Most internal storage solutions for portable computer systems fall short to their desktop counterparts from the total storage capacity point of view. Taking in consideration this exact problem, Hitachi, one of the leading storage devices' manufacturers, has announced the release of the world's first 500 GB “notebook-ready” hard drive. The Travelstar 5K500 is Hitachi's way of taking the portable storage devices to the next level.



Built on a SATA 3.0 Gb/s interface, the 5K500 hard drive is part of Hitachi's Travelstar lineup. Travelstar hard drives are meant to offer storage support to notebook and laptop users as they are built with a 2.5 inch form factor. Users can now choose from storage capacities of up to 500 GB for the SATA models and 200 GB for the PATA versions. Travelstar 5K500 is Hitachi’s fourth-generation mobile drive to use perpendicular magnetic recording (PRM) technology to deliver breakthrough capacity and reliability. PRM technology is slowly becoming a standard in hard drives manufacturing, as it brings a series of very attractive features.



The Travelstar's 5K500 specification sheet reveals that the Hitachi hard disk has a the rotational speed of the disk's platters set at 5400 RPM. The buffer memory numbers a total of 8 MB, which makes us wonder how will the Travelstar hard drive going to perform in speed tests. Concerning the physical security of the hard drive, Travelstar 5K500 is the first mobile drive to feature Hitachi patented Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) technology. This technology anticipates any future threats and takes the necessary steps in order to stabilize the drive head and maintain performance.



Notebooks do require to have important amount of storage space as this way they can serve even more purposes. With the Hitachi Travelstar 5K500 hard drive the 500 GB should be enough to let users manage a decent media library. The online price tag of the Hitachi product is somewhere between $300 and $350.