Hitachi Lets Fly the Spruce Goose of HDDs -- a 2TB Drive
And so the race for capaciousness continues. The data storage company with the longest official name, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, claimed Aug. 6 that it is now shipping the world's first 2TB 7,200-rpm hard disk drive. It employs five platters in one unit to supply the 2TB capacity. Kinds of reminds me in a funny sort of way of Howard Hughes' huge Spruce Goose seaplane that he flew once—very slowly—off the coast of Los Angeles in 1947. Remember that? It had eight propeller engines; no other aircraft ever had that many because they were so big and heavy. This Hitachi drive might be the Spruce Goose of HDDs. It has five engines, more than others use. Big, heavy and slow? Possibly, but Hitachi will never admit to that. Where will it all end? There are physical limits to how much one can put on a storage disk, but you'd never know it. Hitachi calls its new prize HDD "colossal," and we suppose they're not far off the mark. The 2TB Deskstar 7K2000 features high capacity with low power consumption; forget performance—a drive this big won't be fast. It is aimed to help computers gain Energy Star ratings. The key reason why the Deskstar 7K2000 can load up all that data is perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), which is being re-engineered by several companies to extend capaciousness of these disks. It also features a 32MB cache and a 3Gb/s SATA interface, so it appears to be a good desktop drive for game players and high-end video and graphics users. Pricing is a mystery. Go here for more information. |
Comments (5)
When will the capacity race end? Well, never - at least not until the Information Revolution ends. Crossing a new capacity milestone always seems amazing, but in hindsight is just another incremental step in the relentless march of data growth. 1 GB drives elicited the same sentiments as 2 TB drives, as will 2 PB drives when they appear.
Hitachi's 5-platter approach has given them bragging rights for 1st-to-capacity in the past (1 TB), but not a lot of market share. Four-platter designs use less power and have fewer parts to fail.
Posted by Pete Steege | August 6, 2009 10:12 AM
Strange. It seems that both Seagate and Western Digital have been shipping 2TB drives for at least a month, which makes your statement that Hitachi is the first company to offer such a drive. This is according to Newegg, where you can order either one right now.
I think many of us would appreciate it if you'd spend just a bit more time researching before accepting a manufacturers statement, or at least indicate that you're quoting their press release (that's what "" marks are for isn't?).
Posted by Fast Turtle | August 6, 2009 1:50 PM
Thanks for writing. You are correct about the Seagate and WD 2-GB drives. Seagate's came out in April, and WD's in January. But Hitachi is correct in claiming that theirs is the first 2GB drive that runs at 7200rpm. Seagate's and WD's run at 5400 rpm.
/cp
Posted by Chris P | August 9, 2009 11:19 AM
The Spruce Goose (H4 Hercules) is the first 8 engine aircraft if you exclude the Tupolev ANT-20 from 10 years earlier which was flown above 5 feet.
Did the press release have more detail?
Posted by Andy H | August 11, 2009 11:53 AM
Um, no press release. Thanks for the info about the Russki plane, I hadn't been aware of it. Of course, it crashed into an apartment building, klling 45 people, on its big public flight. Hmmm. Looking at this photo on Wikipedia, I can find only seven engines. Where's No. 8?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ANT-20.jpg
Posted by Chris P | August 11, 2009 12:19 PM