Western Digital releases first perpendicular hard drive
Western Digital has finally released their first hard drives based on perpendicular drive technology. The 160GB 2.5-inch Scorpio drive has a SATA 150 interface with 8MB cache size and 5400RPM spindle speed. This brings Western Digital in line with similar PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording) offerings from Hitachi and Seagate. Unlike traditional drives, PMR allows each data bit to magnetized and stored vertically on the platter vs linear. This allows for improved platter density and storage sizes.
The new WD Scorpio 160 GB drives deliver the high capacity that many mobile computing users demand with WD's implementation of PMR technology, as well as exclusive features that result in meaningful end-user benefits," said Jody Bradshaw, WD's senior director and general manager of notebook storage. "With the introduction of our latest-generation WD Scorpio drives, WD offers mobile computing and portable storage customers the same outstanding quality, reliability and performance that have already earned WD a leadership position in the desktop PC market.
MSRP of the drive is expected to be $179 and should be available shortly through Western Digitals online store.
