By using updated hard disk drive technology, Toshiba has launched the industry's most advanced 2.5-inch hard disk drive to date. The MK1031GAS is the world's first 100GB 2.5-inch HDD with an areal density of 80 gigabits of data per square inch. The key to achieving this was replacing the Pico Sliders attached to the drive’s heads, and which maintain the appropriate distance from the disk during read and write operations, with Femto Sliders that are 35 percent smaller and much lighter. Advances were also achieved in the thin-film technology for both the head and media.
The new drive’s operating shock resistance of 325G (2msec) is 50 percent higher than in Toshiba’s current 2.5-inch HDD, due to employment of the smaller, lighter Femto Sliders in combination with a lighter head-suspension and head arm.
Power consumption of the MK1031GAS is approximately 20 percent lower on average than the company’s current drive range due to pulse width modulation that controls disk rotation speed by switching the power supply to the spindle motor on and off at a controlled frequency. A DC-DC converter is also used in the power unit.
As notebook PCs become increasingly popular, lightweight and contain sophisticated multi-media options, this new drive will be the premier hard disk drive for advanced mobile computing applications.