Hitachi GST Z-Series Travelstar and CinemaStar drives

Hitachi GST has launched the 7 mm Z-Series range of ultra-slim and light z-height Travelstar and CinemaStar drives, the claimed highest capacity and fastest 7 mm 2.5″ drives that enable ultra-portable computers, CE devices and industrial systems.

Designed as a direct replacement for the standard 2.5″, 9.5 mm hard drives and 26% slimmer than its predecessors, they are available in capacities up to 320 GB in a 7 mm one-disk design.

All of the series’ drives feature common connectors and common mounting points for simple integration into existing systems.

The series includes the Travelstar Z7K320 drive with a 16 MB cache and a serial ATA 3 Gbps interface for use in notebook PCs, ultra portables and netbooks, and compact desktop systems. The drive delivers up to a claimed 18% improved application performance than 5400 rpm models of the same capacity.

With quiet acoustics, shock resistance, low power and a halogen-free design, the drive offers 1.8 W read/write power and 0.8 W low power idle. It also gives 2.3 idle/2.4 seek bels for quieter audio listening.

The Travelstar Z5K320 5400 rpm, 2.5″, 8 MB cache, serial ATA 3 Gbps interface hard drive is suitable for mobile and ultra-portable applications. The drive offers 1.6 W read/write power and 0.55 W low power idle and delivers quiet acoustics at 1.9 idle/2.0 seek bels.

The CinemaStar Z5K320 7 mm drives are designed for A/V streaming devices and power set-top boxes, PVRs, portable video players, DVR-enabled TVs and video surveillance systems, and have good power management and low acoustics.

At 1.9 idle/2.0 seek bels, the range is claimed to be the quietest 7 mm 2.5″. It has an improved protection scheme for power fluctuation and enhanced thermal fly-height control for improved error rates.

The Travelstar Z-series features optional BDE for hard-drive-level data security. The self-encrypting drives are designed to meet the Trusted Computing Group Opal Storage Security specification and support pre-boot authentication, and offer good administrative controls for data protection and an easy drive re-deployment process.

The Travelstar Z7K320 and Z5K320 drive range has enhanced availability models in capacities of 250 and 320 GB, designed for applications needing always-on protection in 24/7, low-transaction environments.