Hitatchi unveils world’s thinnest external HDD

Hitatchi Global Storage Technologies has announced a sleek new USB 2.0 external hard drive that is the slimmest you can currently buy anywhere on the planet. And the price isn’t bad either!

The G-DRIVE slim external HDD contains a 320GB 7 mm Travelstar Z5K320 5400 RPM drive within a recyclable solid aluminum enclosure that measures only 128.6 mm (L) x 82 mm (W) by 9.9 mm (H), and weighs in at a mere 144g (5 oz). The aluminum not only looks good, but also dissipates the heat to keep the drive cool.

“Our new G-DRIVE slim is yet another way that we’re making high quality storage more accessible and affordable for consumers,” said Mike Williams, VP and general manager of Hitachi GST. “There’s been mounting interest from our global network of retailers and distributors to provide a G-Tech-quality, entry-level portable offering and the G-DRIVE slim is that drive. It gives users a simple external storage solution with the same quality and attention to detail that we put into our entire line of premium external storage solutions.”

The drive is pre-formatted for Macs, and is designed to be marketed as additional multimedia storage to accompany Apple’s thin new MacBook Air laptops. Hitachi’s press release claims that the 320 GB drive will store up to 80 hours of HD video or 320 hours of standard video, definitely enough to keep someone entertained for quite some time.

At $99.99 MSRP, the pocket-sized G-DRIVE slim is pretty fairly priced considering that a 320 GB 7mm Travelstar Z5K320 without the USB enclosure runs $79.99. Unfortunately, it’s currently only available through Apple, online or at one of their retail stores.

If I was in need of a new external drive I’d definitely want to check one of these out. I love the simple case design and the ultra-portability.