The 12Gb/s SAS is definitely a novelty and for now, will be mostly limited to datacenters and while SSDs have been rocking SAS3 standard, it was about time we see some of the HDDs on the same interface and HGST's Ultrastar C15K600 2.5-inch series is one of the first ones.

In addition to the 15,000RPM spin speed the new HGST C15K600 also brings some new features including media caching technology which should provide enhanced write performance when compared to solutions with limited NAND or flash-based cache. According to HGST, this results in two and a half times better random write performance compared to what we currently have in 15K 3.5-inch HDDs and up to two times more compared to 15K 2.5-inch HDDs.

In addition to a better performance, the new Ultrastar CK15K600 2.5-inch SFF HDD, with HGST Advanced Power Management technology, provides up to a 55 percent improvement in active power and 54 percent improvement in idle power consumption over HGST's current 3.5-inch 15K HDDs

To be available in 600GB capacity, the Ultrastar C15K600 will keep pace with the need for improved storage density without compromising performance.

The 15K Ultrastar C15K600 series will be offered in 512e, 512n and 4K Advanced formats and will packs enterprise-class specifications such as 2M hourt MTBF, an annualize failure rate (AFR) of 0.44 percent and a five-year warranty.

According to HGST, the 512n and the 4Kn versions are currently being qualified by select OEMs while the 512e version will be available this summer. HGST also announced that the new FIPS 140-2 certified Ultrastar 12Gb/s SAS SSDs are also now shipping.



Source: HGST.com.