Seagate Designs Ultra Mobile HDD for Tablets

By Jane McEntegart
published

Never worry about low storage messages again.

Back in June, Seagate announced a new series of hard drives for laptops that measured just 5 mm thick. Now, Seagate has its sights set on the tablet market.

The company today announced the arrival of its new Ultra Mobile HDD, an HDD solution for tablets. The drives utilize Seagate's Mobile Enablement Kit, which includes Seagate's Dynamic Data Driver technology to target shock management, heat and vibration gyroscopic motion, and power consumption. Seagate says that this combination of hardware and software means a device with 8 GB of flash. This new drive will match the power consumption of a 64 GB tablet and the performance of a 16 GB tablet but will cost less than both.

"Coupling an ultra-thin, high-capacity HDD with software designed to optimize integration into tablets at a value-add price has allowed us to deliver a truly ground-breaking solution, enabling our partners to re-imagine the mobile device," said Steve Luczo, president, CEO and chairman of Seagate. "By empowering our OEMs with this revolutionary new technology, we have invited the industry to re-think the mobile market making this offering a true game-changer in the world of storage."

Measuring 5 mm thick, the Ultra Mobile HDDs weigh in at 3.3 oz and are available in capacities of up to 500 GB and compatible with Google's Android OS. Though the massive bump in storage will no doubt appeal to those who consume massive amounts of media on their tablets, it's hard to move past the idea of a mechanical drive in a tablet, especially when you consider how often such mobile devices are dropped, bumped and manhandled.

Seagate didn't say when we can expect Ultra Mobile HDD tablets on the market, but we'll keep you posted.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Jane McEntegart
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • torbendalum
    Nice, I would like .5 GB in my tablet
    Reply
  • stevejnb
    Meh, I'm a proponent of sacrificing storage capacity in favour of storage reliability and speed in tablets. I would probably actively avoid an HDD packing tablet. Neat size and capacity, but, its still a mechanical device.
    Reply
  • BringMeAnother
    I'm having difficulty deciding whether this is a victory for innovation or a step backward. On one hand, I have a home file server, so the need for large amount of storage on my tablet isn't really strong. On the other, I can see devices that might benefit such as the Surface pro which still comes with a 64GB SSD, which clearly isn't enough. One thing I am worried is that misinformed customers might get the higher capacity model without knowing the trade off and stifle the rate of innovation for SSDs.
    Reply
  • The Indomitable
    Gonna have to be easily switched out if you drop it...
    Reply
  • Haserath
    The new Microsoft Surface: With a shake to delete files upgrade!
    Reply
  • BranFlake5
    This would be perfect... If apple Revised the classic Ipod.
    Reply
  • ipwn3r456
    I don't think HDDs will be mainstream to tablets. First of all, like what the article said, failures from physical events can be possible, especially when you are playing a game requires tilting like a racing game. I would rather get a wireless external HDD and connect all my devices.
    Reply
  • rwinches
    The drives utilize Seagate's Mobile Enablement Kit, which includes Seagate's Dynamic Data Driver technology to target shock management, heat and vibration gyroscopic motion, and power consumption.

    Ok, so I think they are well aware of the hostilities of a tablet, the 8GB of flash will factor into their solution. Possibly the drive could power down except for the flash portion to keep power use down.

    High capacity SSD solutions that can come close to this value/price is a long way off.

    This hybrid solution sounds great.
    Reply
  • reactive
    Oh dear! Can't Seagate understand that mechanical HDDs are the past, not the future? I changed my old laptop's Toshiba HDD for a Samsung 840 SSD, and discovered that for years it has been the HDD *killing* the performance. Few people need vast storage on a tablet, so this is going to be a very niche product - if anyone actually adopts it.
    Reply
  • jaber2
    Seagate takes one huge step backwards, gratz, whats next tape drives?
    Reply