WD announces world’s first 7200 rpm external drive

In another first for the hard drive industry, Western Digital has announced the availability of the world’s first external hard drive that spins at 7200 rpm.

The drives have been designed by G-Technology, a company owned by Western Digital and this is the reason they will be known as G-Drive slim and G-Drive mobile. The drives not only spin at 7200 rpm but also offer between 20-40 per cent better performance when compared to traditional external drives that rotate at 5400 rpm.

“In this digital world, we all need reliable, fast storage to protect the photos, videos and music that mean the most to us. Whether you are a professional photographer needing to store and protect content in the field, or a consumer needing a simple storage and backup solution, our new portable external drives are the solution. Each external drive delivers performance, reliability and style in a sleek, portable design,” said Mike Williams, vice president and general manager, G-Technology.

The first drive – the G-Drive slim – comes with a 500 GB Travelstar Z7K500 hard drive that measures 7 mm thick and offers 7200 rpm of spin speed. The drive delivers up to 125 MB/sec of data, which is 25 per cent faster when compared to other 5400 rpm hard drives. The G-Drive mobile has a 1 TB Travelstar 7K1000 hard drive that spins at 7200 rpm and delivers up to 136 MB/sec, which is 43 per cent faster than regular 5400 rpm drives.

Both products are available now and fully support USB 3.0. They cost USD 89.95 for the 500 GB model and USD 139.95 for the 1 TB model.

Source: Western Digital