Toshiba America Storage Device Division (http://www.toshibastorage.com) has announced two additions to its 5,400 RPM line of 2.5-inch hard disk drives. In the standard 9.5 millimeter-high, two-platter design, the company says the MK7559GSXP HDD incorporates both the industry's highest areal density and capacity at 750GB.

Toshiba also introduced a new three-platter 12.5-millimeter-high platform with the MKxx59GSM series, which offers 750GB and 1TB of storage.  These capacity points were predominantly supported by larger form factor 3.5-inch HDDs until the introduction of high-end 2.5-inch solutions.

To deliver these next-generation storage capacities, Toshiba has implemented Advanced Sector Format technology in both families. This technology uses 4K byte-per-sector formatting and improved error-correcting code (ECC) functions, providing maximum data integrity and making efficient use of the storage surface area, says Maciek Brzeski, vice president of marketing at Toshiba Storage Device Division. Toshiba is guiding efforts to ease industry transition to the advanced 4K byte-per-sector format, while continuing to provide a full line of mobile HDDs, including models that support the legacy 512 byte-per-sector configuration, he adds.

Toshiba's MKxx59GSM series and MK7559GSXP drives are scheduled to ship to computer manufacturers and distributors in the second and third quarters of 2010, respectively.  Design samples of the MKxx59GSM are currently available to system manufacturers, followed by samples of the MK7559GSXP in April.