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Fujitsu MHT2060AH SA

Fujitsu were the first to release 2.5" SATA drives, we showed the MHS2040AT SA in a number of RAID configurations one year ago and we were already then impressed with what can be accomplished using 2.5" drives, especially in RAID configurations. Fujitsu has been the first manufacturer other than Seagate to release native SATA drives and the MHS2040AT SA complied with the SATA 1.0 specifications. Since then, Fujitsu has released some more advanced models, particularly the MHT2060AH SA that is compliant with the SATA 2.0 specs and supports all advanced features including Native Command Queuing. In a nutshell, the rotational speed has increased from 4200 rpm to 5400 rpm, which, in turn, increases the internal transfer rate without changing the media density. Moreover, where the MHS 2040AH SA was a single-platter drive with two heads, the MHT2060AH SA features two platters with three heads and, most importantly, a 16 x larger cache, that is 8 MB instead of 512 kB which is accomplished by using a 64 Mbit (4M x 16) Hynix -7 memory component.

       

Fujitsu MHT2060AH SA, the distinguishing factor compared to the Fujitsu MHT2060AH is the SATA interface. Interestingly, even the Fujitsu MHT2060AH parallel drive appears to be based on native SATA technology that is converted into a parallel ATA/100 interface by means of a Marvell 88i8030 NNC bridge chip.

Specs at one glance:

*Average Read Seek refers to the arithmetic mean of all seeks using a read precision head placement. Maximum and Minimum refer to one full platter stroke or a track-to track displacement, respectively. For more information on these issues please refer to our article on these issues from our "As the HDD Spins" series

** Average Rotational Latency is 1/2 of a full rotational latency that, in the case of a 5400 rpm drive is 11.1 msec

*** Note the relatively high power draw on spin-up, (this holds for all HDDs) which is one of the reasons for implementing deferred or staggered spin with the SATA 2.0 specifications to avoid multiple HDDs spinning up simultaneously and straining the power supply unit.

With respect to pure technology, the MHS2060AH SA has a few interesting details. First of all, the motor is using fluid dynamic bearings for quieter operations but keep in mind that FDB technology is a double edged sword since fluid bearings can run dry. Second, Fujitsu is using GDT (Glass Direct Texture) media for these drives with a particle density to allow up to 10.7Gb/in². Because of this, the Fujitsu 2.5 " drives reach a platter density of 20 GB/side, which, in a two platter / four heads configuration equals 80 GB storage capacity. In the context of the reduced height and also weight restrictions, the manufacturing of such drives is quite an accomplishment and requires a few extra tricks such as moving the parking position (landing zone) outside the actual platter area. The result is the welcome side effect of shock resistance of 900 G in non-operational conditions.

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