HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), a division of Western Digital, has introduced a new generation of hard drives for consumer electronics applications. The new CinemaStar hard disk drives (HDDs) utilize latest-generation 2.5" platters with 630Gb/inch² areal density and thus provide 500GB capacity while being very - 7mm - thin, or up to 1000GB in 9.5mm models.

"The ever increasing appetite for on-demand entertainment is driving the adoption of high-capacity 2.5" hard disk drives into a growing number of CE applications. Not only is there a desire to increase the storage capacity in these devices to hold more programs, but they must deliver predictable A/V streaming performance," said Brendan Collins, vice president of product marketing at HGST.

The new family of CinemaStar 2.5" hard disk drives for such applications as high-definition multi-stream DVRs, tuner-based STBs as well as IPTV set-top boxes, DVR-enabled TVs, audio systems and video surveillance systems includes C5K1000 (9.5mm, 5400rpm), Z5K500 (7mm, 5400rpm) and Z7K500 (7mm, 7200rpm) sub-families of hard drives:

• CinemaStar C5K1000 features dual-disk 9.5mm designs with 640GB, 750GB and 1000GB capacities, 5400rpm spindle speed, 8MB cache and Serial ATA-600 interface. The manufacturer declares 1.5W typical power consumption, 5.5ms average latency, 15ms typical seek time and 124.75MB/s media transfer rate.
• CinemaStar Z5K500 features one-disk 7mm designs with 500GB, 320GB and 250GB capacities, 5400rpm spindle speed, 8MB cache and Serial ATA-300 interface. The manufacturer declares 1.5W typical power consumption, 5.5ms average latency, 15ms typical seek time and 125.5MB/s media transfer rate.
• CinemaStar Z7K500 features one-disk 7mm designs with 500GB, 320GB and 250GB capacities, 7200rpm spindle speed, 32MB cache and Serial ATA-600 interface. The manufacturer declares 1.7W typical power consumption, 4.2ms average latency, 15ms typical seek time and 174.5MB/s media transfer rate.

All CinemaStar drives feature HGST’s patented SmoothStream technology, which supports the industry-standard ATA‑7 streaming command set, and SMART command transport (SCT) that provide time-limited error recovery and thermal monitoring capabilities for a longer system life. Together, the SCT protocol and HGST SmoothStream technology minimize disruptions in stream delivery by adapting buffer management behavior and error recovery timing to match the characteristics of typical streaming applications.

"With our broad new family of 2.5" CinemaStar drives, we continue to give our customers the flexibility to select a variety of reliable and robust drives to meet their cost, performance, power or capacity requirements, while helping them to deliver smaller, more aesthetically appealing designs," added Mr. Collins.

The new 2.5" CinemaStar family is now shipping in limited quantities. CE OEM samples are now available.

"Increasingly, set-top-box, DVR, and game console manufacturers are leveraging smaller 2.5" form factor HDDs instead of traditional 3.5" drives in more compact CE product designs. With 2.5" HDDs able to offer the capacity sweet spot for set top boxes and DVRs, IDC expects 2.5" HDD shipments into these applications will grow at a worldwide 2011-2016 compound annual growth rate of 21.8%," said John Rydning, IDC's HDD research vice president.

Tags: Hitachi, HGST, WD, Western Digital, Cinemastar, 7mm, HDD