Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is to ship the first one-terabyte hard disks in the first quarter of 2007. 

The $399 Deskstar 7K1000 is aimed at high performance desktop users, and will use five 200GB platters spinning at 7,200rpm in a 3.5in form factor.

Hitachi will also release a version called the CinemaStar 7K1000 for set-top box and DVR applications. A 750GB version of the Deskstar will use four 200GB platters.

"Consumers who increasingly rely on hard disk drives to store their digital memories are seeking higher capacity and more reliable drives," said John Rydning, research manager for hard disk drives at analyst firm IDC.

The Deskstar 7K1000 will be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week and at the Storage Visions conference in the same city this weekend. 

Hitachi said that the speed at which drive capacity is developing had started to accelerate significantly.

The first 1GB drives were released in 1991, but it took 14 years for the first 500GB drives to be delivered in 2005, and just two more years for the 1TB drives.