Samsung 1.8" Drive Reaches 250GB, Goes Native USB

Samsung S2 recently becomes the first native USB hard drive. The decision to drop SATA or PATA altogether from the drive is about cutting cost associated with a USB bridge controller, improving speed by eliminating interrupt service time, and reducing physical size, which also has to do with that same component. By taking out the USB-to-SATA board, Samsung can easily win contest for having the smallest mobile drive.

As another breakthrough, Samsung now debuts Spinpoint N3U 250GB 1.8" drive that comprises of two 125GB platters. The native USB controller stays, resulting in less power usage, smaller footprint and optimized speed. The disk's rotation speed is clocked at 3,600 rpm, compared to 120GB/160GB's 4,200 rpm. Though, it's uncertain whether how this will impact performance and how the 8MB cache can make up for the slower spinning rate. Expect the N3U 250GB to ship to OEMs in July with a MSRP of $199. We may initially see Samsung offering the new N3U in its S1 mini series as well.