Toshiba Revs Up New 200GB HDDs for Cars

Published: Apr 15, 2010
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
1 minute read
eWeek content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

Toshiba’s Storage Device Division on April 15 launched a new 200GB, single-platter hard drive designed for navigation and entertainment deployments in the automotive market.
Following a bit of research on other drives in this class, eWEEK confirmed Toshiba’s claim that the 2.5-inch, 4,200 rpm SATA (Serial ATA) MK2060GSC drive is the highest-capacity automotive-grade hard disk drive now available, more than doubling the storage space of other currently available drives.
Most drives today are 80GB; two years ago, 30GB drives were considered top of the line.
Toshiba said the new drive boasts a 78 percent improvement in internal transfer rates over its own previous models and a faster seek time of 12 milliseconds.
Automotive-grade HDDs are custom-designed to endure all conditions in which vehicles operate, including extreme cold and heat.
The machinery in the disks and their protective casings are hardened so as to withstand difficult road conditions and temperature ranges from -30 degrees C to +85 degrees C, as well as high altitudes, Toshiba said.
Toshiba claimed about 75 percent of the 2009 market in this sector, according to the company’s internal data. Analysts do not break out market information on automotive-sector HDDs.
As of March 2010, Toshiba said it has shipped 14 million automotive-grade HDDs worldwide.

Chris Preimesberger

Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor Emeritus of eWEEK. In his 16 years and more than 5,000 articles at eWEEK, he distinguished himself in reporting and analysis of the business use of new-gen IT in a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, data center systems, storage, edge systems, security and others. In February 2017 and September 2018, Chris was named among the 250 most influential business journalists in the world (https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-250-business-journalists/) by Richtopia, a UK research firm that used analytics to compile the ranking. He has won several national and regional awards for his work, including a 2011 Folio Award for a profile (https://www.eweek.com/cloud/marc-benioff-trend-seer-and-business-socialist/) of Salesforce founder/CEO Marc Benioff--the only time he has entered the competition. Previously, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. He has been a stringer for the Associated Press since 1983 and resides in Silicon Valley.

eWeek Logo

eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site's focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.