Toshiba Intros 200GB Automotive-Grade Hard Drive

Notebooks need hard drives, desktops need hard drives, but modern day vehicles need hard drives as well. Toshiba knows this better than anyone, and it knows that those paltry 32GB drives of yesteryear are no longer cutting it. In order to provide more storage space, more complex maps and more multi-media in new vehicles, the company has revealed a new automotive-grade HDD with 200GB of capacity.

The 4,200 RPM SATA MK2060GSC is the highest-capacity automotive-grade HDD available, and these drives are built to withstand intense bumps, intense heat and more abuse than a standard notebook drive. The company claims that technical benefits to systems manufacturers include a 78 percent improvement in internal transfer rates compared to equivalent products on the market, as well as a faster seek time of 12 milliseconds and extremely quiet "silent seek" operation of 23dB. It's also extremely reliable: it can withstand altitude variations of -300 to 12,000 meters during non-operating and -300 to 5,650 meters while operating, as well as operating temperatures of -30 to +85°C.  The new HDD also delivers high levels of operating shock resistance and enhanced vibration resistance.



Currently, the drive is being sampled, with commercial availability on track for Q3 2010. There will also be a 100GB unit for lower-end vehicles.