Earlier today X-bit Labs reported that Seagate will stop the production of their 7200RPM 2.5" drives by the end of this year and I just got a confirmation from Seagate that this is really the case. Seagate currently offers four 7200RPM 2.5" lineups: Momentus 7200.4, 7200.2, Momentus Thin 7200, and Momentus XT. The latter is Seagate's hybrid drive, which couples the spinning platters with 8GB of SLC NAND for caching purposes. The move makes sense when looking at the market's state. 7200RPM mobile hard drives have always been a premium product and are mostly found in high-end laptops or built-to-order configurations. Due to the decline in SSD prices over the last few years, the market for faster hard drives has quickly faded away because users...
Hands On With Western Digital's New 5mm Hybrid Hard Drive
Remember the 5mm hybrid HDD announcement from yesterday? I just spent some time with the drive itself at the IDF Tech Showcase. The 5mm drive will be OEM-only at...
16 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/11/2012
Western Digital Teases 5mm Hybrid Hard Drive
Intel's Ultrabook push has forced hard drive makers to do two things: take hybrid drives more seriously (because of the Ultrabook performance requirements) as well as focus on thinner...
13 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/10/2012
WD Introduces Red: NAS Optimized HDD Line
WD did everyone a favor when they reorganized their products under color-coded branding a few years ago. With the Blue (mainstream), Green (quiet and cool) and Black (performance) lines...
39 by Jason Inofuentes on 7/10/2012
Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) Review
There was a time when Western Digital's Raptor (and later, the VelociRaptor) was a staple of any high-end desktop build. Rotational media could only deliver better performance by increasing...
91 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/16/2012
Western Digital To Sell Hitachi's 3.5” Hard Drive Business To Toshiba, Complete Hitachi Buyout
Almost exactly a year ago, Western Digital announced that they would be buying Hitachi’s hard drive division from Hitachi for $4.3 billion. Since then, the two companies have been...
9 by Ryan Smith on 3/6/2012
Seagate 2nd Generation Momentus XT (750GB) Hybrid HDD Review
To say I liked the original Momentus XT would be an understatement. While Seagate had the lofty goal of negating the need for an SSD with its first mass-market...
97 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 12/13/2011
Hard Drive Shortage Hits Intel: Q4'11 Earning Estimates Revised Down By $1B
It has been expected for some time now that the fallout from Thailand’s well publicized flooding and resulting hard drive shortage would have wider ramifications than just impacting the...
26 by Ryan Smith on 12/12/2011
Seagate's 2nd Gen Momentus XT: More NAND, Larger Capacity
It's been over a year since I reviewed Seagate's first hybrid hard drive: the 500GB Momentus XT. At the time I felt that it wasn't nearly as good as...
38 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/28/2011
Seagate Awarded $525 million in Arbitration with Western Digital
Western Digital announced today in a press release that the arbitrator for a Seagate vs. Western Digital complaint sided with Seagate and ordered an award of $525 million paid...
19 by Amman Sood on 11/21/2011
Thailand's flooding and our HDD needs
This holiday season might be a big one for SSD manufacturers. Like most tropical regions, Thailand experiences dry and rainy seasons, which are somewhat predicable, with the rainy season...
10 by Jason Inofuentes on 11/18/2011
Seagate's New Barracuda 3TB (ST3000DM001) Review
Platter density has been the crutch of hard drive makers in recent history. Increasing spindle speeds can reduce random access latency, but at the expense of cost and thermals...
72 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/2/2011
Seagate Introduces New 1TB-Per-Platter Barracuda, Solid State Hybrid Version Coming
Yesterday Seagate had three members of its Barracuda family of 3.5" hard drives: the Barracuda Green, Barracuda, and Barracuda XT. Today, all three lines are being folded under the...
37 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/1/2011
Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II 6TB Review
While we await more Thunderbolt storage devices, Western Digital grabbed headlines not too long ago for the announcement of its 6TB My Book Studio Edition II Mac-ready external drive...
34 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/10/2011
Hitachi Ships First 3.5" HDD With 1TB Platters
Without increasing rotational speed the only hope for improving mechanical hard drive performance is through greater platter densities. There are other benefits realized through increasing platter density: larger capacities...
9 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/7/2011
Seagate Ships World's First 4TB External HDD
Just over a year ago Seagate introduced the world’s first 3TB hard drive. Although it shipped in an enclosure for external use, the Seagate GoFlex Desk was available with...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/7/2011_575px_carousel.JPG)
HighPoint's RocketU 1144A PCIe x4 USB 3.0 Controller: A Big Back-end
Most USB 3.0 controller cards available on the market today utilize the PCIe x1 interface. With a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 5Gbps, it is possible that these controllers...
39 by Zach Throckmorton on 8/30/2011
150GB & 300GB VelociRaptors Get SATA 6 Gbps, Larger Cache
While SSDs are all the rage these days, Western Digital is still making headway on their 10,000RPM VelociRaptors. The drives come in 150GB, 300GB, 450GB and 600GB capacities in...
28 by Saumitra Bhagwat on 7/28/2011
Seagate GoFlex Slim 320GB: The World's Thinnest External HDD
As a desktop user I never really jumped on the external storage craze. I kept a couple of terabyte drives in RAID-0 inside my chassis and there's always the...
31 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/5/2011
Seagate GoFlex Mac & Thin @ CES 2011
I met with Seagate briefly at the show and it gave me an update on additions to its drive lineup. Unfortunately there still are no updates to the Momentus...
15 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/10/2011