14 DAY TRIAL // Western Digital (WD) prepares to invade the mobile HDD device market with its new line of Scorpio drives. In order to eliminate competition, Western Digital designed these new drives to be the quietest 2.5-inch devices on the market.
According to WD, the 160 GB model (as there will be smaller capacities as well), features a speed of 5400 RPM, but does this with the aid of power specs similar to 4200 RPM drives. It is a SATA drive and transfer rates of 150 MB/s are expected, while 8 MB of buffer memory are unusually high for mobile devices. It uses Whisper Drive technology and SoftSeek algorithms to keep the drive as quiet as possible. To ensure the edge over competitors, WD equipped these drives with reliable ShockGuard technology and the magnetic surface is said to be the most advanced material available, enabling the drive to perform a minimum of 600,000 load/unload cycles without contamination. The Scorpio drives come packed in a rigid stainless steel top cover for improved shock protection.
Western Digital also incorporated the Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology which allows powerful HDD drives to fit into mobile devices. The estimated price of the 160 GB model is $179.9 and there will also be cheaper drives with less memory.