WD, a Western Digital company and world leader in storage and connected-life products, today announced it is shipping the world’s first ultra-slim 2.5-inch, 5 mm hard drives and solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) , which are designed for integration into the slimmest devices and space-constrained computing environments. With 500 GB of storage capacity and models with high performance-enabling solid state hybrid drive technology, this slim product line helps to address the tradeoffs system designers often make between capacity, physical size and performance.
“With the launch of our new WD Blue™ 5 mm ultra slim hard drives and our WD Black™ SSHD products, currently shipping to OEMs, WD is delivering to our customers a variety of solutions that maximize storage capacity and volumetric efficiency, as well as performance and system responsiveness, for consumers,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of WD’s client computing business unit. “Our engineering team took a clean-sheet approach with 5 mm to deliver an ultra-thin hard drive that enables a world of possibilities and applications for mobile computing and beyond.”
· Ultra-slim Form Factor – 5 mm height
with compact connector offers system designers a greater degree of chassis
design freedom. This ultra-slim form factor reduces weight by up to 36 percent
compared with a standard 9.5 mm drive.
· Best-in-class
Acoustics and Shock – WD’s best-in-class acoustics use technologies that
reduce noise when the drive is active or idle. The WD Blue and WD Black 5 mm
drives deliver unprecedented operation and non-operation shock specifications
with 400 G and 1000G, respectively.
· Edge Card
Technology – WD designed the connector and board utilizing cell phone
miniaturization technology to maximize the mechanical sway space in the hard
drive and ensure shock performance.
· Edge Card
Connector – WD Blue 5 mm hard drives also feature the first application of
a new small form factor SFF-8784 edge connector. This new connector receives
power from and interfaces with the host I/O bus via the SATA interface
connector SFF-8784.
· StableTrac™ – The motor
shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize
platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations which enables
consistently higher performance.
· Dual Stage Actuator – Leading-edge
enterprise dual stage actuators provide two actuators that improve positional
accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse
displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The
secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning
to a higher degree of accuracy.
Price and Availability
Shipping today to select industrial distributors and OEM customers in 500 GB capacities, WD Blue 2.5-inch 5 mm hard drives, (model: WD5000MPCK) has a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of PHP 3,995. WD Blue 2.5-inch 5 mm hard drives are covered by a two-year limited warranty. WD Black SSHD versions are currently shipping to OEM’s and integrators with both WD proprietary hybrid technology and industry standard SATA I/O technology. More information on WD Blue 2.5-inch 5 mm hard drives may be found on the company's website at http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=800#tab11.
