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  (Source: Seagate Technology)
Half a year late with high-capacity notebook drive but still climbing the charts

Seagate's new line of notebook drives has been listed at a number of online retailers for some time but today the number one hard drive manufacturer announced the official launch of its Momentus 5400.4 line of 2.5-inch hard drives.

The Momentus 5400.4 line builds on the Momentus 5400.3 series by not only utilizing platters and heads that support the perpendicular magnetic recording but also by incorporating the SATA 3 GB/sec interface. The 5400.4 series comes in capacities of 120GB, 160GB, 200GB, and the highest capacity in Seagate's notebook drive line of 250GB.

The higher-bandwidth interface makes way for an increase in performance as the 5400.4 line boasts a 58MB/sec sustained transfer rate, a 14MB/sec increase over the Momentus 5400.3's 44MB/sec rate. The Momentus 5400.4 series also improves on the average seek time from 12.5 to under 12 ms but skimps out on the handling of operating shock as it can withstand only 325 Gs, down from the 350 Gs the 5400.3 was able to handle.

Seagate took a back seat on the drive capacity front, however, it continues to top sales charts and it shows as it has climbed to the number two spot in notebook hard drive sales just last year while it maintains the number one spot in hard drive industry overall.

Official pricing on the 250GB model has not been announced, however, many online retailers have listed the ST9250827AS between $170-250.

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...
By Duwelon on 1/21/2008 9:31:08 PM , Rating: 2
I'm really starting to hate how seagate does business. For a really long time I was waiting for them to release their 160GB 7200 rpm drive. After almost a full freakin year of them announcing the drive you still coudln't actually buy it anywhere. Talk about paper launches...

I got me a WD 250 GB 5400 rpm drive and when I play CSS, i load into new maps usually one of the first 3 people on a map change. These new high cap drives are really fast because of the high density.




RE: ...
By babasyzygy on 1/21/2008 10:18:12 PM , Rating: 2
As long as Seagate exceeds the rest of the industry in the duration of their warranty, I'll be a fan of the way they do business.

Sure, there are other important factors but to date the reliability of Seagate's drives has made me content (if not happy) to wait for them to catch up with other manufacturers. I've lost way too many WD and Maxtor drives to consider them at all comparable.


RE: ...
By theapparition on 1/22/2008 11:34:27 AM , Rating: 2
I've never lost a single WD, but your milage may vary. Maxtors.......nothing but misery.

Seagate, on the other hand, bought Maxtor. They still continue the Maxtor line branded under Seagate. So you don't know if your getting a Seagate or Maxtor. For that reason alone, I'll never touch another Seagate drive.


RE: ...
By JimmyC on 1/23/2008 9:49:37 PM , Rating: 2
Actually IIRC all Maxtor's drives are now made in Seagate's plants, so Maxtor is basically just a brand name these days, at least that's how it was right after the buyout.


kind of unrelated question but...
By tobrien on 1/21/2008 6:45:38 PM , Rating: 2
but why do some SAS/server-oriented drives come in 2.5"? I'm looking at newegg's 2.5" SAS drives and they go as "high" as 74GB @ 10k RPMs but the smaller the drive means the less area for heat dissipation and such right?




RE: kind of unrelated question but...
By VooDooAddict on 1/21/2008 9:53:54 PM , Rating: 2
Space, heat, and power are a big concern for data centers.

In the enterprise space many shops run a minimum 5-6 drive configuration per physical machine.

The first 2 Drives are typically set in RAID 1 for mirroring. Used for the System Disk.

The remaining Drives are set in RAID 5. Used for database and application data.

Try fitting 5+ 3.5" drives in a 1U Dual Quad-Core Server.

The added lower power/cooling needs are also a plus.


By xphile on 1/22/2008 2:19:40 AM , Rating: 2
Actually in many medium to large size data centers the added lower power/cooling needs are not the plus, but the priority. Depends on your applications and configuration requirements.

Google is a fine example, speed of any drive is minor in importance as any drive can be fast in the right context. Redundancy and space requirements are massively important - but power requirement stands on its own as number one in terms of drive function and cooling. Server farms are an utter cash vacuum in power consumption.


well
By sprockkets on 1/21/2008 5:48:13 PM , Rating: 3
Seeing how WD released some months ago a 320GB 2.5" drive, they didn't exactly catch up to them.




RE: well
By PuravSanghani on 1/21/2008 6:45:31 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I think it's safe to say they're *still* playing catch-up. :)

Purav


I don't get it...
By Mudvillager on 1/21/2008 5:50:19 PM , Rating: 2
Samsung's already announced a standard height 500GB 2.5" drive:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/samsung-intros-...




RE: I don't get it...
By ksherman on 1/21/2008 6:38:00 PM , Rating: 1
Gorgeous! Now they just need to get 7200rpm drives up to capacity :). I have been dying with only 120GB on my MBP... Need more space!


RE: I don't get it...
By Sunday Ironfoot on 1/22/2008 3:25:07 AM , Rating: 2
They (Hitachi) make 7200RPM 2.5" laptop drives upto 200GB capacity.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod...


Meh
By SiliconAddict on 1/21/2008 7:03:52 PM , Rating: 2
Meh. 250GB drives are dead to me until they hit 7200.




$170-250
By iwod on 1/21/2008 9:12:57 PM , Rating: 2
Toshiba has a external 2.5" 320 GB HDD for $199.

170 seems to me very expensive for a 250Gb HDD




2.5 Is Great
By BansheeX on 1/21/2008 7:36:01 PM , Rating: 1
I kind of wish 2.5" would become the standard for desktops as well. Anyone who's used one knows how quiet and cool they run compared to their 3.5 counterparts, and speed has improved significantly despite the reduced spin speed due to cache and density improvements. The cost per GB would surely go down from where they are now if they became mainstream as well. Problem is that people are always going to resist going smaller if a larger standard exists that gives you more capacity. Oh well, I suppose solid state will replace them both eventually.




RE: 2.5 Is Great
By JoshuaBuss on 1/21/08, Rating: 0
"Spreading the rumors, it's very easy because the people who write about Apple want that story, and you can claim its credible because you spoke to someone at Apple." -- Investment guru Jim Cramer










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