Toshiba Extends PMR to 'Short' 1.8-Inch Hard Disk Drive Family; Second-Generation 80GB PMR Drive Delivers 10 Percent Smaller Footprint and Industry's Highest Capacity in This Form Factor for CE and PC Devices

Business Wire, Sept 12, 2006

IRVINE, Calif. -- Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), continues to lead the transition to perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) with the extension of PMR technology to its "short" 1.8-inch HDD family. With a 10 percent smaller footprint than its first-generation 1.8-inch PMR HDDs and up to 80GB(1) of capacity, Toshiba's new 1.8-inch HDD family can hold up to 40,000 songs, 200 hours of video or 3,000 photos.

The 4,200 RPM, single-platter, 40GB MK4009GAL and double-platter, 80GB MK8009GAH products are specially designed for consumer electronics devices and ultra-portable PCs to provide higher capacity in a smaller form factor for true convergence of digital content in the mobile environment. These HDDs deliver an increased areal density of 134 gigabits per square inch and offer improved media rates of 356.8 Mbps -- the best in the 1.8-inch HDD market today.

"Toshiba has accelerated the transition to perpendicular recording with this second-generation 1.8-inch HDD by leveraging our virtual-vertical integration model, which brings together the best know-how and key competencies in magnetic recording and HDD design," said Scott Maccabe, vice president and general manager, Toshiba Storage Device Division. "As a result, Toshiba has gained a significant time-to-market advantage with PMR, enabling our customers to deliver exciting digital devices to consumers with high-capacity HDDs that are field-proven for quality and reliability."

Toshiba's short 1.8-inch HDD family integrates a low insertion force (LIF) connector, providing a format that enables CE and PC manufacturers to easily transition to higher capacity in smaller footprint HDDs. As a result, these drives meet common design specifications for consumer electronics products, such as digital audio players, portable media players, handheld GPS navigation units, digital video camcorders and other devices. Because the short 1.8-inch HDD family now offers an 8MB buffer, these drives also are suitable for mobile computers, providing a high-capacity, smaller footprint HDD to PC OEMs for ultra-portable designs.

Toshiba commanded more than 86 percent share in the 1.8-inch HDD category for the second quarter of 2006 and is the world market-share leader in mobile HDD shipments, according to research firm IDC(2).

Toshiba's new 1.8-inch HDD family is currently shipping and available to OEMs, as well as through distribution partners. For more information about Toshiba's full line of small form factor HDDs or to obtain information regarding a developer's kit, visit www.sdd.toshiba.com.

Product Specifications

Model no.                            MK8009GAH          MK4009GAL
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Capacity (Formatted)                   80GB               40GB
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No. of platters                         2                  1
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No. of heads                            4                  2
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Areal Density                             134 Gb/in2 (zone)
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Media Rate (Mbps)                         356.8 Mbps (max)
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Average seek time                             15 msec
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Data transfer rate                        Ultra DMA / 100
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Rotational speed                             4,200 rpm
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Buffer memory                        2 MB / 8MB           8 MB
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Interface                                      ATA-6
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External dimensions (WxDxH; mm)     54 x 71 x 8       54 x 71 x 5
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Weight                               59 g (max)        48 g (max)
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Energy consumption efficiency       0.00375 W/GB       0.0075 W/GB
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Shock resistance:
                  Operating           4,900 m/s2 (500G, 2 msec)
              Non-operating          14,700 m/s2 (1500G, 1 msec)
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About Toshiba Storage Device Division

Toshiba SDD, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., leads the market in the development, design and manufacturing of small form factor 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch and 0.85-inch hard disk drives. Toshiba SDD markets high-quality peripherals to original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, value-added dealers, systems integrators and distributors in the United States. Inherent in the Toshiba storage family are the high-quality engineering and manufacturing capabilities that have established Toshiba products as worldwide leaders. For more information, visit www.sdd.toshiba.com.