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Fujitsu started shipping samples of 60GB 2.5-inch hard drives with an areal density of 53.2 gigabits per square inch this month, the highest density available in this hard drive class, the company announced last week.

The higher the areal density, the more data a drive can store. A 53.2 gigabits per square inch areal density means that much more data can be put into one square inch of magnetic recording space, allowing 30GB to be stored on a single 2.5-inch platter.

Fujitsu's MHS Series 2.5-inch hard disk only needs two platters for a total capacity of 60GB, the company said in a statement.

Less Dense?

Other vendors that provide 60GB 2.5-inch hard drives include IBM and Toshiba. However, IBM's Travelstar 60GH has four platters, with an areal density of 28 gigabits per square inch, according to information on the company's Web site.

Its Travelstar 40GN disk drive, which has a 34 gigabits per square inch areal density, is only available in capacities up to 40GB, according to the Web site.

Toshiba's MK6021GAS is a 60GB 2.5-inch hard drive with two platters, but according to the Toshiba Web site, the drive's areal density is only 48.8 gigabits per square inch, slightly lower than Fujitsu's latest development.

Portable Products

The 2.5-inch hard drives are commonly used for mobile devices such as notebook PCs and portable hard drive subsystems. The Tokyo company also expects its products to be used in digital audio players and consumer electronics products, it says.

Fujitsu's new drive is available in capacities of 30GB, 40GB, and 60GB. It has a maximum rotational speed of 4,200 revolutions per minute, data transfer rate of 38.1MB per second, and average seek time of 12 milliseconds, Fujitsu says.

Sample shipping began worldwide this month, the statement says.

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