WORLD'S FASTEST LAPTOP DRIVE

Hitachi announced the volume shipment of the industry’s highest-capacity, highest-performing laptop hard drive with new optional data encryption technology. With double the capacity and a 22% performance improvement over its predecessor, the 200-gigabyte (GB), 7200 RPM Travelstar™ 7K200 reigns supreme as the leader in this elite laptop hard drive segment. Now, with optional hard-drive level “Bulk Data Encryption” technology from Hitachi, the Travelstar 7K200 offers even greater cachet to laptop users by helping to guard against data loss and piracy.

“Today’s technology enthusiasts demand performance from every facet of their notebook computer,” said Neil Hand, vice president, Dell’s worldwide consumer marketing product group. “Incorporating best-in-class features, like the high-performance Travelstar 7K200, underscores Dell and Alienware’s commitment to meet and exceed our mobile customers’ expectations.”

Hitachi’s “Bulk Data Encryption4” is a hard-drive level security mechanism that is offered as an option on the Travelstar 7K200. Today, data on a hard drive can be protected either through software-based encryption or a system-level password. However, hard-drive level encryption provides a higher level of benefit than both these options by offering better performance than software-based encryption and a higher level of security than system password protection.

In full or bulk data encryption, data is scrambled using a key as it is being written to the disk and then descrambled with the key as it is retrieved. Thus, data encryption at the hard-drive level represents a more sophisticated approach to securing users’ data and is generally considered to be virtually impenetrable.

Another benefit that the Travelstar 7K200 offers with hard-drive level security is in the data-erasing process. Today, hard drives must either be physically destroyed or the existing data must be written over and over – a time-consuming process using a software tool – before it can be safely discarded without fear of data piracy or identity theft. Bulk Data Encryption would make data-erasing unnecessary when a hard drive needs to be discarded. By simply deleting the encryption key, the hard drive is rendered unreadable and, thus, safe from prying eyes.

With the rise in notebook/laptop theft and the relative ease in which software-based password security can be compromised, Hitachi’s “Bulk Data Encryption” is an essential component for on-the-go users such as laptop DJ´s.

The Travelstar 7K200 will be available in retail this summer at a suggested retail price of $249. Additional information will be provided closer to the time of availability.

  Travelstar 7K200