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PSA: Western Digital and Seagate commence bonfire of the warranties
Seagate and Western Digital really do have the spirit of the holidays running through their veins, as both companies are slashing the warranty periods on hard drives for the new year. Gone are the days of five-year safety periods, instead owners of Seagate's Barracuda XT, Constellation 2, ES.2 and Momentus XT drives will have three years protection. SV35 Series and Pipeline HD drives have two years while Barracuda, Barracuda Green and the 2.5-inch Momentus get a measly one year. Western Digital on the other hand, will be hacking a year off the Caviar Blue, Green and Scorpio Blue drives that ship after January 1st, each coming with just two years warranty. On the upside, you'll be given the chance to extend the package for a modest fee -- nothing like the odd nickel-and-dime to hasten the post-holiday slump, eh? [Image courtesy of Columbia Pictures]
Seagate merges Barracuda range, renounces small platters for hungry storage diners
Seagate's decided its desktop drives were getting a bit flabby. It's ditching the Green and XT brands, and in turn, deeming the entire range Barracuda. The revamped series now carries 1TB platters rather than the five 600GB layers in the older models and all will run at 7200RPM with a 64MB cache. It's part of an initiative to slim a bloated inventory channel for the company's OEM partners. Those with an environmental bent should know that the new drives more than match the Green's environmental prowess, whilst those who are speed hungry will be excited to hear news on the mooted new Barracuda XT. This replacement XT will match the hybrid stylings of the Momentus XT, a hybrid HDD that includes a 4GB SSD to increase cache speed. The 3TB monster will be available for $179.99 as soon as it hits the shipping channels -- which, so far as we can tell, should be anytime between next week and next year.
Seagate ships 7,200RPM 3TB Barracuda XT internal hard drive, we wonder what took so long
We've been hearing about Seagate's plans to offer an unencumbered 3TB hard drive since May of last year, but despite promises of a 2010 launch and the release of similarly large HDDs from companies like Western Digital and Hitachi, we're only now seeing the 3TB Barracuda XT shipping all on its own. We won't claim to have an explanation for the delay, but it's possible that the company's proprietary software -- which breaks the 2.1TB legacy OS barrier and enables this guy to function within Windows XP -- could have something to do with it. It might be tardy to the party, but the new Barracuda can definitely hold its own when stacked against the competition -- it spins at 7,200RPM, touts a 64MB cache, and plays nice with the 6Gbps SATA interface. It ain't the only 3TB fish in the sea, but at $280, it's definitely not dead in the water.
Seagate tosses 3TB hard drives into BlackArmor NAS, stores a digital boatload
It wasn't that long ago that an entire network attached storage box held just 3TB, but now that Seagate's reached that capacity with a single five-platter drive, the NAS are getting larger in turn. Though you can't buy a 3TB Barracuda XT all by its lonesome, you can today order four of them direct from Seagate in a BlackArmor NAS 440 with RAID 5, for the presumably reasonable price of $1,899. If that's too rich for your local area network's blood, however, we hear there'll also be a 6TB NAS 220 unit with a pair of disks for a penny under $650. Let's just hope the giant fan on the back of this box keeps those suckers cool.
Seagate's 3TB GoFlex Desk hard drive reviewed: hot, in more ways than one
Just under two months ago, Seagate pushed the capacity envelope once more by introducing a $250 3TB hard drive meant to be used by archivists the world over. It all sounds peachy on paper, but AnandTech managed to uncover a dirty little secret about the drive that serious power users should know about. For starters, the crew cracked open the case to find a 3.5-inch, five platter Barracuda XT -- that's a drive that Seagate doesn't intend to sell for internal use until the end of the year, but it's available now if you're willing to spring for its enclosure. Reviewers actually fell for the overall design, but they noticed right away just how little ventilation options there were. Needless to say, that point came back to bite the drive once data had been transferring over for a few hours, as temperatures soared beyond the 140 degree Fahrenheit mark and transfer rates plummeted. Seagate affirmed that those high temperatures were within spec, but critics felt that running it as such for extended periods may harm the longevity; it's obviously a gamble you'll be taking if you need this much space within a single drive, but we'd recommend hitting that source link before making a decision that could burn you down the road.
Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT: world's first SATA 6Gbps hard drive
Ready for this speed freaks? Seagate just announced the world's first 2TB disk with full support for the third generation SATA interface pushing data at 6Gbps -- double the rate of previous controllers. The 3.5-inch SATA 6Gbps Barracuda XT drive spins 4x 500GB platters at 7200RPM with a big 64MB cache to prevent bottlenecks. It promises a sustained transfer rate of just 140MBps (compared to 600MBps / 4.8Gbps possible), MTBF of 750,000 hours, and carries a five-year warranty. The disk hits retail this week for about $299 list. Then you'll just need to find SATA 6G controller / MoBo to make the most of your new purchase -- fortunately, SATA 6Gbps is backward compatible with SATA 1.5Gbps or 3Gbps rigs until then.%Gallery-73607% Show full PR text [Via TG Daily]
