Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) is today announcing volume shipment of the industry's highest-capacity, highest-performing notebook hard drive with new optional data encryption technology. With double the capacity and a 22-percent performance improvement over its predecessor, the 200-gigabyte (GB), 7200 RPM Travelstar 7K200 reigns supreme as the leader in this elite notebook hard drive segment. Now, with optional hard-drive level "Bulk Data Encryption" technology from Hitachi, the Travelstar 7K200 offers even greater cachet to notebook users by helping to guard against data loss and piracy.

Dell and Alienware will be the first to offer the Travelstar 7K200 on select systems. It is available immediately on all Dell XPS notebooks and on all Alienware notebooks. Customers demanding the highest capacity storage found on mobile systems can create dual hard drive configurations with 400GB of available storage on the Aurora m9700 and the XPS M2010.

"Today's technology enthusiasts demand performance from every facet of their notebook computer," said Neil Hand, vice president, Dell's worldwide consumer marketing product group. "Incorporating best-in-class features, like the high-performance Travelstar 7K200, underscores Dell and Alienware's commitment to meet and exceed our mobile customers' expectations."

The 7200 RPM category of the 2.5-inch hard drive segment is considered the platinum class of notebook hard drives, designed for the most discriminating users. Hitachi is living up to this expectation by delivering first to market a 200-GB product with unmatched performance, optional encryption technology and leadership shock specifications to further strengthen its position in this hard drive category. In addition, despite the higher motor spin speed, the 7200 RPM Travelstar 7K200 offers comparable power consumption, heat emission and acoustics to its 5400 RPM counterparts.

Hitachi will also offer 7200 RPM performance in an enhanced-availability version. The Travelstar E7K200 is designed for applications that require 24x7 data access.

"The 7200 RPM Travelstar is the rock star of our mobile hard drive family both for its technical merits and its desirability," said Shinjiro Iwata, chief marketing officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "The enthusiastic response to date confirms that consumers are ever more sophisticated in their notebook requirements and that the Travelstar has become a status symbol among notebook aficionados. As the industry's only third-generation 7200 RPM product, we believe the Travelstar 7K200 will continue to accelerate this trend."

Hitachi believes 7200 RPM 2.5-inch hard drives will account for 40 percent of all notebook hard drives shipped in 2010, representing a 25-percent compounded annual growth rate since 2005. Today, 7200 RPM products represent roughly 10 percent of total 2.5-inch shipments. The Travelstar 7K200 uses Hitachi's third-generation perpendicular magnetic recording technology.

Specs Defined
From a user standpoint, the Travelstar 7K200's leadership specifications translate into very tangible benefits:

• 18-33 percent faster application performance than competitive 7200 RPM and 5400 RPM 2.5-inch hard drives could mean faster file copying and document retrieval, better graphics, faster game performance, etc.;
• Low acoustics offer users a richer audio-listening experience, especially as more and more users are listening to music and watching movies on their notebooks;
• 5400 RPM power parity means users don't have to give up battery life for the higher performance;
• 350 Gs operating shock tolerance gives users better data protection from vibration, bumps and drops than any other competitive hard drives.

Technical Specifications:

Travelstar 7K200 & E7K200

80/100/120/160/200 GB; 120/160/200 GB (E7K200)
9.5 mm in height
7200 rpm
164 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density
1/1/2/2/2 glass disk platter(s); 2/2/2 disks (E7K200)
2/2/3/4/4 GMR recording head(s); 3/4/4 heads (E7K200)
1000 G/1ms non-operating shock
350 G/2ms operating shock
4.2 ms average latency
10 ms average read time/11 ms average write time
1.0 W active idle (not applicable to E7K200)
0.8 W low-power idle (not applicable to E7K200)
Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s, 1.5Gb/s encrypted, 3Gb/s; Serial ATA 3 Gb/s (E7K200)
115 grams in weight
2.2/2.2/2.5/2.5/2.5 Bels typical idle acoustics; 2.5 (E7K200)
2.6/2.6/2.9/2.9/2.9 Bels typical operating acoustics; 2.9 (E7K200)