Seagate unveils 1.5TB desktop and half-TB notebook hard drives
So you thought Hitachi’s second generation 1TB hard drive was cool as it offered large amount of storage space as well as energy efficiency to reduce ever growing energy bill? Then how ’bout Seagate’s own version of second generation terabyte hard drive — the world’s first and only 1.5-terabyte hard disk drive. The Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB hard drive is actually eleventh generation of Seagate’s Barracuda series with half-terabyte increase from the previous highest capacity of 1TB, thanks to the capacity-boosting power of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology. The 3.5″ drive packs 1.5TB on just four platters and is based on fast Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface delivering sustained data rate of up to 120MB/second for fast boot, application startup and file access. it is also offered in capacities of 1TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB and 160GB with cache options of 32MB and 16MB.
The company has also announced new 2.5-inch half-terabyte 5400- and 7200-rpm drives – Momentus 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4. Both of them are designed for notebook computers and offers Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface and 8MB cache (16MB in case of Momentus 7200.4).
The Momentus drives are built tough enough to withstand up to 1,000 Gs of non-operating shock and 350 Gs of operating shock to protect drive data, making the drives ideal for systems that are subject to rough handling or high levels of vibration. For added robustness in mobile environments, the Momentus 5400.6 and 7200.4 are offered with G-Force Protection, a free-fall sensor technology that helps prevent drive damage and data loss upon impact if a laptop PC is dropped. The sensor works by detecting any changes in acceleration equal to the force of gravity and parks the heads off the disc to prevent contact with the platter in a free fall of as little as 8 inches and within 3/10ths of a second.
Seagate’s new Momentus drives are also lean on power consumption, allowing notebook users to work longer between battery charges, and are virtually inaudible thanks to Seagate’s innovative SoftSonic fluid-dynamic bearing motors and QuietStep ramp load technology.
The Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB will be available from August 2008, while the Momentus 5400.6 and 7200.4 hard drives will hit stores in Q4 of calendar 2008.
