Forty Years of Hard Disk Drive Innovation … IBM Shrinks Hard Disk Drives for Mobile Computers; Announces New Record for Storing Data

Business Wire, Oct 29, 1996

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 1996--Forty years after inventing the world's first hard disk drive for computer storage, IBM today announced the lightest 2.5-inch hard disk drive for mobile computers.

About the size of a cassette tape, the drive will enable a new generation of super-slim notebook computers. Users will benefit because they will have smaller, lighter-weight computers to tote around -- on the college campus, to conventions and on airplanes. It will also benefit those who have limited desk space or only work from the road in a "virtual office."

"IBM invented the first drive. It was the size of two refrigerators. This new drive is so small, you can fit two of them in your shirt pocket. It also holds 320 times as much data as the first drive," said Dave Ernsberger, who leads the marketing and sales efforts for IBM's hard disk drive business, adding that the tiny drive holds a new world record.

It packs more data on to a square inch than any other drive at 1.44 billion bits per square inch -- about the equivalent of 87 college text books in just that tiny space.

The company's magnetoresistive head technology makes this record possible. IBM has a clear lead over other companies in the development of these components. One can pack more data on a disk drive platter with an MR head than with today's standard thin-film inductive head. Products with MR heads are generally less expensive to build, more reliable and require less power to operate because they have fewer parts.

In addition to breaking a new density record, this drive, known as the Travelstar VP also holds more data than any other drive in its class. Called "very low profile" by IBM, it holds 1.6 gigabytes (GB) of data, and is just slightly more than a third of an inch thick at an industry-first height of 9.5 millimeters.

Travelstar VP and the following five additional new drives from the IBM Storage Systems Division will be demonstrated at Bally's hotel, Las Vegas, Nev., during Fall COMDEX, Nov. 18-22: -0-

--  Travelstar 3XP, a 2.5-inch drive that reaches a whopping
    3 gigabytes in capacity.  The equivalent of about 4,500
    paperback romance novels, this drive packs an enormous 1.35
    billion bits per square inch.

--  One of the the highest capacity, traditional low-profile
    drives available, at 2.16 GB.  Travelstar 4LP is also one of
    the most rugged drives in its class with a non-operating
    shock resistance of 500 G.

--  Ideal for the small office, home office and high-performance
    desktop computer users, another new "best of breed" drive,
    Deskstar 4.  This device is the best all-purpose drive for
    audio/video applications, such as video editing and
    multimedia games because it has the fastest seek time and is
    one of the highest-capacity solutions in its class.  Deskstar
    4 holds up to 4.3 gigabytes of data.

--  The 6.4 GB Deskstar 5, one of the highest capacity disk
    drives targeting the high-performance desktop PC market.  Its
    performance is exceptional at a 5.4 MB/sec minimum sustained
    through-put rate.  This is the top-of-the-line in
    high-performance AT-interface desktop drives.

--  IBM's new 5400 RPM 4.3 gigabyte Ultrastar 2ES.  The drive is
    ideal for those people who want the performance of
    current-generation higher-RPM server drives but at only two
    thirds the price, with less power being utilized and less
    noise.  Ultrastar 2ES has an Ultra SCSI interface and is for
    entry-level workstation and network server users who demand
    value.