Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a leading maker of hard disk drives (HDDs), on Thursday revealed details concerning its next-generation hard drives for mobile computers that will support flash caches as well as on-the-fly data encryption.

“The Travelstar products we have planned for 2007 give insight to what Hitachi believes are important to end-users in a mobile storage product: ample capacity for video and other rich content, superior performance and reliability, and greater confidence in the safety of their data as users are increasingly on the move,” said Shinjiro Iwata, chief marketing officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.

The company said that in the first half of 2007 it would release a 2.5” hard drive that features 200GB capacity and 7200rpm motor, which will significantly increase performance of the device and will mark the industry’s first 7200rpm high-capacity HDD for laptops.

In the second half of the year Hitachi plans to unveil 250GB hard disk drives with 5400rpm spindle speed. The lineup of 250GB hard drives will include a model with data encryption as well as a model with flash cache for increased performance and reliability, according to a statement by Hitachi. In addition, Hitachi will offer the drive that combines both innovations.

Both new Travelstar drives will use perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology, building upon the highly successful volume ramp of Hitachi’s debut PMR hard drive, the Travelstar 5K160.