Hitachi Global Storage Technologies have just started to ship its 4TB HDD with 7200RPM spindle speed. The new drive is called the 'Deskstar 7K4000' and sports the insane 4TB storage, as well as the snappy 7200RPM speed.

The new Hitachi Deskstar 7K4000 (HDS724040ALE640, to be exact) sports 4TB capacity, where it uses five previous-generation 800GB platters with 446Gb/square inch areal density, a SATA 6Gbps interface, 64MB cache as well as the previously mentioned 7200RPM spindle speed. The new drive also uses the advanced 4K format.

It's currently unknown why Hitachi tapped the previous-gen 800GB platters, and not 1TB platters, but it could be because Hitachi were unsure of the stability of the latest platters with a single 4TB drive.

Hitachi's 7K4000 drive is available in Japan for ¥28800 ($377), which whilst a premium, is not too bad considering its a single 4TB drive. Pricing should get better with the Thailand flood situation hopefully settling in the near future.