Toshiba releases new 80GB mini HDD

Toshiba’s new 80GB mini Hard Drive

Speculations for an upgraded iPod are bound to rise as supplier for the popular music player Toshiba released a new hard drive. It is a 1.8-inch disk capable of carrying 80 gigabytes of data. The product is labeled MK8007GAH and set a record for the highest capacity achieved for its form factor.

The company is set to mass product it somewhere in the middle of next year. A smaller version coded MK4007GAL with 40 GB capacity is also in plans for production. The drive uses a ground breaking magnetic structure called ‘perpendicular recording’. It let the bit of data recorded on the disks standing on instead of regular version where they are flat.

The drive should be compatible with the Apple’s iPod and might make it to the music player in the near future. Toshiba is rather quiet on the prospective customers of these disks. They are however offering sample pieces for ¥120,000 (40 GB) and ¥150,000 (80 GB).