorpio Blue mobile hard drives may be found here.

[newtekie1]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136546

Already at newgg for $110, looks like I've got something new for my PS3.

I got a little scared when newegg listed it as 12.5mm, but that must just be a typo on newegg's part, because WD lists it as 9.5mm.

[A Cheese Danish]

I may have to get one of these for my laptop
Not a bad price at all for these

[DaedalusHelios]

Are they really 5400 rpm? 7200rpm is all that really interests me in mechanical laptop drives.

[n-ster]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136546

Already at newgg for $110, looks like I've got something new for my PS3.

I got a little scared when newegg listed it as 12.5mm, but that must just be a typo on newegg's part, because WD lists it as 9.5mm.

the typo is fixed

I just learned that the PS3 has a SATA connection, not SATA 2 (3gbps)

[CyberCT]

WTF why don't they release a better velociraptor HDD with a higher capacity?

[Sasqui]

I just bought the 500GB Blue version for $69 from the NEgg, so far so good. The performance is supposed to be on par with quite a few desktop 7200 drives. Haven't run any benches on the drive but it certainly doesn't seem slow.

[Kantastic]

Originally Posted by CyberCT

WTF why don't they release a better velociraptor HDD with a higher capacity?

It was announced a while back that 600GB VRaptors are in the makings.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=112235

[Mussels]

didnt toshiba beat them to this, ALSO saying they were 'leading' and first do achieve it?


edit: ah i see, this uses two platters, toshibas used 4

[Jstn7477]

Nice to see advancements in platter density in hard disks, especially on the 2.5" size. 9.5mm height is awesome for 750GB, although my laptop can easily accommodate two 12.5mm tall HDDs (like the 1TB Scorpio Blue drive). Wonder if it beats out my Scorpio Black 320GB.

Originally Posted by DaedalusHelios

Are they really 5400 rpm? 7200rpm is all that really interests me in mechanical laptop drives.

If it's 5400rpm is not even worth mention! Who the hell needs that $hitty and crappy speed anyways!? It's not enough that laptops are way slower than desktops, you make them EVEN MORE slower with those garbage drives. The latest bios can switch a 7200rpm drive to 4200rpm when on battery only, so what's the problem, why do they still make such slow drives?!?!

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by DaedalusHelios

Are they really 5400 rpm? 7200rpm is all that really interests me in mechanical laptop drives.

The density is high enough that it shouldn't hinder transfer speeds too greatly.

How about seek times??? Moving/copying small files? Defragmenting??? Those are taking forever on crappy 5400rpm speed

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by TAViX

How about seek times??? Moving/copying small files? Defragmenting??? Those are taking forever on crappy 5400rpm speed

higher density means they're faster, so the lower RPM just evens it out.

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by Mussels

higher density means they're faster, so the lower RPM just evens it out.

I just figure it is not as fast as the two 7200rpm 500gb drives in my laptop. Even if I turned raid0 off before a reformat.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by DaedalusHelios

I just figure it is not as fast as the two 7200rpm 500gb drives in my laptop. Even if I turned raid0 off before a reformat.

Probably not, but it's not like it's going to be terrible either.

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by Wile E

Probably not, but it's not like it's going to be terrible either.

I am just thinking 4 platter 1.5TB is better than 2 platter 750GB. But they are keeping it down to the 2 platter smaller size(9.5mm) for netbooks I guess.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by DaedalusHelios

I am just thinking 4 platter 1.5TB is better than 2 platter 750GB. But they are keeping it down to the 2 platter smaller size(9.5mm) for netbooks I guess.

Yeah. Some things just won't fit a 12.5mm drive.

[Baum]

Is it possible to use an SATA-2 Drive on an SATA-1 Interface just with reduced Speed?
I would like to upgrade my stupid 80GB HD Sata1 2,5" Hitachi to some bigger and faster drive like this!

Thanks for any insight

EDIT:
ICH 7 M <-> i945PM 1.5Gbps SATA 1 interface inside my Laptop

[Wile E]

Yes, it should be fine. And the speed won't really be any different. Platter drives can't max out SATA1 anyway, let alone anything newer.

Originally Posted by Mussels

higher density means they're faster, so the lower RPM just evens it out.

Don't know bro....All the laptops I had use at work (mostly) with 5400rpm drives were slow as $hit when launching apps, Windows, starting a program, etc, even they had a tone of RAM and strong proc....

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by TAViX

Don't know bro....All the laptops I had use at work (mostly) with 5400rpm drives were slow as $hit when launching apps, Windows, starting a program, etc, even they had a tone of RAM and strong proc....

note the point about 'highest density' - thats what makes them faster. more data in the same physical space, therefore less movement needed for the same amount of data to be read/written, thus, the extra latency is (at least partially) negated.

Why does nobody makes a comparison test between those drives?! For example an 300GB 7200rpm vs 750GB 5400rpm. Laptop drives, naturally...

[Baum]

@TAViX
i agree with that, laptops are cheaper and used more these days but hard drive comparison, or any of those benchmarks are rare....

maybe no one upgrades the harddrive or at least cares for it.

i am now a bit confused if it's better to got with the 320GB Black series

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by n-ster

the typo is fixed

I just learned that the PS3 has a SATA connection, not SATA 2 (3gbps)

Won't matter, even 7200RPM traditional desktop drives can't max out SATA 1.

Originally Posted by TAViX

How about seek times??? Moving/copying small files? Defragmenting??? Those are taking forever on crappy 5400rpm speed

Those are all pretty fast thanks to the high platter density. I've done several comparisons between slower RPM drive with higher density.

One thread of interest to you might be here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showth...=101038&page=2

Two smaller 7200RPM drives in RAID0 vs. One larger 500GB 5400RPM Drive. The results were a little surprising, with the seak times on both being extremely close. What was even more interesting, though I didn't get the chance to post this in the thread, was when I short stroked the 500GB drive, it was faster than the two 7200RPM drives in every way. Average/Max/Min transfer rates were all faster, along with much better access times.

There was another interesting thead, though I can't find it now, all about desktop drives. A single 5900RPM Seagate 1.5TB drive had better access times then both a Samsung F3 500GB and a Seagate 7200.12 500GB, and the average transfer rate was only 10MB/s slower than a Western Digital Black 640MB.

So platter density can make a huge difference.

Oh, and I don't believe it is accurate that laptop drives spin down to 4200RPM on battery power at all, in fact I know that isn't true. Laptop drives do have power saving feature, they will spin down completely when not in use and park the heads, but they don't adjust the spindle speed, they either run at 5400RPM constantly or 7200RPM constantly, and that can make a huge difference in battery life. My netbook for instance, gets about 30 minutes less battery life with a 7200RPM drive, which is why I switched back to a 5400RPM drive, there no real noticeable difference in performance either.

Originally Posted by Wile E

Yeah. Some things just won't fit a 12.5mm drive.

You mean most things, right?

Originally Posted by TAViX

Why does nobody makes a comparison test between those drives?! For example an 300GB 7200rpm vs 750GB 5400rpm. Laptop drives, naturally...

I just might in the near future.