WD launches twin-platter 1TB monster

WD has announced it is shipping its Scorpio Blue 1TB capacity hard drive for notebooks. This Advanced Format spinning disk spins at 5,400rpm, has an 8MB cache and a 3Gbit/s SATA interface. WD claims it is the highest capacity 2.5-inch hard drive available for mainstream notebook use. The company had already reached the 1TB …

[PriSoner]

Samsung M8

Funny, the Samsung M8 is currently in stock and available for immediate delivery from scan for £71.38 Inc VAT. I guess that means that WD can't claim it as a first!

[BristolBachelor]

3 platters please

Can I have 3 of these platters in a 1.5TB drive please? Oh and make them spin at 7k2 :)

[Captain Scarlet]

Jaws

:O does it include the shark?

Data Protection ++

[Shades]

Does anyone know...

...if a drive of this capacity would work in a Samsung NC10? If not, what is the biggest that will?

[ZenCoder]

Samsung M8 1TB vs Scorpio Blue 1TB

Using Google.com Shopping ...

About 200 stores are selling the Scorpio Blue 1TB, including all the big names like Amazon, Newegg Only about 10 are selling the Samsung M8 1TB.

I get similar numbers for Google.co.uk

The most likely explanation is that Scorpio Blue 1TB started shipping first.

[Mark Dowling]

Why would you need 1Tb on a notebook anyway?

Some clown is going to robocopy most of the MoD onto it and then leave in a taxi, aren't they?

[me n u]

maybe not on your side of the pond it's not shipping yet

I just put a 1T 9mm drive from Samsung in my Dell XPS17 maybe 2 weeks ago. WD is late to market.

[damonlab]

5,400?

5,400 RPM? It is an insult that 5,400 RPM drives are still being produced.

[E 2]

Why 5400

5400 RPM drives tend to run a bit cooler and use a bit less power than 7200 RPM disks. In a mobile device that matters.

[Francis Boyle]

Spindle speed

doesn't mean much these days. I have a 2TB Seagate Barracuda that runs at 5900 and yet manages to be the fastest drive I've ever owned. I doubt I'll even consider a 7200 drive from now on.

[TeeCee]

Re: Spindle speed.

There's not a huge difference between 5400 and 7200, so a modern high density 5400 will often be faster than an older, lower density, 7200. Also being a bit smarter in cache usage and I/O queuing can cover the gap.

You need to compare like with like, so try comparing what you have there to a 7200 Seagate of the same generation. You should find a significant and measurable improvement.

Also, try any of the 10 or 15k drives. You'll find that spindle speed makes one heck of a difference then....

[Francis Boyle]

Pretty much my point

High densities coupled with large smart caches mean the moderate speed increase you get from spinning faster is becoming increasing irrelevant when balanced against the costs (heat, noise power, $s). I'm getting 140 MB/s from the first 200 GBs of my drive. Even with a 15000 Cheetah Seagate can only promise me 200 MB/s for a puny few hundred gigs at something like 20 times the price per unit capacity of the Baracuda. If I wanted to pay that sort of money I'd go for an SSD.