Tech Shout!

Data storage products’ manufacturer Western Digital has announced that it has started shipping its 250 GB WD Scorpio 2.5-inch Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, which make use of the perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology. Utilizing the PMR technology enables them to accomplish the highest capacity available in a small form factor drive and have WD proprietary features that make the drive quiet, use less power and run at cool operating temperatures.

Sharad Srivastava, Sales Director, South Asia and India said, “The 2.5-inch market continues to be a major focus for WD, and this 250 GB WD Scorpio drive represents our second-generation PMR platform.” He added, “The WD Scorpio 250 GB hard drive is a direct result of the significant investments WD has made in proprietary head technologies as well as significant system level feature innovation. With the introduction of our latest-generation WD Scorpio drives, WD continues to offer mobile computing and portable storage customers the same outstanding quality, reliability and performance that have earned the company a leadership position in the desktop PC market.”

The WD Scorpio 250 GB incorporates the WhisperDrive technology that blends state-of-the-art seeking algorithms, thus makings it one of the quietest 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch drives available today. Furthermore, it also embeds the ShockGuard technology that amalgamates firmware and hardware enhancements to safeguard the drive mechanics and platter surface to meet the highest combined shock tolerance specifications required for mobile and notebook applications. The IntelliSeek technology is another innovative feature that the WD Scorpio 250 GB includes. It proactively calculates an optimum seek speed to reduce hasty movement of the actuator that creates noise and requires power, which is common in other drives. IntelliSeek makes it possible for the actuator’s movement to be controlled so the head reaches the next target sector just in time to read the next piece of information, rather than rapidly accelerating and waiting for the drive rotation to catch up. This smooth motion cuts down the power usage by over 60 percent compared with standard drives, as well as quiets seek operation and lowers vibration.

Market research firm, IDC stated that implementation of PMR technology in mobile 2.5-inch hard drives will maintain a rise in the average capacity shipped close to the average growth rate of 32 percent for the past five years. Further on, IDC stated that by the year 2011, shipments of mobile 2.5-inch hard drives will more than double 2006 shipment volumes.

The WD Scorpio 250 GB drives will be priced at around Rs. 10,000.