Seagate to offer 1TB drive in first half of '07
We've learned that Seagate plans to deliver a 1TB 3.5" hard drive in high volume during the first half of this year. According to the company, this second-generation drive to use perpendicular recording technology will hit the terabyte mark using only four platters. A four-platter terabyte drive would need to pack 250GB per platter, which is a much higher areal density than Seagate's current Barracuda 7200.10, which tops out at less than 200GB per platter. Higher areal densities can lead to improved performance since the drive head can access more data over shorter physical distances, so Seagate's terabyte monster could offer improved transfer rates in addition to its jaw-dropping capacity.
