A New Record: 200 GB

In the last few years, Western Digital has fortified its position as a leader in hard drive manufacturing. The company was the first to ship 100 and 120 GB drives that already ran at a fast 7200 rpm, as opposed to the drives from its competitors. And its latest products break the current records once more: although Samsung has already come out with 60 GB per platter (read our review here ), WD's 200 GB total storage capacity remains unbeaten.

The Competition Is Not Idle

IBM

IBM's latest press release brings hope for a new generation of Deskstar 180GXP drives, soon to be launched. Its maximum capacity can be read in its product name - therefore, Western Digital won't have to cede the capacity record to IBM. With the IBM drive, progress is to be found in performance, because IBM places great importance on implementing Tagged Command Queuing: this makes it possible for the drive to rearrange individual commands in order to optimize the sequence of write and seek processes. Furthermore, all drives of the 180GXP family will feature fluid dynamic bearing, which significantly reduces the noise of a drive when in operation.