1.5TB HDDs
Published by Bogdan Alex, on July 12th, 2008, in the categories: Hard Drives
There are huge amounts of information flowing all over the Internet and it seems like we are already making the transition from gigabytes towards terabytes. I, for one, can’t deal with my 400 GB total storage space. When I finally make some space by transferring stuff to DVDs, all that freed space gets immediately clogged with new stuff and I personally don’t like to have heaps and heaps of DVDs. I could buy a 1TB HDD or, better yet, maybe I should buy a couple of the newly announced Seagate 1.5 TB HDDs.
The 1.5 TB HDD is actually Seagate’s 11th generation in the flagship Barracuda 7200 family. Seagate claims that this is the 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, which is due to the capacity-boosting power of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology.
The improved Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive generation combines proven PMR technology, components and expert manufacturing to provide a maximum capacity of 1.5TB of reliable storage for mainstream desktop computers, workstations, desktop RAID, gaming rigs and high-end PCs, plus the standard USB/FireWire/eSATA external storage types.
The largest capacity drives pack 1.5TB on just four platters and come with fast Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface in order to deliver an industry-leading sustained data rate of up to 120MB/second for fast boot, application startup and file access. The standard desktop 3.5-inch drive will also be available in smaller capacities of 1TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB and 160GB with cache options of 32MB and 16MB.
The new Barracuda 7200.11 line will be released this August.
The 1.5 TB HDD is actually Seagate’s 11th generation in the flagship Barracuda 7200 family. Seagate claims that this is the 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, which is due to the capacity-boosting power of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology.
The improved Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive generation combines proven PMR technology, components and expert manufacturing to provide a maximum capacity of 1.5TB of reliable storage for mainstream desktop computers, workstations, desktop RAID, gaming rigs and high-end PCs, plus the standard USB/FireWire/eSATA external storage types.
The largest capacity drives pack 1.5TB on just four platters and come with fast Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface in order to deliver an industry-leading sustained data rate of up to 120MB/second for fast boot, application startup and file access. The standard desktop 3.5-inch drive will also be available in smaller capacities of 1TB, 750GB, 640GB, 500GB, 320GB and 160GB with cache options of 32MB and 16MB.
The new Barracuda 7200.11 line will be released this August.
OCZ SSDs
Published by Bogdan Alex, on July 5th, 2008, in the categories: Hard Drives
SSDs are starting to become more affordable, while more and more memory integrators present their interest in developing solid-state drives. Among the latest companies to announce a new line of SSDs is memory integrator OCZ. The press release informs us that the Core Series from OCZ offers SSD products at a 50% less price per gigabyte than other high speed offerings currently on the market. In other words, the suggested retail price for the 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models are $169, $259 and $479 USD, respectively.
Protecting the drives is a lightweight alloy housing, which does not make the SSDs susceptible to damage since they have no moving parts. The OC drives have 1.5 million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) and come backed by a two year warranty. The Core Series also feature seek times of less than 0.35ms.
Here’s a detailed specs list:
• Read 120-143 MB/sec
• Write 80-93 MB/sec
• Slim 2.5" Design
• 100.2 x 70 x 9.5mm
• Lightweight 77g
• Low Power Consumption
• Shock Resistant 1500G
• RAID Support
• MTBF 1.5 million hours
• 2 year warranty
• Part Numbers: Core 32GB - OCZSSD2-1C32G, Core 64GB - OCZSSD2-1C64G, Core 128GB - OCZSSD2-1C128G
Protecting the drives is a lightweight alloy housing, which does not make the SSDs susceptible to damage since they have no moving parts. The OC drives have 1.5 million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) and come backed by a two year warranty. The Core Series also feature seek times of less than 0.35ms.
Here’s a detailed specs list:
• Read 120-143 MB/sec
• Write 80-93 MB/sec
• Slim 2.5" Design
• 100.2 x 70 x 9.5mm
• Lightweight 77g
• Low Power Consumption
• Shock Resistant 1500G
• RAID Support
• MTBF 1.5 million hours
• 2 year warranty
• Part Numbers: Core 32GB - OCZSSD2-1C32G, Core 64GB - OCZSSD2-1C64G, Core 128GB - OCZSSD2-1C128G
Toshiba’s New 1.8″ HDDs
Published by Bogdan Alex, on June 12th, 2008, in the categories: Hard Drives
Ultraportable devices will soon incorporate HDDs that can store as much as a normal PC drive. This will be possible thanks to Toshiba’s research and development teams which came up with improved 1.8” SATA drives.
The new 1.8” lineup includes industry's first drive of this type with a capacity of 160 gigabytes. Toshiba's managed to boost interface speeds to 1.5Gbps (SATA), while keeping rotation speeds of 5,400 rpm for low energy consumption. With the advent of these new HDDs, Toshiba ensures that PMPs, handhelds and UMPCs will be able to meet the most demanding user needs.
Known as the MK1617GSG, the 160 GB HDD raises energy consumption efficiency, as defined under the Japanese legal standard, to 0.00281W/ GB, making for a 25% total improvement. The drive also improves the maximum internal data transfer rate by approximately 17%, and supports faster data access in reading and writing.
Toshiba further announces that the new drives will provide product manufacturers with a broad line-up that supports diverse applications. The new drives will also contribute to achievement of environmentally conscious products in full compliance with the EU's RoHS directive.
MK1617GSG, as well as the new MK8017GSG 80 GB model will be available some time in August.
The new 1.8” lineup includes industry's first drive of this type with a capacity of 160 gigabytes. Toshiba's managed to boost interface speeds to 1.5Gbps (SATA), while keeping rotation speeds of 5,400 rpm for low energy consumption. With the advent of these new HDDs, Toshiba ensures that PMPs, handhelds and UMPCs will be able to meet the most demanding user needs.
Known as the MK1617GSG, the 160 GB HDD raises energy consumption efficiency, as defined under the Japanese legal standard, to 0.00281W/ GB, making for a 25% total improvement. The drive also improves the maximum internal data transfer rate by approximately 17%, and supports faster data access in reading and writing.
Toshiba further announces that the new drives will provide product manufacturers with a broad line-up that supports diverse applications. The new drives will also contribute to achievement of environmentally conscious products in full compliance with the EU's RoHS directive.
MK1617GSG, as well as the new MK8017GSG 80 GB model will be available some time in August.
20,000 RPM HDDs
Published by Bogdan Alex, on June 8th, 2008, in the categories: Hard Drives
Understanding the imminent threat imposed by the SSD solutions, Western Digital is strongly determined to bring 20,000 RPM Raptor HDDs to the market as soon as possible.
Although they won’t match the storage capacities of HDDs anytime soon, IT analysts point out that the SSD solutions are going to be affordable in the next 12 to 18 months. This situation plus the fact that, for the time being, performance is more of a concern than storage capacity made Western Digital reconsider its future plans.
Dailytech informs that the upcoming HDD line-up will be similar with the newly released VelociRaptor, coming in 2.5” drives with a custom 3.5” housing built around it. Other details on these drives are not yet known. However, rumor has it that the drive will be ‘silent,’ despite the tremendous speed of the platters. In order to achieve this, WD is supposed to make big changes to its housing technology, which will now not just act as a heatsink, but also as a noise cancelling device. Another important aspect is the inclusion of some sort of vibration dampening technology, because at 20,000 RPM your drive could be taking off pretty fast, leaving you and your PC with a fat lip.
Although they won’t match the storage capacities of HDDs anytime soon, IT analysts point out that the SSD solutions are going to be affordable in the next 12 to 18 months. This situation plus the fact that, for the time being, performance is more of a concern than storage capacity made Western Digital reconsider its future plans.
Dailytech informs that the upcoming HDD line-up will be similar with the newly released VelociRaptor, coming in 2.5” drives with a custom 3.5” housing built around it. Other details on these drives are not yet known. However, rumor has it that the drive will be ‘silent,’ despite the tremendous speed of the platters. In order to achieve this, WD is supposed to make big changes to its housing technology, which will now not just act as a heatsink, but also as a noise cancelling device. Another important aspect is the inclusion of some sort of vibration dampening technology, because at 20,000 RPM your drive could be taking off pretty fast, leaving you and your PC with a fat lip.
Western Digital Scorpio Black
Published by Bogdan Alex, on June 3rd, 2008, in the categories: Hard Drives
Although SSDs are getting more attention than HDDs these days, the big players on the HDD marketdon't give it up that easy and keep improving the performance and size of the good ol’ platter-based drives. Now it’s Western Digital’s turn to show off their latest in 2’5” HDDs with the new Scorpio Black 7200 RPM product line.
Western Digital dares to challenge Hitachi, who was the first to market 2.5” 7200 RPM HDDs, and Seagate, who was next to enter the race with the Momentus 7200 2.5” lineup. Due to miniaturization factors, the capacity of the 7200 RPM 2.5” performance hard drives has lagged behind the 5400 RPM counterparts. . Thanks to the improved technologies integrated in the new Scorpio Black product line, WD is launching 7200 RPM performance hard drives that offer both the performance and capacity that is the same as their 5400 RPM offers. The highest capacity for a 2.5” 7200 RPM now reaches 320GB.
The Scorpio Black series support the SATA 3 Gb/s interface, as well as 16MB of cache, together with to efficient power usage for the mobile devices. Scorpio Black will include some of WD’s latest improvements in the form of IntelliSeek, SecurPark, ShockGuard, Free-fall Sensor, and WhisperDrive features.
The new line of products will be available shortly. Besideis the 320 GB capacity, the Scorpio Black family features 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB. The 320 GB model is expected to cost $249.
Western Digital dares to challenge Hitachi, who was the first to market 2.5” 7200 RPM HDDs, and Seagate, who was next to enter the race with the Momentus 7200 2.5” lineup. Due to miniaturization factors, the capacity of the 7200 RPM 2.5” performance hard drives has lagged behind the 5400 RPM counterparts. . Thanks to the improved technologies integrated in the new Scorpio Black product line, WD is launching 7200 RPM performance hard drives that offer both the performance and capacity that is the same as their 5400 RPM offers. The highest capacity for a 2.5” 7200 RPM now reaches 320GB.
The Scorpio Black series support the SATA 3 Gb/s interface, as well as 16MB of cache, together with to efficient power usage for the mobile devices. Scorpio Black will include some of WD’s latest improvements in the form of IntelliSeek, SecurPark, ShockGuard, Free-fall Sensor, and WhisperDrive features.
The new line of products will be available shortly. Besideis the 320 GB capacity, the Scorpio Black family features 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB. The 320 GB model is expected to cost $249.
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