CES: Hitachi unveils 1TB 2.5in mobile hard drive

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) is shipping a 1TB 2.5in hard drive with a 7,200RPM spin speed aimed at laptops and other applications where high performance is required.

Available now, the new Travelstar drive is claimed as the first 9.5mm high 2.5in mobile hard drive to feature a 1TB capacity at 7,200rpm according to HGST, which is now a subsidiary of Western Digital.

The new drive will be available sometime later in the first quarter of 2013 as a Hard Drive Retail Kit for upgrading laptops and other devices at an expected UK price of £90, complete with instructions.

However, the 1TB Travelstar disk is also being used inside other products, such as Hitachi's Touro Mobile Pro USB 3.0 external hard drive, set to be available for an expected £100.

Meanwhile, Hitachi's subsidiary G-Technology has also announced it using the new drive in its G-Drive mini and G-RAID mini products aimed at Apple Mac users and content creation professionals.

The two products offer both USB 3.0 and FireWire interfaces.

"New kinds of devices and media formats require considerably more interface bandwidth, capacity and higher transfer rates to move, store and edit data quickly," said Mike Williams, vice president and general manager for HGST Branded Business.