Toshiba's storage division yesterday introduced a 2.5in hard drive offering up to 100GB of storage capacity thanks to an "industry leading" density of 80Gb per square inch.

The 9.5mm high, 99g unit - dubbed the MK1031GAS - is pitched at notebook vendors. That's not just because of its size. The drive features a "load/unload mechanism that isolates the head from the disk when it is not executing read-write instructions" the better to protect the delicate mechanism from shocks.

Indeed, the device can withstand up to 325g of operation shock for up to 2ms and 850g of non-operating shock (1ms), Toshiba claims. The MK1031GAS' fluid dynamic bearing motor yields 21dB of noise when idle.

The manufacturer also claimed that the unit consumes around 80 per cent of the power gobbled up by its existing 2.5in models, thanks to a "Pulse Width Modulation method for controlling the spindle motor, and by employing a DC-DC converter in the power unit".

The Ultra DMA/100 unit crams in two 50GB platters with write heads built upon femto slider and thin-film technology. It also incorporates a high-sensitivity GMR head. Rotating at 4200rpm, the drive provides an average seek time of 12ms. It contains an 8MB buffer.

Samples of the MX1031GAS will be available next month, said Toshiba. It also plans to offer a single-platter 50GB version. Pricing was not disclosed. ®

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