According to Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the hard disk is celebrating its 50th birthday (IBM introduced the 5MB RAMAC -- Random Access Method of Accounting and Control -- in September 1956 at a price of $50,000), and Hitachi is out to double its 3.5-inch hard-disk market share. The first steps in the company's plan are two new 7,200-rpm, 3Gb/sec Serial ATA drives aimed at high-performance and gaming PCs and sub-enterprise servers.

The Deskstar 7K500, scheduled to ship in the third quarter of 2006, will offer capacities of 250GB, 320GB, 400GB, and 500GB, with the Deskstar 7K160 available in 80GB and 160GB models. Both feature native command queuing (NCQ) for faster application performance; Thermal Fly Height Control technology that makes adjustments to improve error rates in extreme temperature conditions; readiness for up to 350G of non-operating shock; and quiet fluid dynamic bearing motors. The 7K500 boasts a maximum data-transfer rate of 998Mb/sec and a choice of an 8MB or 16MB buffer; the slightly slower 7K160 comes with an 8MB buffer.