Seagate
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Details on proposed Seagate class action settlement revealed
It looks like those that bought a Seagate hard drive in the past few years could possibly be in store for a few freebies or a bit of cash, at least if a proposed class action settlement goes ahead. According to a recently-launched website for the settlement, the suit centers on alleged misleading sales and marketing by Seagate, which stated that "purchasers of the drives would receive approximately 7% more usable storage capacity than they actually received." To make up for that allegedly egregious offense, the settlement proposes that anyone who purchased a drive between March 22nd, 2001 and September 26, 2007 (which wasn't pre-installed in a system) receive either some free backup and recovery software or a cash payment equivalent to five percent of the price paid for the hard drive. To get in on that potential windfall, however, you'll have to sign yourself up as part of the class action on the website linked below, where you can also opt out of the suit if you so choose.[Thanks, Joey]
Patent investigation could force hard drives off US market
This one's still a ways off, but the International Trade Commission has just launched a patent investigation into five manufacturers that could result in a ban on hard drive imports if the agency finds evidence of infringement. The patents, which are owned by Californians Steven and Mary Reiber, cover a method of using "ceramic bonding tips" on the internal wiring of the drives, and the couple claims Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell have all infringed by importing the drives. Much like the Qualcomm case, the ITC has a variety of ways of dealing with the situation and the parties have a lot of methods of appeal, but products that infringe on US patents are barred from being imported, so this initial determination will set off a lot of dominoes when it gets made in 45 days. Details are still pretty sketchy on what exactly the ITC is investigating, but we'll definitely keep you updated as we get more info.Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, it is not meant to be legal advice or analysis and should not be taken as such.
Frag Dolls, Seagate collaborate for game competitions, mall tour
The Frag Dolls have garnered the attention of hard drive manufacturer Seagate, which will collaborate with the Ubisoft-sponsored clan of gaming ladies over the next year for a series on online and in-person video game competitions, as well as a mall tour, making us close our eyes and wax poetic as we imagine being schooled by the likes of Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. The troupe will make three guest appearances during the apparently larger 'Seagate's Mall Tour,' which is expected to begin on October 19 at Minneapolis' Mall of America, hopefully nestled somewhere near the Lego Imagination Center. The girls will of course sign autographs and give high fives before 'pwning' their fans in gaming tournaments for Seagate-branded prizes, which may or may not be given out to the tune of 'I Think We're Alone Now.'[Via press release]
Seagate launches first laptop HHD -- blames Vista drivers for poor performance
Finally, Seagate has joined the fray by shipping its first hybrid hard drive (HHD) to OEMs and thus making good on its pledge to the Hybrid Storage Alliance. The 2.5-inch Momentus 5400 PSD ships in 80-, 120-, and 160GB capacities with a SATA 1.5 interface, 8MB of cache, and 256MB of flash memory to buffer cached write requests to disk. Seagate's HHDs are said to reduce boot time from 40 to 32 seconds while cutting average power consumption from 0.78 to 0.45 watts. Not quite the hysterical orders of performance improvements and battery savings originally promised eh Microsoft, Samsung? According to Melissa Johnson, a Seagate product manager, the sub-par performance for all HHDs stems from first generation issues with both the BIOS and Vista device drivers, "they don't know how to utilize the flash." Oh dear.[Via Extreme Tech]
Dell to stuff Seagate's encryption HDD into Latitude D630 / D830
Yeah, Seagate's uber-secure 2.5-inch Momentus 5400 FDE.2 hard drive has been available on the open market for some time, but Dell is looking to become to first big player to offer it up within its laptops. Starting "this week," the Latitude D630 and D830 will be available with the crypto drive as an option, and it will come bundled with the Embassy Trust Suite from software company Wave Systems. Officially, Dell has yet to reveal how much it'll cost to upgrade to the drive, but judging by the Higher Education order portal, swapping in a 120GB encrypted HDD will run you $152.10 more than the vanilla 60GB unit the D630 comes with.
Seagate intros Maxtor OneTouch 4 line
Seagate has updated its line of Maxtor OneTouch external drives, making the new set the fourth iteration of its cheapo hard drive solution. The new models heading out are the OneTouch 4, OneTouch 4 Plus, and OneTouch Mini, all wrapped in black plastic and metal (which Seagate likes to refer to as "vault-like"). The OneTouch 4 can rock your storage world in 250GB, 500GB , or 750GB varieties, ranging in price from $99.99 to $269.99, the OneTouch 4 Plus is available in 250GB, 500GB, 750GB, or 1TB, from $129.99 to $359.99, and the OneTouch Mini comes 80GB, 120GB, and 160GB, running you an affordable $99.99 to $149.99. All of the drives offer the famous OneTouch backup, which should give you at least a sliver of peace of mind. The whole line is available right this second, so get the credit card out.[Via Crave]
Chinese company interested in American Hard Disk Drive manufacturer
An unnamed Chinese company has expressed interest in purchasing an American Hard Disk Drive manufacturer, which has predictably sparked the interest of the American Government ever paranoid about technology "security." Mr. Bill "Seagate is for porn" Watkins disclosed this overture from an unnamed company, eloquently stating that "The U.S. government is freaking out" whilst saying that Seagate was not the target company -- although apparently the company would find it hard to refuse a generous offer from a Chinese company. In the end though the whole mini-ruckus seems much ado about nothing: the New York Times seems to think that the Chinese will only go through with a bid if it doesn't ruffle the feathers in Washington, and one can only imagine the resulting "ruffling" if this high tech purchase rumor transitioned from mere conjecture to the realms of possibility. And all this over something as seemingly trivial as storage.
Seagate makes plans for an SSD future
In a move which we all hope will be a sign of things to come, Seagate -- prominent mechanical drive-maker -- has voiced its intentions to enter the SSD game in the near future. According to Bill Watkins, the company's chief executive, the drive manufacturer will be getting into the solid-state market sometime next year, beginning with some form of enterprise solution. "We have solid-state drives on every road map that we have," Watkins said, though Seagate sold off the 40 percent stake it held in SanDisk, a chipmaker which now has almost the same market value as the drive company. Watkins was tight-lipped about exactly what kind of products the company will offer, though he did hint at a "hybrid" which uses both chips and disks to store data. It was only a matter of time till the drive makers started feeling heat from the SSD and flash markets -- hopefully this will help bring prices down to reasonable levels.
Seagate can't stop announcing 1TB disks: Barracuda 7200.11 and ES.2
Perhaps due to the raging insecurities of playing catchup to Hitachi's 1TB disk, Seagate just announced a couple more 1TB drives in what has quickly become a confusing HDD line-up. Joining their previously announced 1TB Barracuda 7200.10 are the SATA-equipped Barracuda 7200.11 for consumers and business class Barracuda ES.2 with SAS interface. This time however, Seagate had the good manners to at least provide a date and price: Q3 and $399.99. Right, exactly the same price as Hitachi's 7K1000.Update: Seagate just gave us some clarification on the 7200.10 vs. 7200.11: "The 7200.10 that was announced was a 250GB single-platter design; the purpose of it was to leverage the new areal densities we achieved and put it into the current 7200.10 chassis with the core electronics. It is shipping today. The 7200.11 and ES.2 use the same areal densities but are a new generation design with updated electronics, etc." So there you have it.
Seagate unveils turmoil-proof EE25.2 hard drive
As if stuffing a quarter terabyte onto a single Barracuda platter and finally matching Hitachi in the 1TB realm weren't enough to gloat about, Seagate is now unveiling a hard drive aimed squarely at those reading this from the Amazon Rainforest (or a vanilla construction area, but you understand). The second-generation SATA EE25 drive -- easily dubbed the EE25.2 -- is available in sizes up to 80GB and can handle extreme temperatures, sensational heights, 'round the clock operation, 90-percent humidity, and drops / shocks that would likely put you out of commission before your data. No word yet on pricing nor availability, but don't expect 80 gigabytes of nearly indestructible storage to come without a premium.
Samsung and Seagate finally match Hitachi with 1TB SATA disks
Months after Hitachi announced their big 3.5-inch, 1TB drive, Samsung and Seagate have finally matched that capacity by sheepishly launching their own 3Gbps SATA disks. Sammy does it all with efficiency boy, by spinning 3x 334GB platters to Hitachi's 5x 200GB platters (10 heads) or Seagate's 4 platters (8 heads) of 250GB each. That little trick should keep the weight, decibels, and power draw of their SpinPoint F1 (pictured) to a minimum. Hitachi's Deskstar 7K1000 still packs that impressive 32MB buffer which Samsung and Seagate can only aspire to with their 16MBs of respective cache. Expect both of the newcomers to be priced around $400. Cheap, but we'll be holding our wad for the inevitable head-to-head (to-head) shootout we're sure somebody is cooking up.Read -- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Read -- Samsung SpinPoint F1
Seagate crams 250GB on a single Barracuda platter
Just a day after Hitachi and Philips boasted about its newest external 1TB offerings, Seagate is up on its own soap box clamoring over the "industry's first 250GB-per-disc, 3.5-inch disc drive." Touting the second-generation of perpendicular magnetic recording technology, the newest Barracuda 7200.10 stretches areal density limits by stuffing 180Gb per square inch, and also manages to "set new benchmarks" for power consumption, acoustics, and performance. The drives will feature a 3Gbps SATA interface and should pop up in future external models, but for now you can probably grab one in a retail box as Seagate has reportedly achieved worldwide volume deployments.[Via TGDaily]
The 2006 Engadget Awards: Vote for Storage Device or Technology of the Year
Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Portable Media Device of the Year! Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Sunday, April 15th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: Blu-ray, Fujitsu 300GB laptop drive, HD DVD, Infrant ReadyNAS NV+, Seagate 750GB desktop hard drive. %Poll-253%
Seagate's FreeAgent lineup of data movers hit the market
Although Seagate has long been viewed as a hard drive producer, advocate of pornographic archival (or not), and little more, the company is looking to break new ground by unleashing its family of FreeAgent "data movers." Just under three months after being introduced to the world, the FreeAgent Go Small, Go, Desktop Drive, and Pro are all hitting the market, ready to take your computing comfort zone along with you wherever you may roam. Still ranging in size from 12GB all the way to three-quarters of a terabyte in size, these stylish drives all share a relatively small footprint, USB 2.0 connectivity, and the ability carry your critical documents, bookmarks, passwords, and other personal material from one PC to the next in a secure manner. So if you've been itching for a fairly attractive form of external storage, and don't mind the data moving capabilities being thrown in, you can reportedly snag one of these devices now from around $140 to just under $500.
Seagate ships 3 Gbps Momentus 7200.2 notebook HDD
While we were all prepared to wait for Fujitsu's May release of its MHW2 BJ series, Seagate decided to swoop in for the kill with the Momentus 7200.2. It's already shipping this comprable 2.5-inch laptop HDD with a 3 Gbps SATA interface (doubled from 1.5 Gbps in the last version). The new Momentus spins itself silly at 7,200 rpm, sports perpendicular recording technology, and is available in 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, and 160GB capacities. So if you're itching for a bite-size speed demon HDD for your laptop, your wait is over -- unless you're a Fujitsu snob, in which case you'll have to sit tight for a couple more months.
Planex's 750GB+ NAS server and BitTorrent client: make a label hate you
Planex loves 'em some BitTorrent so they're bringing us another network attached storage device with that copyright stompin' preload. The NAS-01G can be configured with up to 750GB of hot Seagate 'cuda 7200.10 disk (model NAS-01G750) or shipped as a shell for you to slot in any 3.5-inch SATA spinner of your choosing. Need more? Then go ahead and sling a few more disks off the 2x USB 2.0 jacks -- Planex won't mind, their NAS unit packs gigabit Ethernet to push that data around the home network on the quick. But make no mistake boy, it'll churn through torrents just fine without the need for your power-hungry PC or Mac soaking up the amperage all night. Save the environment and piss off a major label... good times. The NAS-01G750 is on sale now in Japan (with optional English firmware) for ¥82,000 or about $675. [Via Impress]
Seagate unveils "D.A.V.E." drive with Bluetooth and WiFi
The storage junkies over at Seagate are branching out a bit. Instead of just seeing how many terabytes they can cram into increasingly smaller hard drive platters, they're getting a little creative with this new "D.A.V.E." (Digital Audio Video Experience) device. The little unit, which we assume is holding a 1.8-inch drive within its belly, manages a 10GB or 20GB capacity, but ain't your plain vanilla portable hard drive. Along with the traditional USB port, the little guy sports Bluetooth and WiFi wireless connections, and is designed for helping you access and transfer your media on the go. The primary interface for doing this is over Bluetooth. D.A.V.E. includes a built-in battery, so you just switch the drive on, and then pair it with your phone. From there the phone can browse and view the files being stored on the HDD, and even communicate with other Bluetooth devices to push D.A.V.E. files to another D.A.V.E. via WiFi. The drive includes a microprocessor to run such operations, so it isn't just relying on your phone for the capabilities. At 12mm thick, with 10 hours continuous use battery life, and hefty drop protection, D.A.V.E. definitely seems portable enough to get the job done. Seagate is planning on getting this thing out in May or early June, but instead of self-branding the unit, it will be licensing the product to phone manufacturers and service providers such as Verizon, Cingular, Nokia and Motorola. The price should be around $200. Peep a video explaining the little guy after the break.
Seagate unveils "world's fastest" 2.5-inch 15k RPM hard drive
Ah, companies and their bragging rights. Looks like today's self-proclaimed champion is none other than Seagate, as the firm has claimed that its newly-unveiled 2.5-inch Savvio hard drive spins quicker than any other drive on the block. The Savvio 15K expands upon the existing 2.5-inch "SAS enterprise hard drive series" with a pair of new 15,000 RPM models that could theoretically fit inside a laptop, but are clearly designed for blade servers and enterprise applications. As expected, these drives are built on perpendicular magnetic recording technology (PMR), and are only available in sizes of 36GB and 73GB, which is (understandably) smaller than the 146GB option in the 10K Savvio. Seagate claims that these diminutive speed demons consume 25-percent less power than the company's 3.5-inch Cheetah 15K.4 drives, offer 10-percent faster seek time, and provide 40-percent faster sustained data transfer rates. Seagate declined to mention hard details in regard to pricing, but did state that customers would face "a premium" for the newfangled speed, but hey, you gotta pay to play.
Seagate ships single-platter, 1.8-inch, 60GB hard drive
Seagate announced late Sunday that it would immediately begin shipping its new Lyrion hard drive -- the corporate moniker for its single-platter 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive -- worldwide. The drive is only 5 millimeters (0.19 inches) thick and gets its write on using that snazzy perpendicular tech we've been hearing so much about. Also available in a 30GB size, the Lyrion includes "free fall protection" that will power down the motor and keep the heads away from the platter if the drive senses that it is indeed in peril. (We don't suggest that you test this feature.) We're not sure how much these drives will sell for, nor when we might start finding them embedded in various media players. But seriously -- iPod pico, anyone?
Seagate FreeAgent keeps your friends close, and your data closer
Seagate is attempting to shed its image as a stodgy, traditional hard drive company and is going for a new line of pocket-sized drives called FreeAgent. These new drives include a set of software designed to keep track of your online passwords, settings, email and pretty much any piece of data that you can think of, thereby allowing you to sync stuff from your home PC with any other PC out there (we're guessing that these drives aren't Mac-friendly). We still think that most folks who want to carry around that much data would just as soon keep a laptop or a PDA within arm's reach instead of dropping anywhere from $140 to $420 to get their hands on one of these 12GB to 750GB FreeAgent drives; but hey, Seag' probably knows a bit more about this industry than we do. The company is also touting its new online storage service to host a half gig's worth of photos and other files, which will be free for the first six months -- that is, starting when all this stuff debuts next month. [Via CNET]
