Seagate, Hitachi Announce 6-GB 1-Inch Drives

Hitachi and Seagate both announced 6-GB versions of their 1-inch hard disk drives on Wednesday, adding more pressure to the market.

Both drives are aimed at MP3 and handheld video players. Not surprisingly, Apple Computer announced its own 6-Gbyte iPod Mini players on Wednesday, which also incorporate a 6-GB inch drive.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' new 6-inch Microdrives could be the last of the current generation before the company introduces "Mikey" and "Slim", two revised drives due later this year. At that point, the portable hard drive industry will begin to match the capacity points offered by the current generation of notebook drives.

"They will be in retail stores and in the commercial sector very soon," said Bill Healy, senior vice president of product strategy and marketing at HGST, of the 6-GB drives.

Hitachi also slashed the prices of its Microdrive products to better establish itself in the marketplace. The 6-GB Microdrive product is being offered at a suggested retail price of $299, just under half of the $499 Hitachi has traditionally charged for a new model. A 4-GB Microdrive 3K6 will sell for about $199.

Seagate, meanwhile, announced its own 6-GB ST1 drive, which includes the company's patented "RunOn" technology, which buffers the drive to allow seamless throughput. Seagate did not disclose the expected price of the drive, but said it had been shipping it since December.

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.