Hitachi has launched what it claims is the world's fastest hard disk, and a quad speed DVD-ROM drive. Built to a 3.5in form factor, the DK3E1 SCSI drive holds 9.2GB and spins at 12,030rpm for a average seek time of 5ms. The drive is powered by a Hitachi SuperH Risc CPU, and achieves further data access speed gains through its use of 'headerless' sector formatting and a digital Enhanced Partial Response/Maximum Likelihood (EPRML) read channel. The result is an internal 27.3MBps data transfer rate and a sustained data transfer rate of 18MBps. Meanwhile, the GD-2500 EIDE DVD-ROM drive is an internal unit aimed at PC assemblers and system builders keen to differentiate their products with the latest optical storage technology. The drive reads DVDs at four times standard speed, and operates as a 24x CD-ROM drive. ® click for more stories