WD Ships 500GB Scorpio Blue Notebook Drives

In a crowded field of new 500GB drives, Western Digital claims its Scorpio Blue is the only one that sticks to the standard 2.5-inch form factor.

We’ve seen quite a few 500GB notebook drives announced in the last few months, but if Western Digital’s claims are accurate, its release of a 500GB Scorpio Blue drive on Friday officially makes it the highest capacity 2.5-inch standard form factor drive to date.

The 5400RPM drives deliver 3 GB/s transfer rates and capacities of either 400GB or 500GB, in a standard 9.5mm-thick package that’s completely interchangeable with other 2.5-inch drives, making it ideal for OEM applications. It retains many of Western Digital’s staple hard drive features as well, such as WhisperDrive for quiet operation, ShockGuard for resistance to falls, and IntelliSeek for faster seek times.

The drives are on sale immediately, running $220 for the 500GB model and $190 for the smaller 400GB model.