A terabyte in a notebook. That vision of portable storage bliss arrived with Thursday’s announcement that Asus will integrate two of Hitachi’s new 500-GB, 2.5-inch Travelstar hard drives into its M70 laptop.

In case you are having a hard date imagining how large a terabyte is, think about having 350 feature-length movies on your notebook, or 250,000 four-minute songs.

Tony Chen, general manager of Asus Notebooks, said in a statement that the large capacity of the new drive can meet the ever-increasing demand for “digital entertainment on the go” combined with “desktop performance and features.”

But the drive is not limited to mobile uses. In a statement announcing the new hardware, Hitachi noted that the 5K500 can be used in space-saving “slim” desktops.

Vibration Warning System

Hitachi said the drive’s rotational vibration safeguard (RVS) technology is designed to protect documents by providing an “early warning system” to the drive. When the RVS detects that a vibration might be

on the way, the drive takes steps to stabilize itself, the company said.

According to Hitachi, while premium speakers can enhance the experience of movies, music, and games, they can pass on vibrations that the drive notices even whether the user doesn’t. Another common vibration source can be the motor on another drive, in a two-drive laptop.

There are three platters in the new drive, instead of two as in previous Hitachi laptop drives. Although the drive fits into a 2.5-inch format — the standard size for most laptops — it’s actually a bit taller than existing drives.

The arrival of a terabyte notebook is “surprising in that it’s here so quickly, but it was inevitable,” said IDC analyst Doug Bell. He said that the needs of some users for large media files is “definitely pushing the physical limits” of hard drive storage.

May Become Commonplace

Bell said he doubts…

Original post by Top Tech News

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