Toshiba has launched a 250Gbyte 1.8in hard drive.

"The dual platter MK2529GSG is the largest capacity 1.8in HDD available in the current market, with an areal density of 378.8Gbit/inch2," claims Toshiba.

"These HDDs have been designed to aid manufacturers fulfil rising demand for high capacity storage in lightweight and ultra-portable laptops."

Also included in the range are the dual platter 160Gbyte MK1629GSG and the single platter MK1229GSG.

All drives operate at 5,400 rpm, providing an average seek time of 15ms.

Weight is 62g for the 250 and 160Gbyte models, and 60g for the 120.

"Recent developments also mean that these are fascinating times in the storage device sector, as debate continues into whether HDD or solid-state drives (SSD) are the best technology to employ in such devices," said Toshiba v-p Martin Larsson.

"The race towards ultra-portability has been a consumer-led challenge to component and laptop manufacturers that has resulted in a flowering of innovation."

He added: "While SSD is a promising technology, the fact remains that HDD will continue to offer manufacturers significant advantages in the medium term. For devices with high storage capacity requirements it is still considerably more cost-effective to deploy HDD."

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