Wave Issue 0501 1/7/05 Article 6-01

***Hitachi's Hard Drive Family is Expecting Two New Babies; Baby
''Mikey'' and Big Brother ''Slim'' Expand Biggest Small-Form-
Factor Family

2005 International CES

LAS VEGAS
Jan. 5, 2005

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies will christen a smaller one-
inch Microdrive product and a slimmer 1.8-inch hard drive later
this year. These two miniature drives are designed to meet the
accelerating demand for ultra-portable handheld devices -- such
as mobile phones and digital music players -- that don't
compromise on storage capacity.

Hitachi will deliver on these requirements by re-engineering its
one-inch Microdrive to create a 20-percent smaller version with
the highest capacity at 8-10 gigabytes (GB) of storage. The new
smaller Microdrive is affectionately called baby "Mikey" for its
diminutive size.

Applying a similar approach to a new 1.8-inch Travelstar product,
Hitachi will trim 30 percent off the thickness of the drive to
create a 5 mm version, nicknamed "Slim." With a slighter profile
equivalent to that of the Microdrive, "Slim" will be the world's
smallest and lightest 1.8-inch drive, beating the closest
competitor by 10 percent in total volume.

The new babies in the Hitachi family represent a novel approach
to the hard drive industry's continuing quest for high capacity
in smaller and smaller form factors. Hitachi is retaining the
one-inch and 1.8-inch disk size for maximum capacity, but
trimming the package footprint for greater agility. "Mikey" is
expected to make his debut in the second half of 2005 at a mere
14 grams and in an embedded-only design. "Slim" will also make
his entrance in the latter half of the year with 30-40 GB of
capacity on the one-disk version.

Smallest, Biggest One-Inch Drive

"Mikey" will be the industry's smallest one-inch hard drive with
the highest storage capacity, between 8-10 GB. With a physical
dimension of 40 x 30 x 5 mm, it is designed for the smallest
handheld devices with needs for ample, yet, affordable storage.
In addition, through an integrated chipset, "Mikey" will enable
up to a 40-percent reduction in power consumption over the
existing Microdrive product.

"Mikey" is being tailored for the CE industry and will employ a
new ZIF connector, which has been traditionally used by CE device
manufacturers for ease of integration. In addition, the ZIF
connector on Hitachi's new drive may also result in lower design
and integration costs and greater reliability for device
manufacturers.

Because the applications for which "Mikey" is intended are highly
portable devices, Hitachi has provided for additional methods of
shock protection beyond the drive's internal mechanisms, which
will offer more than a 100-percent operating-shock improvement
over the current Microdrive product. Hitachi has also designed
"snubbers" or drive bumpers that could be mounted around "Mikey"
to supply additional shock protection.

With more than five years of experience and five million one-inch
drives under its belt, Hitachi has gained incomparable knowledge
in manufacturing a reliable design in high volume that has been
successfully field-tested in a variety of consumer electronic
devices. This is made possible by an established supplier base, a
highly-efficient manufacturing process and a meticulous quality-
assurance procedure.

"Slim"

At 49 grams, "Slim" is not only thin, but also light. The
combination of these will result in a lean product with large
storage capacity. "Slim" will come in one- and two-disk versions,
offering 30-40 and 60-80 GB of storage, respectively. "Slim's"
physical dimensions are expected to be 71 x 54 x 5 mm on the one-
disk model, while the two-disk model will differ just slightly
with an 8-mm height instead of 5 mm.

The litheness of this drive is due, in part, to Hitachi's
implementation of the femto slider, which was first used in 2003
on Hitachi's Travelstar 7K60 2.5-inch hard drive for notebook
computers and later on the one-inch Microdrive family of
products, including "Mikey." The femto slider -- or the tiny
flying wing supporting the read/write head above the surface of
the disk -- represents a 30-percent size reduction over the
previous pico slider technology and is also responsible for the
higher shock robustness on "Slim." Hitachi anticipates "Slim"
will offer a 10-20 percent shock improvement over its
predecessor, making it the most rugged drive in its category.

Like his smaller brethren, "Mikey," "Slim" will also feature a
ZIF connector for easy integration into consumer electronics
devices. Applications expected to benefit from "Slim's" small
foot print and large storage capability include external storage,
high-capacity portable video and audio devices, sub-notebooks and
tablet PCs, and navigation devices.

Attention to Standards

Both "Mikey" and "Slim" are expected to be compliant with the CE-
ATA interface, which is now being defined by an Intel-led
consortium, of which Hitachi is a founding member. The consortium
is working to develop an interface that is tailored to the needs
of handheld and portable consumer electronic devices such as
mobile phones, personal digital assistants and MP3 players. Other
interface standards are also expected to be supported, depending
on customer requirements.

www.hitachi.com