1 TB per platter from Samsung

In the midst of CeBIT Samsung could be found demoing a prototype of a very unusual 2 TB 3.5 inch hard drive. It only has two platters, each of which is a record 1 TB! Up until now, the maximum density per platter was 750 GB (from various manufacturers).

Even though just a prototype, the drive already had the model number HN-D201RAE. In terms of specifications, Heise reports that it is a 5400 rpm drive with 32 MB of cache and a Serial ATA 6 Gb/s interface. This drive will be the first model in the forthcoming Samsung Spinpoint F6 Egogreen range and should be joined by 3 and 4 TB drives in due course. Samsung didn’t give any precise dates for availability, saying simply that the drives would be out sometime this year.

1 TB, 2.5 inch drive, 12.5 mm

In the more immediate future, Samsung was also showing a 1 TB hard drive for laptop. With just two platters, it will be the first 9.5mm 2.5 inch drive. Note that while Seagate did announce a 2.5 inch 1 TB drive on two platters, it was exclusive to the range of external GoFlex hard drives. The Samsung drive, the Spinpoint M8, has a spec of 5400 rpm, 8 MB of cache and a Serial ATA 3 Gb/s interface. Availability has been announced for April.