Toshiba touts quarter-terabyte 1.8in HDD for netbooks

Toshiba has introduced a 1.8in hard drive that packs in a whopping - for the form-factor - raw storage capacity of 250GB.

The two-platter unit spins its disks at 5400rpm and weighs a mere 62g. Too much? Then how about a single-platter, 120GB model that's just 60g?

Toshiba said it will also offer a two-platter 160GB drive for the more price-conscious.

All three connect using a 1.5Gb/s or 3Gb/s SATA link. Because of the drives' capacities, Toshiba's able to claim even smaller storage-per-Watt values - 0.0016W/GB for the 250GB unit - which means they're. It further stressed is eco-credentials - more meaningfully this time - by noting that none of the drives contain halogens.

Toshiba then said the drives "will lower CO2 emissions by approximately 54g a year... during their lifecyle", but admitted that was in comparison with a clunky model from 2000.

The company recently said a 240GB 1.8in HDD with a parallel ATA interconnect would be available later this month.