[Eug]

Toshiba MK3004GAH 30 GB:

Rotational Speed 4,200rpm
Avg. Rotational Latency 7.14ms
Spin-up Time 3.5sec (typical)
Buffer 512KB
Seek Time Average 15 Maximum 26
Internal Transfer Rate 125.5 - 253.1 Mbits/sec
Host Transfer Rate Ultra DMA mode 100Mbytes/sec
Number of Disks 2
Number of Data Heads 4
Track Density (TPI) 3039 (77.2k)
Logical Cylinders 16,383
Logical Heads 16
Logical Sectors/track 63
Bytes per Sector 512
Logical Blocks (LBA) 58,595,040
Start 1.2 typ
Seek 1.4W typ
Read 1.4W typ
Write 1.4W typ
Sleep 0.08W typ
Energy Consumption Efficiency 0.013GB avg
Height 0.315" (8.0mm)
Width 2.13" (54.0mm)
Depth 3.09" (78.5mm)
Weight 2.19oz (62g) typ

The Toshiba MK1504GAL 15 GB is very similar, but with just 1 platter (and 2 heads).

What this means is that the new 15 and 30 GB iPod drives are significantly faster than the 20 GB iPod's drive (with a higher track density), and use slightly less power.

However, it also means that we won't have any larger iPods any time soon. The 30 GB is already using 2 platters with 7.5 GB per side. Any new iPods will require new drives with a higher track density.

I wonder if Toshiba beefed up the cache size and increased the capacity, how well they'd do as drives for ultra-portable laptops.

These 1.8" drives are slow (and lower capacity) in comparison to current 4200 rpm 2.5" drives, but many of the specs suggest that with a bigger cache that they'd compare favourably to 2.5" drives from a couple of years ago.

[Yoda's Erotic Piggyback]

So you still not getting one?

[Eug]

Originally posted by Yoda's Erotic Piggyback:
So you still not getting one?

Nope. Not for now. The size, and the rev. 1 bugs are making me hold off.

BTW, I now predict that the next iteration of the iPods will give us a 40 GB max size only. ie. 20 GB per platter with 2 platters. I'm guessing early next year... I hope I'm wrong, because I'd prefer to get one in 6 months.

Cooler though would be to get a PPC970 PowerBook in 2005 with 60 GB 1.8" drive with 2 MB cache. I'll probably be getting a new laptop by the end of 2005.