back to article Toshiba opens curtains, reveals air-cushioned 5-terabyte terror

Toshiba, the newest third 3.5-inch disk drive manufacturer, has announced a 5TB drive, beating other suppliers except HGST. HGST has gone 1TB better with its 6TB helium-filled Ultrastar product but Toshiba is the first manufacturer, we believe, to introduce a 5TB air-filled drive. We're expecting 5TB drives from Seagate this …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Gordan

    Instant Erase

    Does that mean the drive encrypts everything by default and just throws away the key to "erase" the data?

    1. ElNumbre
      Joke

      Re: Instant Erase

      I'm thinking that it may be a tiny physical 'hammer' that creates a micro-vibration and causes all of the heads to smash instantly into the platters, thereby eliminating your data immediately.

    2. Bill Neal
      Joke

      Re: Instant Erase

      Sometimes instant erase is not an option.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Instant Erase

      Why did you put "erase" in quotes like that? Do you think that method is somehow insecure?

      The key would be stored in NVRAM or flash, so once overwritten with a new key it is gone gone gone. Even if you had some known plaintext (you knew it was a Windows boot drive, for instance) its going to take someone with the resources of the NSA to decrypt it.

      They aren't claiming MILSPEC instant erase, but it is good enough for your banking data or your bank's credit card database. If you're paranoid, you can always overwrite the unreadable data with garbage if you have enough time while you're waiting for the feds to get off their bullhorns and bust down your door.

      1. Justin Clift

        Re: Instant Erase

        Unless you've been able to extract the key from the HDD flash/cpu/etc prior to the "erase". (not impossible by a long shot)

        In which case the "erase" is useless, as all of the data is still recoverable.

  2. Barbarian At the Gates

    My instant erase procedure

    1) Insert bare drive in external docking bay.

    2) Forget to take proper precautions and turn away for a brief moment

    3) Resident feline with nickname of "Catastrophe" demolishes the drive, docking bay, definitely chews the crap out of the cable, and knocks any open drink containers over into your PC vents

    It's the only way to be sure...

    1. Joe User
      Devil

      Re: My instant erase procedure

      1. Take hard drive to target range.

      2. Place drive at 30-meter mark.

      3. Blow several holes in drive using high-velocity rifle.

      "Gee, there seems to be a few gaps in your data...."

      1. Adam 1

        Re: My instant erase procedure

        1. Thermite

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My instant erase procedure

          Good name for a cat. :D

      2. Philip Lewis

        Re: My instant erase procedure

        Maybe that guy RatedRR on Youtube has already demonstrated this?

  3. EPurpl3

    Now that Toshiba bought OCZ I expect more form tham, I hate HDD and I am not using one, I want a 5TB SSD, HDD break so fast, I have 5 broken laptop HDD and I have to recover the data from tham and that will cost me a shit load of money.

    1. Neoc

      @EPurpl3: I can only think that you are doing something wrong with your HDDs.

      I have 2 PCs (3 & 5 years old), 2 laptops (3 & 2 years old), and two Fileservers (9x2TB greens and 6x3TB reds, 5 and 2 years old respectively)) at home. I have had exactly zero (0) drive failure in all the years I have used this particular set of hardware; and prior to that I have had one (1) HDD failure in the 20-odd years I have been building my own PCs - it occurred within a week of buying the drive, and got replaced under warranty.

      In fact most of the time the PC's motherboard or the laptop itself dies before the drive does (the wife's latest laptop got rebuilt around her HDD after the cat poured coffee over it) - and the drives themselves get recycled as portable drives using cheap enclosures (ex-laptop drives are great for that).

      For the record, I prefer WD drives... but that's a personal preference. YMMV.

      1. Dig

        Try Kids.

        Give the laptop to the kids for a few months then the attrition rate may rise. Though I wouldn't store critical data on it.

        Tried replacing with an OCZ SSD but had to go back to spinning rust as when the Mint distribution closed unexpectedly more often than not it took the file system with it. Hopefully Toshiba improve their S/W.

      2. gidi

        I still have a 5GB (not a typo) IDE HDD in working order. Alas, the only PC with an IDE interface that I had died on me 3 years ago...

        Anybody interested in a fully tested and reliable HDD?

  4. Interceptor

    *glares at ridiculously expensive when new 2tb desktop drives*

    You had ONE JOB, hard drives!

    I kid, of course. Still, I wonder if the first PB drives that roll off the line will happen before my 50th b'day...

    1. Robert E A Harvey

      before my 50th b'day

      My 70th, maybe.

      What the blue blistering blazes are we all doing with all this data? I have getting on for a TB of photos I have taken - and I never look at the damn things.

      1. jason 7

        Re: before my 50th b'day

        Same here (though not quite as much photo data).

        I hate digital photos. Last holiday it got so bad with all the digital paraphernalia, I just wanted to dig out my 12 year old Olympus Mju II 35mm compact and take three rolls of film like we used to back then. One camera and approx 100 shots to capture the three week holiday in.

        Perfect.

        Unfortunately, my other half wouldn't have it, so she won.

  5. jason 7

    I'll wait......

    ....for the single platter version.

    Nice!

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like