Seagate's "Tornado" removable hard disk standard
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 9th 2006 4:15PM
posted January 9th 2006 4:15PM
Seagate used CES to introduce their new
removable hard disk standard, code-named "Tornado," aimed at taking on Iomega's REV drives and the iVDR (Information Versatile Disk for Removable) drive system. The
Tornado system uses a regular hot-swappable hard drive that connects through a standard External Serial ATA port to a
cradle that's connected to a PC via USB 2.0. Seagate sees loads of potential for the system, ranging from including
codecs and AV ports so you can play media straight to your TV to including Tornado slots in in-car entertainment units
and PVRs. Sounds sweet to us, but Seagate's not dropping any hints on when units might go into production.
Tornando or Tornado?
Great! Because REV drives are doing so well...
Slap that bad boy in a car and you have 8-tracks (or is it a-tracks, could neve figure that out) excepty with a heck a lot more files
Looks like a unique idea and I might be intrested.
Actually I like the sound of tornando better...
How is this different than usb2.0 sata cradle, except that you dont screw the drive in?
how about making SATA drives have a mandatory / all manufacturer agreed layout /positioning of the SATA and power ports with respect to the standard drive geometry so all drives can dock to the same connector?
Make all vendor shield the PCB with a metal cover to stop static killing the drive and hey presto you have a world wide standard!
Come off it guys - you standardised on the case dimensions and positioning of the screw holes so why not the connectors on the back of the drive???
Sony will probably use this, or somethings similiar, in the PS3. They have said that there will not be a hardrive built in and some of the pictures show a shape of the left side which looks to be about the same size as this.
Did they drop pricing hints?
Right now, I store my HDTV movies on 200/250GB hot-swappable HDDs. I bought an enclosure, and every time I get a new drive, I just buy a new hot-swappable chassis to stick the drive into (chassis slides in/out of enclosure). At this point, I'm running at about $100 per 250 Gigs ($90 drive + $10 chassis), while the enclosure (firewire+usb2!) was a one-time $60.
Yeah it took some real reasearch to make this setup. But if their Toronananado system is any more than $50.00 for the enclosure and $50 per drive, it's a freakin' rip-off. And I'm the target market!
-Pie
Did anyone else here immediately think "Atari 2600 cartridge!"?
Haha, #10, YES! First thing!
Think Tornado's time has come. Will be interesting to see if Seagate has an internal 3.5 inch FF SATA drive also. Inquiring minds in high places want to know??????
Would like to know 2 things from #9?
What makes him think he is the target market? And how many units is he going to buy???