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Hitachi and Intel Join Forces to Develop Breakthrough Performance SSDs

Andy Salisbury — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:25:18 -0600

As the memory competition continues to heat up, unlikely alliances will forge. Thanks to a joint press release, Hitachi and Intel have recently announced that they’ve signed a development agreement in order to create breakthrough performance enterprise-class SSDs.

They’ll be off to a running start too, thanks to Intel’s already deep foothold in SSD technologies. Their NAND flash memory already allows for extremely high operating rate and according to Randy Wilhelm, VP and GM of Intel NAND Solutions Group, “The new solid-state drives for the enterprise include a number of architectural breakthroughs and improve performance and energy usage models that will change enterprise computing.” He continued, “Intel and Hitachi GST share a common objective in delivering SAS/FC products based on solid-state technology that will help enterprise customers meet the skyrocketing demands for performance while reducing space, power and cooling costs.”

It’s expected that these drives will be available sometime in early 2010, and will be sold exclusively through Hitachi.

Hitachi Unveils Self-Encrypting, 1.4 Watt Drive

Andy Salisbury — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:17:23 -0600

Hitachi’s latest, the Travelstar 5K500.B mobile hard drive is next in line to offer built-in data encryption. With the increasing popularity of this trend, the big H has also managed to make it relatively easy to encrypt any valuable data you might have laying around. Thanks to a private security key, the user can encrypt and decrypt data as they see fit.

The new drives also include TCG Storage Security, which supports pre-boot authentication, and up to four different data ranges with multiple user and administrative authentication options.

And while the data encryption options are certainly nice, what really ices the cake is the drastically lowered power consumption. Using only 1.4 watts during various read/write processes, the drive will only consume 10% of the power that an average 3.5” 500GB drive does.

The Travelstar is reportedly going to be shipping worldwide in December, with an enterprise focused version designed for applications that run 24x7 shortly after.

Hard Drive Sales Are Growing Almost As Fast As Capacities

Justin Kerr — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:23:16 -0500

Marketing research firm iSuppli has reported on the status of the hard drive industry, and from the sounds of it, we just can’t get enough storage. In the first quarter of 2008, hard drive vendors shipped over 137 million units in a seemingly futile attempt to satiate consumer’s appetites for inexpensive storage. Despite the 21 percent increase in sales over the same period last year, many HDD vendors such as Seagate continue to struggle. iSuppli speculates that lower prices and a disproportionate demand for lower margin desktop drives are to blame. This is a trend that is likely to continue as SSD’s continue to plummet in price and become the storage medium of choice for mobile devices mainly due to its durability. Despite the challenges conventional hard drive makers face in the mobile market, iSuppli is forecasting strong demand in the second quarter with shipments estimated to be up by as much as 16 percent over 2007. Seagate continues to lead the pack with profits of $363 million, followed by Western Digital at $298 million, and Hitachi at $65 million. This is excellent news specifically for Hitachi who has been struggling to pull itself out of the red. So has our insatiable appetite for digital media made mass storage devices recession proof?

Click the jump and let us know what you think.

Hitachi Announces Energy Efficient and Quiet CinemaStar Hard Drives, Shows Trippy Tera Era Video

Paul Lilly — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:53:28 -0500

The divide between desktop computer and home theater PCs continues to shrink, fueling the demand for both larger and quieter hard drives. With this in mind, Hitachi announces two new hard drives the company claims will "deliver low power and quiet acoustics for digital video applications."

CinemaStar 7K1000.B

The CinemaStar 7K1000.B comes in capacities ranging from 160GB on up to 1TB and utilizes Hitachi's CoolSpin technology. Drives equipped with CoolSpin use a motor speed Hitachi says makes it the "industry's quietest, most energy-efficient 3.5 inch hard drives" on the market.

Hit the jump to learn more about the new CinemaStar hard drives and see one of the trippiest videos ever!

The "Tera Era" Begins Today: Hitachi Launches Three-Platter Terabyte Drive

David Murphy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:01:01 -0500

Calling it the "Dawn of the Tera Era," Hitachi has announced its first three-platter terabyte drive. Billed as the Deskstar 7K1000.B, this is the second terabyte-class drive the company has produced since the launch of its first-to-the-market five-platter drive last year. But here's the weird part: the company has announced no concrete plans to phase out its second-generation drives before 2009. Nor is Hitachi coming in at a lower price point -- or comparable feature-set -- when compared to the other terabyte drives on the market today.

Check out our (confused) analysis after the jump! And yes, it appears Hitachi has modeled its "Tera Era" marketing after Hair:

Hitachi to Harvest 5TB Hard Drive by 2010

Paul Lilly — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:49:21 -0500

While SSDs continue to come down in price and up in performance, hard disk drives keep ballooning in size. And just when we thought we were becoming spoiled with storage space, Hitachi hits us with a humdinger by announcing plans to release a 5TB hard drive by 2010. That's FIVE freaking terabytes in a single 3.5" drive, or half the storage capacity of the human brain, claims Dr. Yoshihiro Shiroishi from Hitachi. In more concrete terms, 5TB equates to about 5,000 hours of video, or more than a million songs. Throw two drives together and you could store a human brain's worth of porn!

Hitachi's pledge trumps an earlier prediction the company made back in October 2007 when it said 4TB of storage would be likely by 2011. Instead, Hitachi will employ Current-Perpendicular-to-Plant Giant Magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) magnetic read heads to pack an additional terabyte than initially anticipated, and a year sooner than predicted. CPP-GMR will make it possible to achieve data densities of 1TB or more per square inch, paving the way for even larger hard drives.

Home theater buffs will undoubtedly herald Hitachi's announcement, but what about everyone else? Are we reaching the point of diminishing returns in terms of hard drive space? Post your thoughts in the comments section.

Hard Drive Makers Under Fire Over Patent Infringement

Paul Lilly — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:29:16 -0500

Steady vibrations can spell doom for the delicate moving parts inside a hard drive, and for this reason HDD manufacturers employ several technologies aimed at reducing these menacing motions. One such technology involves "Shaping Command Inputs to Minimize Unwanted Dynamics," for which engineering company Convolve holds the patent. The technology can be used to limit vibrations of a hard drive's actuator arm, and according to a recent court complaint, Convolve believes Dell, Western Digital, and Hitachi are all infringing on its patent. Going for the legal hat trick, Convolve is suing for monetary damages, attorney fees, and compensatory damages.

Hitachi Helps Asus Launch Terabyte Laptop

<a href="/david_murphy">David Murphy<br /></a> — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:19:53 -0600

We have a chat with Hitachi officials and get all the details about their new 500GB notebook drives!