Toshiba Storage Device Division has just announced the expansion of its line of 2.5-inch hard disk drives with the introduction of a new series that is designed to provide notebook PC users with a high-performance, high-capacity storage solution. The Irvine, California-based company announced the introduction of the new Mkxx56GSY series, which has been designed to provide capacities of up to 500GB, while also boasting a platter speed of 7200RPM, consequently providing a boost of performance in areas such as application loading and general data processing, according to the manufacturer.

“This new family delivers faster overall system performance, which boosts user productivity – a key differentiator that PC manufacturers can provide to commercial and consumer notebook users,” said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of marketing at Toshiba Storage Device Division. “As a result, we expect that 7,200 RPM HDDs will grow to more than 25 percent of 2.5-inch HDD shipments within two years. In addition to the half-terabyte capacity, decreased environmental impact and low power consumption are also benefits, demonstrating Toshiba's continued leadership in delivering the right solutions to meet emerging market needs.”

As far as technical specifications go, Toshiba's new hard disk drive series has been designed to provide consumers with capacities of 160GB, 250GB, 320GB and 500GB, in a 2.5-inch form factor. The drive boasts the traditional SATA 3.0Gb/s connectivity interface, compatible with the majority of computer systems currently available on the market. Additional features include an average seek time of 11ms, a buffer memory of 16MB and a maximum areal density of 395 GB/in.

According to Toshiba, the new 7200RPM 2.5-inch HDD series offers 13 percent more performance in disk operations, boasting an improved design that lowers the environmental impact through the adoption of a reduced use of certain toxic and hazardous chemicals, when compared to the company's previous line of hard drives. Although no specific pricing details have been made available, the company stated that the drives were scheduled to enter mass production in the fourth quarter of this year.