Solid-state drives may be getting cheaper and faster all the time, but the mechanical world isn’t stagnating, either. Earlier this morning, Western Digital said it has begun shipping a 2.5″ mobile hard drive with a capacity of no less than 1TB—an industry first.
The new Scorpio Blue 1TB hard drive features three 333GB platters, and as you might expect, it has a thicker-than-usual form factor: 12.5 mm instead of the more common 9.5 mm. The drive’s platters revolve at 5,200 RPM, and they share the ride with 8MB of cache and a 300MB/s Serial ATA interface. WD quotes noise levels of 24-26 dB and power consumption of 0.1-2.5W, figures that vary depending on the operating mode.
If 1TB is a little too rich for your blood, WD is also shipping a new 2.5″ Scorpio Blue with a 750GB capacity. That drive also has a 12.5-mm thickness, though, so it may be just as tight a fit in some machines—you’ll just end up paying less. WD says both drives are “available now through select distributors” with price tags of $249.99 for the 1TB Scorpio Blue and $189.99 for the 750GB variant. Both products have three-year warranties.