Western Digital Starts Shipping Ultra-Thin Drives

Today, Western Digital (WDC -0.16%) will begin shipping the world's first 2.5-inch, 5mm WD Blue hard drives and new WD Black solid state drives. According to the company, "With 500 GB of storage capacity and models with high performance-enabling solid state hybrid drive technology, this slim product line helps to address the trade-offs system designers often make between capacity, physical size and performance."

Both the Blue and Black version of the drives are 5mm thick and are designed to increase the internal storage capacity for smaller devices. The company said consumers often put more hard drive stress on smaller devices, so Western Digital came up with the following solutions in its new drives:

• The weight has been reduced by up to 36%, compared to a standard 9.5mm drive
• "Unprecedented" 400G shock protection when the drive is active and 1000G protection when the drive is inactive to keep the drive from being damaged
• Edge Card technology uses small cell phone technologies that maximize mechanical sway space within the drive
• Enhanced vibration and stabilization of the drive