Digital Home Thoughts: PCWorld: "Notebook Storage Hits 100GB"

"Toshiba has developed a hard drive for notebook computers that can hold 100GB of data. The company expects to begin selling it later this year, it says. The new hard drive offers a quarter more storage space than the company's current highest capacity notebook drive and is the first 2.5-inch drive from any manufacturer to store 100GB, according to Toshiba.

The company employed a new thin-film technology on both the head and platter to make the drive. That film increased the head's sensitivity and allowed engineers to increase the areal density to 80 gigabits per square inch, from the 65 gigabits per square inch on Toshiba's current 80GB notebook drives, says Midori Suzuki, a spokesperson for Toshiba in Tokyo."

Toshiba's new drive will have the ATA-6 interface and spin at 4200rpm. The speed of the drive is the low point IMO because I like to have a laptop with a minimum of 5400rpm (I currently have one with 7200rpm) even though it reduces the battery life of the laptop. With this drive, they have also improved the amount of shock it can absorb. The drive will be available next month, but will have a whopping price tag of $1096 upon release.