Hitachi today announced that it has met its commitment to begin shipping the world's first one-terabyte hard drive (HDD) to retail customers within the first quarter of 2007.

The Deskstar 7K1000 began shipping to retailers and e-tailers in March 2007 with inventories reaching critical mass in April 2007. It's suggested retail price is $399 (USD).

The Deskstar 7K1000 hard drive is built on the perpendicular magnetic recording technology, allowing Hitachi to extend capacity beyond that available in current products. The hard drive features a 3.0Gb/s Serial-ATA (SATA) interface and large 32 MB data buffer to provide the performance required for high-end PC applications.

The Deskstar 7K1000 hard drive is built using a 5-platter design with relaxed areal density for greater reliability. To further ensure data integrity, the hard drive features a ramp load/unload design to increase shock protection and Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC) to maintain a consistent fly-height during the read/write process.

Technical Specifications:

Deskstar 7K1000
1000/750 GB ? SATA (GB = 1 billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less)
148 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density
1070 Mb/s max. media data rate
8.5 ms average seek time (excludes command overhead)
7,200 RPM, 4.17 ms average latency
Serial-ATA 3.0Gb/s
32 MB data buffer
26.1 mm in height (max)
700g in weight (max)
5/4 platters, 10/8 recording heads
300 G/1 ms pulse non-operating shock
9.0 (5 disk)/8.1 (4 disk) watt idle power
2.9 Bels typical idle acoustics
5-60 degrees C operating temperature