Toshiba develops 320Gb, 5400rpm credit card-size hard disk

1.8” hard drives — as used in the iPod Classic, the cheaper MacBook Air and some netbooks — a much slower than their more commonly used 2.5” counterparts, but their capacities are catching up.

Toshiba has just announced a 1.8” drive with capacities up to 320Gb and, better still, a 5400rpm spin-speed — those smaller, slower drives spin at 4200rpm. The drive has a 16Mb cache and data transfer rates “up to” 830Mbit/s.

The Toshiba MK1235GSL SATA drive is about the size of a credit card and can withstand operating shocks up to 500G — that’s a drop of a few feet onto the floor with the drive still spinning.

Faster, higher capacity 1.8” hard drives should make it possible for computer manufacturers to make slimmer netbooks with out sacrificing performance. They also offer a more cost effective option than SSD storage — the only real storage option if space is at a premium.

[Toshiba]