Seagate outs 1.5TB drives

SEAGATE JUST ANNOUNCED three big drives, one is the biggest out there, the other two play catch-up. They now have the crown with a 1.5TB drive, and are going to be up with everyone else when the 500Gb 2.5-inch models come out.

The most impressive one is the 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11, the 11th generation workhorse drive for people who download far too much content. It is a 4 platter model that claims a 120MBps data transfer rate. There are 16 and 32M cache versions, both will be on sale, along with smaller 7200.11 variants, this August. We inch closer to 'big enough'.

The difference between the reigning champ of HDs, the 1TB monsters of yesteryear and the new 1.5TB is of course 500GB. That is coincidently the same size as the new Seagate Momentus 5400.6 and 7200.4 The 5400.6 starts out at 120GB with an 8M cache, the 7200.4 at 250GB with 16M, and come in various sizes from there.

Both 2.5-inch lines have G-force sensors to detect falls and park the heads before they put divots on the platters. They say both will survive 1000Gs of non-operating, 350 operating, shock, so you could probably play tennis with them and not lose data. If anyone tries this, send us the videos, please.

The 2.5-inch drives will be out sometime in Q4, with no prices set as of yet. It looks like the HD bar has been raised once again. µ