Hitachi Ships The First 4TB Hard Drive
by Kristian Vättö on December 9, 2011 2:30 PM ESTHitachi has started shipping the world's first hard drive with 4TB capacity. There has not been an official press release from Hitachi yet, but a Japanese site Akiba has spotted the hard drive on sale. The hard drive carries model number HDS5C4040ALE630 and is branded as Deskstar 5K.
The brand suggests that it's a lower performance drive with rotational speed of 5900rpm (Hitachi calls this "CoolSpin"). The drive comes with 32MB of cache just like the 2TB and 3TB versions, and uses SATA 6Gb/s interface. The drive is priced at 26,800 Yen, which translates to $345. For comparison, the 3TB Deskstar 5K costs 19,780 Yen ($254), so the price per GB is very close. The drive appears to use five platters, so two more platter than the previous 3TB monster.
The release comes at an odd time because hard drive supply is still very limited due to the floods in Thailand. The components of this drive are manufactured in Thailand according to the product packaging, meaning that the supply may be very limited in the short term. There is no word on global availability, though.
Source: Akiba (Google Translation)
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Cr0nJ0b - Friday, December 9, 2011 - link
I'm not sure where I read that they were divesting the HDD business...I think that WD is buying them...so why announce a new product now?dagamer34 - Friday, December 9, 2011 - link
It's still been in the pipeline for a few months, and I believe Seagate is the only other manufacturer that makes 4TB drives. Limited competition benefits new market entrants.melgross - Saturday, December 10, 2011 - link
I admit I don't understand the headline. I bought a Seagate 4TB 7200 drive a month ago from OWC. It cost $400 then, but it see it's now listed for $349. Shouldn't the headline read that it's Hitachi's first 4Tb drive instead?ddarko - Saturday, December 10, 2011 - link
Actually, the headline should be written to say Hitachi ships the first INTERNAL 4TB hard drive." I believe your Seagate 4TB drive is an external drive. Both Seagate and Hitachi have been selling external drives of that capacity but Hitachi is the first to sell an internal version in this size.melgross - Sunday, December 11, 2011 - link
I answered this already, but it's not here. This IS an internal drive. It's NOT from a case. The headline is wrong, and should be changed.tyciol - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
I'm glad you two clarified this, I was a bit confused at first since seagate was throwing around the 'first' title.cfaalm - Friday, December 9, 2011 - link
To up the price for Hitachi? To prove a point with their R&D department?I guess no one at Hitachi said: Stop developping, we'll be taken over shortly. Let's shut down our R&D for the time being.
Chapbass - Friday, December 9, 2011 - link
"The drive is priced at 26,800 Yen, which translates to $345. For comparison, the 2TB Deskstar 5K costs 19,780 Yen ($254), so the price per GB is very close."Either you meant the 3TB version was $254, or the price per GB isn't close at all....2x2TB drives would be $508 as opposed to 345.
I'm guessing you meant 3TB, but its a figure that could be misleading :)
Chapbass - Friday, December 9, 2011 - link
Oh, hmm, I noticed the source is from google translate..maybe that has something to do with it? Not sure.Kristian Vättö - Sunday, December 11, 2011 - link
You are right, I meant the 3TB drive is $254. Fixed now :-)