Samsung preps fast 2.5-inch 250GB drive, 22X DVD

Samsung tonight added to its storage options with one of its largest high-speed disks yet as well as a high-speed DVD burner. The SpinPoint MP2 spins at 7,200RPM but still holds 250GB of storage; the capacity adds about 50GB more than most previous drives. The disk also eliminates many of the bottlenecks that affect any notebook drive with an extra-large 16MB cache and a Serial ATA II connection for added headroom during burst transfers. Samsung also implements quiet seeking technology and noise isolation that renders the drive quiet compared to past hard drives.

The 250GB version represents the top end of a larger series that begins with 80GB models and should be available primarily to notebook manufacturers beginning in March; stand-alone prices are currently unavailable.

A second upgrade to the WriteMaster DVD burner line adds the SH-S223, a desktop-class optical drive which the Korean company touts as the first to burn a single-layer, write-once disk at 22X -- faster still than the best 20X drives. It can also burn dual-layer discs at 16X and includes an over-speed burning technique that allows it to safely record the single-layer discs at full speed even when the discs themselves are rated for 16X. The Serial ATA-based drive burns rewritable media at up to 8X and is already shipping now, though prices are unavailable.

SH-S223