Hitachi announces 160GB Travelstar 5K160 hard drive

Tech giants Hitachi was one of the first companies to announce their decision to invest and develop hard disks based on perpendicular recording technology. Market leaders Seagate have taken the lead in the market with their products already available in the market using this new storage technology and now Hitachi have announced their first product 160GB Travelstar 5K160 based on this technology.

This drive from Hitachi sports a read head made up of iridium, manganese, chromium and a minute amount of ruthenium. The company claims that this read head’s internal magnet in a more stable fashion than the platinum-manganese alloy used by other hard disk manufacturers.

This makes the drive less prone to get damaged by heat, cold or shock. Hitachi has been already using these components on their regular drives.

This drive would go on sale in the retail market in the U.S. this summer and would sell for $269. More products are slated for launch later this year.