Seagate 1.5TB 7,200rpm HDD Is Current Largest

After Hitachi stole headlines with their 1TB 7,200rpm drive the other day, Seagate have retaliated with a 1.5TB desktop drive, the Barracuda 7200.11, that uses perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology to squash in all that capacity.  The unit is the largest the company has produced, and shares the limelight with new Momentus notebook drives: a pair of 2.5-inch half-terabyte 5,400rpm and 7,200rpm drives.

The 5,400rpm Momentus drive has an 8MB cache while the 7,200rpm version doubles that to 16MB.  Both use a Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface.  Similarly, the new Barracuda uses a Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface and packs in just four platters.  It sits at the top of a range including capacities of 1TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB and 160GB, and cache sizes of 16MB and 32MB.

While the 1.5TB desktop drive will ship in August 2008, the two notebook drives won't be available until Q4 2008.  Seagate is yet to reveal pricing.

Press Release:

Seagate Powers Next Generation Of Computing With Three New Hard Drives, Including World's First 1.5-Terabyte Desktop PC And Half-Terabyte Notebook PC Hard Drives

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.-July 10, 2008-Seagate (NYSE:STX) today unveiled the industry's first 1.5-terabyte desktop and half-terabyte notebook hard drives to meet explosive worldwide demand for digital-content storage in home and business environments.

The debut of the Barracuda® 7200.11 1.5TB hard drive, the eleventh generation of Seagate's flagship drive for desktop PCs, marks the single largest capacity hard drive jump in the more than half-century history of hard drives – a half-terabyte increase from the previous highest capacity of 1TB, thanks to the capacity-boosting power of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology.

The Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive combines proven PMR technology, components and expert manufacturing to provide 1.5TB of reliable storage for mainstream desktop computers, workstations, desktop RAID, gaming and high-end PCs, and USB/FireWire/eSATA external storage.

Seagate's new 2.5-inch half-terabyte 5400- and 7200-rpm drives – Momentus® 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4 – deliver the best combination of capacity, mobility and durability for mainstream and high-performance notebook computers, external storage solutions, PCs and industrial applications requiring small form factor.

Highlighting the global growth of digital content, Seagate expects to ship its two billionth hard drive within the next five years. Earlier this year Seagate shipped its one billionth hard drive since the company's inception nearly 30 years ago.

"Organizations and consumers of all kinds worldwide continue to create, share and consume digital content at levels never before seen, giving rise to new markets, new applications and demand for desktop and notebook computers with unprecedented storage capacity, performance and reliability," said Michael Wingert, Seagate executive vice president and general manager, Personal Compute Business. "Seagate is committed to powering the next generation of computing today with the planet's fastest, highest-capacity and most reliable storage solutions."

Momentus 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4 hard drives are the fourth generation of Seagate's laptop family to use PMR. The Momentus 5400.6, a 5400-rpm drive, combines a powerful Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface and capacities ranging from 120GB to 500GB with an 8MB cache.

The Momentus 7200.4 hard drive, with its 7200-rpm spin speed and a Serial ATA 3GB/second interface, delivers true desktop performance. The power-efficient 7200-rpm drive maximizes battery life and comes in capacities ranging from 250GB to 500GB with a 16MB cache.

Both 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 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 hard drive combines the capacity and speed required for today's most demanding desktop PC applications. The drive packs 1.5TB on just four platters and its fast Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface delivers an industry-leading sustained data rate of up to 120MB/second for fast boot, application startup and file access. The 3.5-inch drive is also offered in capacities of 1TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB and 160GB with cache options of 32MB and 16MB.

All Momentus and Barracuda drives are backed by Seagate's leading five-year warranty.

Availability

Shipments of the Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB are set to begin August 2008. Momentus 5400.6 and 7200.4 hard drives are to begin shipping in Q4 calendar 2008.