Why is there no 1.5TB or 2TB internal HDD for laptops??

I see Western Digital and Seagate make portable HDD (Passports) with 1.5TB and 2Tb capapcities.

These external HDD are 2.5''............so why can't I locate drives of that size to use inside my laptop??

I have only come across 1TB in my search.

I maybe just missing it, or there must be a reason?

Thanks everyone in advance for your help, appreciated as always

I'm not really sure. But how about getting a SSD instead and then use an external drive for any major storage?

Ratjack wrote in post #15485461
I'm not really sure. But how about getting a SSD instead and then use an external drive for any major storage?

Thank you responding

I do keep all my major storage on external drives (with 2 back up copies, one on site, one off site)..........I am just very very curious about this, and I am sure someone here on POTN knows.

Newegg has WD 1.5TB and 2TB 2.5" internal drives but they're both Greens and not ideal for an OS drive. There's probably not that much demand for internal drives that big in a laptop so they're putting their production capacity toward externals.

Desktops use a 3.5" size hard drive that can be up to 1" thick. Laptops use a 2.5" size hard drive that can only be about 1/2" thick. This means smaller individual disk platters inside the drive and less room to stack them.

External drives don't have rigid thickness requirements so there is a little more wiggle room. The 1.5 and 2TB green 2.5" drives basically have an extra platter which makes them too thick (15mm) for many laptops. Honestly they were mainly designed for external USB cases.

Platter density has not gotten to the point that they can go higher than 1TB in a 2.5" form factor (not yet).

Dustman wrote in post #15485458
so why can't I locate drives of that size to use inside my laptop??

That depends on the maximum height of your notebook's drive bay. The MacBook Pros (non-retina models) can take 12.5mm hard drives, so the Toshiba 1.5 TB drive (MQ01ABD150) will fit, but the 15mm 2 TB Western Digital will not. Virtually all other notebook drives are 9.5mm or shorter and should fit, but those are 1 TB or less.

Ok, I think I got it now.

So while they have 2.5'' HDD at 1.5TB, and 2TB, they are just too thick to fit in a Laptop bay, but obviously they can make an external case to fit around it.

Makes sense of course, and I firgured the reason would be obvious haha

Thanks for everyone who helped me out, and clear my mind

2.5" and 3.5" only refer to the physical width of the drive, but not it's height. 2.5" can be anywhere from 5 to 15mm and still be within specification of being a 2.5" drive.

Dustman wrote in post #15487295
Ok, I think I got it now.

So while they have 2.5'' HDD at 1.5TB, and 2TB, they are just too thick to fit in a Laptop bay, but obviously they can make an external case to fit around it.

Pretty much. And if history is any guide, give it a year or two and they'll have denser platters which will allow thin 2TB 7200RPM drives. We just barely hit 1TB for those, though.

Kolor-Pikker wrote in post #15487339
2.5" and 3.5" only refer to the physical width of the drive, but not it's height. 2.5" can be anywhere from 5 to 15mm and still be within specification of being a 2.5" drive.

Dont you mean physical width of the platter?

ben_r_ wrote in post #15493158
Dont you mean physical width of the platter?

That's the form factor definition, but not all 3.5" size drives have 3.5" platters.
Most 3.5" 15000 RPM drives actually have 2.5" platters. They can't keep platters that large stable at 15k. And of course SSD don't even have platters.

tkbslc wrote in post #15494144
That's the form factor definition, but not all 3.5" size drives have 3.5" platters.
Most 3.5" 15000 RPM drives actually have 2.5" platters. They can't keep platters that large stable at 15k. And of course SSD don't even have platters.

Gotcha. Been building PCs for over 20 years and just never actually measured a HDD. They always looked larger than 3.5" to me though.

ben_r_ wrote in post #15496051
Gotcha. Been building PCs for over 20 years and just never actually measured a HDD. They always looked larger than 3.5" to me though.

Truth be told after I read your post, I measured a 3.5" hard drive I had in my desk drawer. 4" wide.

tkbslc wrote in post #15496237
Truth be told after I read your post, I measured a 3.5" hard drive I had in my desk drawer. 4" wide.

This is tough to explain other than comparing the measurement to other little lulz that we get in computing:
19" CRT is actually about 17.5" screen area.
1TB hard drive actually has about 930Gb usable space.
No device ever performes up to it's rated bandwidth or speed in reality.

So yes, 3.5" drives are actually 4 inches wide, because the platter should be 3.5" wide, but it really varies. Over a decade of computing, and nothing surprises me anymore, everything's just outstandingly lenient in terms of standards.

Instead of the same tired parameters, ratings and quantifications, they should just write "Bigger" or "Faster" and "We Want Your Money", it's so much more to the point.