Western Digital Ships First 1 TB 2.5-inch HDD

While terabyte drives are readily available in 3.5-inch models, before today the 1 TB barrier hasn't been broken by any 2.5-inch drive. Western Digital changed that all today (somewhat) with the introduction of two new mobile hard drives – a 1 TB model made up of three 333 GB platters technology, and another 750 GB model presumably with three 250 GB platters.

Now before you think that you can put these drives in your notebook, they're of the 12.5 mm form factor rather than the 9.5 mm for most 2.5-inch drives. WD says that these thicker drives are ideally suited for use in portable storage solutions, such as the company's own My Passport Essential SE Portable USB Drives. Other applications include select notebooks and small form factor desktop PCs.

"The convergence of the growing mobile computing and digital media trends produces demand for desktop-like capacities in portable devices," said Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of client systems at WD. "Our new WD Scorpio Blue drives enable people to take even more of their digital collections with them wherever they go and, realizing the value of their data, back up their notebooks on their My Passport drives."

WD Scorpio Blue 750 GB drives (model WD7500KEVT) are available now through select distributors and resellers; the 1 TB capacity (model WD10TEVT) is available now configured into My Passport Essential SE USB drives. The MSRP for the WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB drive is $249.99 and for the 750 GB version $189.99.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • omnimodis78
    That is nice! The price isn't bad at all either...
    Reply
  • mrkenan
    Shave off 3mm and I'll be even more excited. I'd like to see the performance benchmarks compared to their 3.5in TB HDDs.
    Reply
  • Gin Fushicho
    Hmn... So now that they got the portable 1TB's out, when are they gonna make the normal 3.5 inch ones more efficient and faster?
    Reply
  • festerovic
    Does anyone know if the larger thickness will mean that they won't fit in a PS3?
    Reply
  • thearm
    gin FushichoHmn... So now that they got the portable 1TB's out, when are they gonna make the normal 3.5 inch ones more efficient and faster?
    Cheap and reliable is all I care about.
    Reply
  • godwhomismike
    Would like to see them make them so they can fit inside my Macbook.
    Reply
  • scook9
    These are not fast or efficient....3 platters in a notebook drive will run HOT. I will be much more excited for a dual 500GB platter 1TB drive. I got 2 WD3200BEKT drives now and they are single platter and still get VERY warm.
    Reply
  • gekko668
    I'm fine having a 320 gig hdd in my laptop. Having 1 TB is an overkill for a laptop.
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    You can never have enough space :p
    Reply
  • td854
    I would not trust something so small with that much data being moved around day to day. Been there, done that so to speak. Now for SFF HTPC or consoles I'd totally buy this.
    Reply