12.5mm, 9mm,7mm – The HDDs of the smaller form factor have been
flattened time by time. the last generation (7mm) is supposed to be
placed into Ultrabooks. These however get flatter and flatter, too, so
another shrink has to be done. WD did so and brings 5mm Hybrid-HDDs.

With a maximum of 500GB and a small Flash-RAM, these drives will allow thinner Ultrabooks without significant performance loss. Since netbooks are no longer of interest (too slow, bulky, rather low display resolution) and tablets getting more and more attention, this step is only logical.

However the other question is, if SSDs will also allow such shrinkage. Let alone the mSATA SSDs which perform as fast has their big sisters at the size of less than a matchbox.

The market’s still open for low-cost storage with good performance and since WD is a HDD manufacturer who brings out surprises very often, this one is again one of them!

Fit to be tied into one of the upcoming ultrathin Untrabooks? With only 5mm height, this HDD will sure be of first choice when it comes to lots of storage on small room size. And we all know how narrow the hardware is squeezed into some ultrabooks. But will they also offer great stability against shock? (Not that one would consider dropping a 1000-dollar-device anyway but you’ll never know…)

The capacity with up to 500GB however allows lots of data to be transported with you. Alongside with one of these and you’re settled to have your whole entertainment library with you. At least it’s more convenient than carrying more than 500 DVD cases around, isn’t it?

And for those who are in doubt: I have several WD HDDs active in my IT environment and none of them had problems so far. So these HDDs are supposed to be good.

So what will be next? Maybe the 1.8″ HDDs will get more capacity soon. But that’s not yet known nor has WD stated to do likewise. Maybe another HDD manufacturer will perform this step.

It has become very silent around Seagate, IBM and Toshiba in the last six months. What are they up to? They’re all stuck at 1TB at 2.5″ and only Seagate appears to have also 7mm thin 2.5″ HDDs in their portfolio.