Fujitsu has announced details of a new product family of hard drives targeting a wider range of users. Fujitsu said the drives reflect the diverse nature of its customer base. The series includes low-cost drives, drives optimised for Internet and audio-visual applications, and for high-end performance desktops. All the drives feature third-generation GMR heads and range in capacity from 6.4GB to 27.3GB. The product family includes 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM drives with areal density of up to 6.8GB per platter. The three 5200RPM budget siblings have a capacity range of 6.4GB to 13.6GB, while the 7200 RPM performance models can store from 10.2GB to 27.3GB of data. These higher end drives have a 2MB buffer and an average seek times of 8.5ms. Aiming for the consumer electronics market, the last three drives have transfer rates of up to 30.4MB per second allowing fast access to large online audio-visual files. Seek time is around 9.5ms and they are also quieter, thanks to a new soundproofing cover. ®