IBM Launches High Capacity Hard-Disk DrivesIBM Launches High Capacity Hard-Disk Drives

IBM has released several new high capacity hard-disk drives, including the first it's produced that can be used in low-power, small-scale blade servers.

The Deskstar 120GXP is a 120-Gbyte drive for desktop computers that runs at 7,200 rpm, has a 8.5-millisecond average seek time, and the lowest power consumption of any 3.5-inch drive in the industry, according to IBM. "If you want capacity, you want performance, and you want a good price point, these are very attractive," says Shiv Shivaji, IBM's Deskstar business line manager.

The other drives from IBM's Travelstar line for notebook computers, are the 40GN and 60GH, which are 2.5-inch, 5,400-rpm drives in 40-GB and 60-GB configurations respectively. "For people that are doing video applications, storing a large number of digital photos, or have a lot of PowerPoint presentations, these are ideal," says Jim Porter, president of analyst firm Disk/Trends. "And if Bill Gates' software keeps getting bigger, even more people are going to need them."

Both new Travelstar drives are also available in versions that can be used in blade servers--arrays of extremely skinny, modular drives. "These are basically a card with one or two disk drives on it, that fits into a rack," says Dave Uriu, IBM's Travelstar business line manager. "They're really good as primarily a I/O device or a Web server. The market is relatively small, but we see this as having great potential in coming years." Pricing for the new drives hasn't been set.