Hitachi Travelstar Z7K320 7mm-Thick 320GB HDD Slips Out

Hitachi have unveiled their latest 2.5-inch hard-drive [Japanese pdf link], and it's the slimmest to-date.  The Hitachi Travelstar Z7K320 is a mere 7mm thick and packs up to 320GB of storage on a 7,200rpm platter; there's also a Z5K320 version with a 5,400rpm platter.  The drives could be used in super-slim notebooks, offering greater capacity at relatively lower prices than SSD memory.

The Travelstar Z7K320 has 16MB of RAM and uses 1.8W in operation; there's a SATA 3Gbps interface and 0.8W idle power consumption.  As for the slower version, that uses just 1.5W when active and 0.55W when idle.  As well as the 320GB models, there'll be 160GB and 250GB versions too.

Mass production of the Z7K320 is expected to kick off in August 2010; meanwhile the 5,400rpm K5K320 is expected to start in August.  No word on pricing at this stage.

[via PC Watch]