Hitachi Unveils 300-Gig Hard Drive at DVinfo.net

Gints Klimanis · February 26th, 2004, 03:37 PM

Awesome performance for a drive this size !

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20040226/bs_nf/23246

Hitachi Unveils 300-Gig Hard Drive

Lisa Valentine, www.data-storage-today.com

Hitachi (NYSE: HIT - news) Global Storage Technologies calls its just-announced Ultrastar 10K300 the worlds first 300-GB enterprise hard-disk drive. The 1-inch high disk drive, which spins five platters at 10,000 rpm, meets the requirements of mission-critical storage applications, such as online transaction processing, data analysis and media streaming, claims Hitachi.

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The Ultrastar 10K300 is already in the hands of "major OEMs worldwide," and Hitachi says that volume shipments of the drive will start in the second quarter of this year.

New Design, Sort Of

Although the Ultrastar is a new offering, its enhanced head design and disk manufacturing processes are based on several predecessors -- the Ultrastar 146Z10 and the DK32EJ.

"These drives are extremely mature, proven designs that received numerous industry awards and accolades for product quality and reliability," Bill Healy, senior vice president, consumer and commercial hard-disk drive, Hitachi GST, told NewsFactor.

Seek time averages between 4.3 and 4.7 ms. Maximum sustained data-transfer rate is 89 MB/s. Density tops out at 61 billion bits per square inch.

The drives will be available in Ultra 320 SCSI and 2Gb/s Fibre Channel (FCAL) interfaces.

In addition to the Ultrastar product line of workstation and server hard drives, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies markets the Deskstar, Travelstar and Endurastar hard drives and Microdrive digital media.

The Competition

Hitachi is betting on the Ultrastar to help it compete with Seagate and Fujitsu, the No. 1 and No. 2 suppliers in the hard-disk drive market.

"According to IDC's Q4 estimates, Hitachi is currently the No. 3 supplier of enterprise hard drives worldwide," commented Healy. "We doubled our product market share in the enterprise space from 1Q to 4Q of 2003 and believe the new Ultrastar 10K300 will just help us continue that momentum. Currently, Hitachi has 18 percent of the enterprise hard-drive segment, according to IDC," he said.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is a result of the 2003 marriage of Hitachi and IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) storage-technology businesses. Although Hitachi GST has introduced nine products since the merger, the Ultrastar 10K300 represents Hitachi's first consolidated enterprise hard drive, said Healy.

Pricing is not yet available.

Glenn Chan · February 26th, 2004, 05:00 PM

Last time IBM tried a 5-platter design with the Deskstars, failure rates went up dramatically and gave the drives the nickname "deathstar". Most drives nowadays have 3 platters (or less).

I'm not sure about whether the Ultrastar line worked with 5 platters before.

Quote:

The 1-inch high disk drive, which spins five platters at 10,000 rpm, meets the requirements of mission-critical storage applications, such as online transaction processing, data analysis and media streaming, claims Hitachi.

February 26th, 2004, 03:37 PM	#1
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Hitachi Unveils 300-Gig Hard Drive Awesome performance for a drive this size ! http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20040226/bs_nf/23246 Hitachi Unveils 300-Gig Hard Drive Lisa Valentine, www.data-storage-today.com Hitachi (NYSE: HIT - news) Global Storage Technologies calls its just-announced Ultrastar 10K300 the worlds first 300-GB enterprise hard-disk drive. The 1-inch high disk drive, which spins five platters at 10,000 rpm, meets the requirements of mission-critical storage applications, such as online transaction processing, data analysis and media streaming, claims Hitachi. • Hard-Drive Obsession • Intel Debuts Chipset for High-End PCs • Cost-Effective Enterprise-Class ATA Drives The Ultrastar 10K300 is already in the hands of "major OEMs worldwide," and Hitachi says that volume shipments of the drive will start in the second quarter of this year. New Design, Sort Of Although the Ultrastar is a new offering, its enhanced head design and disk manufacturing processes are based on several predecessors -- the Ultrastar 146Z10 and the DK32EJ. "These drives are extremely mature, proven designs that received numerous industry awards and accolades for product quality and reliability," Bill Healy, senior vice president, consumer and commercial hard-disk drive, Hitachi GST, told NewsFactor. Seek time averages between 4.3 and 4.7 ms. Maximum sustained data-transfer rate is 89 MB/s. Density tops out at 61 billion bits per square inch. The drives will be available in Ultra 320 SCSI and 2Gb/s Fibre Channel (FCAL) interfaces. In addition to the Ultrastar product line of workstation and server hard drives, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies markets the Deskstar, Travelstar and Endurastar hard drives and Microdrive digital media. The Competition Hitachi is betting on the Ultrastar to help it compete with Seagate and Fujitsu, the No. 1 and No. 2 suppliers in the hard-disk drive market. "According to IDC's Q4 estimates, Hitachi is currently the No. 3 supplier of enterprise hard drives worldwide," commented Healy. "We doubled our product market share in the enterprise space from 1Q to 4Q of 2003 and believe the new Ultrastar 10K300 will just help us continue that momentum. Currently, Hitachi has 18 percent of the enterprise hard-drive segment, according to IDC," he said. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is a result of the 2003 marriage of Hitachi and IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) storage-technology businesses. Although Hitachi GST has introduced nine products since the merger, the Ultrastar 10K300 represents Hitachi's first consolidated enterprise hard drive, said Healy. Pricing is not yet available.