More “Groundbreaking” Hard Disc Drives

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June 9, 2005 A travelling Martian could be excused for confusing the digital storage and construction industries as it seems not a month goes by without a number of significant “groundbreaking firsts” in both camps. Whatever problems humanity will face in the future, massive digital storage in a very small form factor will not be one of them. In an industry characterised by extreme competitiveness and a level of excellence that can be quantified, each new product range seems to hold a number of “groundbreaking firsts.” Seagate’s new range of disc drives was released yesterday and the product plans outlined point to a future where every one of our main possessions has its own specifically-designed disc drive. What began as home PC storage capacity has been supplemented by digital storage in PDAs, MP3 players, game consoles, digital cameras and personal video recorders (PVR) and will soon be added to in our automobiles and mobile phones. Yesterday’s Seagate announcement included a number of “groundbreaking storage firsts” designed to enable a range of consumer electronics and traditional applications, including the first 2.5-inch hard drive using perpendicular recording, the first hard drive with Full Disc Encryption, the first 8GB 1-inch hard drive for handhelds capacities and a ruggedised hard drive designed specifically for automotive applications.

Seagate also wielded its technology to introduce innovations for the computing market including the first 2.5-inch drives utilising perpendicular recording, the highest capacity external and portable hard drives, and the first drives with Full Disc Encryption for robust protection of users' personal data. In all, the storage giant announced ten new products that build on its existing array of disc drives for consumer electronics, enterprise, desktop and mobile computing markets. The diverse applications addressed and the myriad technology advances included in the Seagate announcements underscore how pervasive storage has become in everyday life and how demand for storage has skyrocketed. "Our storage innovations are driving the infusion of exciting new capabilities into applications of all kinds, from the home to the office to the road and beyond," said Seagate president and CEO, Bill Watkins. "Seagate's unique, unflagging ability to meet the demands of both the consumer electronics and traditional computing markets is why we are the industry's leading seller of hard drives and why some of the biggest brands in the world partner with Seagate."

New Consumer Electronics Drives

Seagate's innovations for CE include new offerings designed to enable applications for the emerging "terabyte life," where digital storage is creating exciting new products and even new lifestyles. From automobiles and entertainment, to home theater, handheld audio, video, communications and computing, Seagate's new consumer electronics offerings include:

-- The EE25 Series -- a breakthrough hard drive designed specifically for use in cars, the world's first hard drive with extreme environmental resistance that can operate in temperatures from -30 to 85 degrees C and in high-humidity and high-altitude environments. Designed for ruggedness, durability and protection from hostile environments, the drive will deliver the massive capacity needed for auto makers, system manufacturers and aftermarket companies to create DVD-free navigation systems and high-quality car entertainment services.

-- The ST1 Series -- the first 8GB 1-inch hard drive designed for use in handheld and CompactFlash applications. It will let users store the industry's largest libraries of music (200 hours - or 4,000 songs), video and digital photos for this class of product. Seagate's unique RunOn Technology improves performance while in a high-vibration environment, such as jogging. The ST1 Series supports low-power modes, and the drive's time-to-ready is a mere 1.2 seconds.

-- The LD25 Series -- the first 2.5-inch hard drive designed for the latest game consoles, and smaller, cooler-running and more cost-effective small footprint PCs and home entertainment devices. Today's home technology must come packaged in system designs that fit style criteria as much as they support technology requirements. Increasingly, this means smaller, thinner, lighter systems that require smaller form factor hard drives. The drive's power consumption specs are ideal for low-power systems and add-on storage device requirements, and its whisper-quiet operation will deliver pure enjoyment of digital media.

-- The DB35 Series -- with a new 500GB capacity -- the industry's highest -- for DVR and home entertainment systems. It will provide up to 85 hours of High-Definition TV recording, 500 hours of standard TV recording, and up to 10 simultaneous TV streams. DynaPlay Technology fine-tunes the drive's operating parameters for entertainment applications, including performance for uninterrupted digital media, security to enhance fair use of digital programming, and power to give manufacturers more leeway in selecting cost-efficient power supplies and keep internal temperatures under control.

-- The 8GB CompactFlash Photo Hard Drive -- with a new, unmatched 8,000 MB capacity in a tiny 1-inch size for digital cameras. Capable of storing 2,400 high-resolution (6 megapixel) and 6,400 standard-resolution (3 megapixel) digital photos. It will be sold through select retail outlets.

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