Western Digital is now shipping its 250 GB WD Scorpio 2.5-inch Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, featuring the perpendicular recording technology.

The drives employ perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology to achieve the highest capacity available in a small form factor drive and have WD proprietary features that make the drive quiet, use less power and run at cool operating temperatures.

The drives feature WD's exclusive WhisperDrive technology, which combines advanced seeking algorithms to yield it one of the quietest 5400 RPM, 2.5-inch drives available. The ShockGuard technology combines firmware and hardware advancements to protect the drive mechanics and platter surface to meet the increased combined shock tolerance specifications required for mobile and notebook applications.

Another WD Scorpio 250 GB feature is its IntelliSeek technology, which proactively calculates an optimum seek speed to eliminate hasty movement of the actuator that produces noise and requires power. With IntelliSeek, the actuator's movement is controlled so the head reaches the next target sector just in time to read the next piece of information, rather than rapidly accelerating and waiting for the drive rotation to catch up.

According to market research firm, IDC, adoption of PMR technology in mobile 2.5-inch hard drives will sustain an increase in the average capacity shipped close to the average growth rate of 32 percent for the past five years. The firm states that by 2011, shipments of mobile 2.5-inch hard drives will more than double 2006 shipment volumes.

WD Scorpio 250 GB drives (model WD2500BEVS) are available on the company's online store (www.westerndigital.com). Estimated pricing is $199.99 USD.