Toshiba on Wednesday unveiled a new 250GB 1.8-inch format hard drive, something the company claims to be an industry first. Sitting off a Serial ATA connector, the MKxx29GSG series drives now offer the highest density of data storage currently available, at 378.8 Gb per square inch, with a 15ms seek time. The drives, which are also available in 120GB and 160GB capacities, run at 5400RPM, and offer a free fall sensor option to help prevent damage to the drive platter.

In addition to the high density storage, the drives also only consume 0.0016 watts-per-gigabyte in terms of power usage, offering mobile computers and devices better battery performance.

"As 1.8-inch HDDs grow in capacity and performance, they offer a compelling value proposition for a broader array of mobile PCs, including high-volume notebooks," said Maciek Brzeski, vice-president of marketing, Toshiba Storage Device Division. "Combining a quarter terabyte of storage with the data transfer capabilities essential to the PC environment marks a critical step in driving 1.8-inch HDD adoption into more PC configurations. The MKxx29GSG line will accelerate growth in mobile, thin-and-light and sub-notebook categories as a result of enhanced functionality."