Seagate Launches 2TB Enterprise Class Drive With 6Gb SAS

Scotts Valley, California-headquartered Seagate Corporation has announced the launch of a 2TB Enterprise-Class (ES) drive that features 6Gbps SAS interface. The drive has been christened “Constellation”. The drive is offered with either a 3 Gbps SATA interface or a 6 Gbps SAS 2.0 interface.

A fourth-generation enterprise-centric device, the drive is touted as the industry’s first such drive by the company. Constellation is best suited for enterprise apps where data demand is extremely high. The 6 Gbps SAS helps in very high data integrity thanks to its error detection and correction (IOEDC/IOECC).

Measuring 26.1 mm(H) X 101.6 mm (W) X 146.99 mm (L), the device weighs 710 gm. The cache has a capacity of 16MB. The drive spins at 7,200 RPM, and can sustain data transfer at a rate of 150 Mbps. With an average latency of 4.16 ms, random read seek time of less than 8.5 ms and random write seek time of less than 9.5 ms, the product has one of the best performances for its particular category.

Constellation requires an average idle power of 8.0 W, runs on an average operating power of 12.2 W, and requires 11.2 W for seek.

Read more about an industry-first achievement by Seagate, here.

Intel Launches A New SSD, X25-V

Santa Clara-headquartered Intel Corporation has launched a new solid state drive called X25-V.

The new device is available for USD 125. Its capacity is 40 GB, and employs 34nm NAND flash memory technology. The target market for this drive is netbooks and dual-drive / boot drive desktop set-ups.

Salient features of solid state drives are that there are no mechanical, moving parts or spinning platters inside their body. This makes the drives especially useful in rugged environments such as netbooks that are portable and therefore liable to be used more roughly than are the traditional desktops. Further, the lack of any mechanical motion implies that responsiveness to system’s demands for read and write is faster than the traditional hard disk drive (HDD).

On a desktop, the SSD can be installed with the OS and favorite applications and fitted into the system. When booted, the desktop can then take advantage of the superior speed of the SSD to function, while data and files can be stored on the HDD. The SSD speeds operations at the time of boot-up, opening of apps and resumption from hibernation / stand-by.

Read more about the latest solid state drive launched by Intel, here.

My Book Portable External Hard Disk From Western Digital

The USB 3.0 interface is the latest fashion in the storage device manufacturers’ street. After Seagate, it is now the turn of Western Digital to embrace the new specification.

Lake Forest, California-headquartered Western Digital Corporation has announced the release of its latest external storage technology in the market.

Christened “My Book”, the new storage device is an external hard disk. My Book interfaces with the desktop / laptop using USB 3.0 specifications, which, according to the company, makes it 10 times faster than the older interface of USB 2.0. My Book is available with capacity of 1 TB and 2 TB, and is capable of delivering data at the transfer rate of up to 5 gigabits per second.

The product is being offered as a standalone with a price tag of USD 179.99. The “My Book” kit comes with a price tag of USD 199.99 and includes a USB 3.0 PCIe adapter card. My Book comes with a two-year limited warranty.

With the worldwide market for superfast external hard disk drives expected to touch over 1 billion units in the next couple of years, hard disk manufacturers do not want to be left behind.

Read more about the latest external storage device launched by Western Digital, here.

BlackArmor Portable External Hard Disk From Seagate

Scotts Valley, California-headquartered Seagate Technology LLC used the opportunity of the Consumer Electronics Show concluded in Las Vegas to unveil its latest external data storage technology.

Christened “BlackArmor”, the new data storage is an external hard disk that is targeted for the notebook computer segment. The device has a capacity of 500GB, spins on its spindle at the speed of 7,200 RPM, and measures 0.49 inch (H) X 3.15 inch (W) X 5.12 inch (L), and weighs less than 180 grams. The device interfaces with a USB 3.0 interface.

The BlackArmor kit comes with the drive and a backup software preloaded on it that functions quite well on Windows. Other items in the kit include a quick-start guide, a USB 3.0 cable, USB power cable, and a USB 3.0 PC card adapter.

According to the company press release, the new USB 3.0 interface increases the speed of data transfer multifold, so that a 25GB HD movie can be transferred to the drive in just 4.2 minutes, which is three times faster than the time it used to take on a USB 2.0 interface.

Read more about the latest in external data storage technology from Seagate, here.

Seagate Launches Thinnest Hard Disk Drive

Scotts Valley, California-headquartered Seagate Technology LLC has announced the launch of what it terms is the world’s thinnest hard disk drive. The new storage device is called “Momentus Thin”.

Momentus Thin measures 7 mm (H) X 70.1 mm (W) X 100.55 mm (L), and weighs 92 grams typically, making it 25% slimmer than the traditional 2.5 inch laptop hard drives which measure 9.5 mm. The drive is targeted for ultra-portable and entry-level laptops, high-end netbooks, backup devices and consumer electronics. It is being positioned as a more affordable alternative to the solid-state and 1.8 inch hard drives.

The storage device comes in two capacities: 250GB and 160GB, with an 8MB cache. The drive works on serial ATA architecture with a 3GB/second interface and 5400 RPM spin speed. The average latency of the drive is 5.6 msec, with a random read seek time of 14 msec. The company estimates its annual failure rate to 0.48, and the probability of unrecoverable read errors to 1 in 10^14. The average seek power of 1.54 watts draws less energy from the batteries of the laptop / netbook.

Read more about the latest, the fastest and the slimmest introduction in the storage world, here.

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