Toshiba announced 1.8-inch HDD with a LIF SATA interface

Toshiba Storage Device Division has announced a new series HDDs aimed for use in portable device such as tablets and notebooks, claimed to be the industry’s first 1.8-inch drives with low-insertion force (LIF) SATA (Serial ATA) connectors and with 10% smaller footprint compared to standard 1.8” drives using microSATA connectors.

The new Toshiba’s MKxx39GSL HDDs series includes three models with capacities – a  160GB (MK1639GSL), 200GB (MK2039GSL) and 220GB (MK2239GSL), respectively. They have single platter design which spins at at 4200 RPM, 16MB memory buffer, average seek time of 15ms, operating with sound output of  15dB at seek, and up to 1,500Gs of non-operational shock and 600Gs of operational shock.

Toshiba MK2239GSLt

The new drives will be available for customer in February.