Three of the top four hard disk drive suppliers have each announced new products, covering the very small, the small and the not small at all form factors.

Starting at the bottom of the heap, Toshiba has a new 1.8-inch drive range for MP3 players and the like. It offers 60 to 160GB on a single platter with a 467Gbit/sq in areal density.

Western Digital is now shipping a 640GB, 2-platter, Scorpio Blue 2.5-inch drive. This uses fifth generation PMR technology and fits in a standard notebook drive bay as it has a 9.5mm thickness. The 1TB and 750GB Scorpio Blues don't as they use three platters and are thicker.

The company also tweaked its portable drive line.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the WD Scorpio Blue 640 GB is £88.00 + VAT.

Up in the 3.5-inch space Hitachi GST announced a 1TB CinemaStar drive, the 7K1000.C, with four platters. It spins at 7200rpm and will be volume shipped by the end of the year. There is a quieter version, the 5K1000 CoolSpin, with noise levels reduced by dropping rotation speed to 5200rpm or thereabouts - Hitachi GST doesn't actually say. ®

Related stories

• Toshiba attacks 2.5-inch drives from below (5 November 2009)
• WD dives into SAS enterprise drive pool (3 November 2009)
• Hitachi GST clears out Simple clutter (23 October 2009)
• Updated Hitachi GST whacks Seagate in the Savvios (16 October 2009)
• Comment WD to sink teeth into enterprise drive market (16 October 2009)
• Tosh preps enterprise SSD push (2 October 2009)
• LG widens notebook range (17 September 2009)
• Toshiba claims 2.5-inch disk leadership (2 September 2009)
• Toshiba touts 640GB laptop hard drive (2 September 2009)
• WD speeds up 2TB rollout (10 August 2009)
• Mixed fortunes for Hitachi disk division (9 August 2009)
• Hitachi GST joins 2TB Club (6 August 2009)
• Seagate closing Singapore plant (4 August 2009)
• Recession ending for Western Digital (29 July 2009)
• Comment Seagate forced to think about the next small big thing (28 July 2009)
• WD unfurls 1TB Scorpio (27 July 2009)
• Hitachi GST buys Malaysian platter plant (3 July 2009)