#Seagate barracuda vs firecuda series

The 2TB limit in the 2.5' 7mm form factor continues to be a sore spot, as Samsung already has 4TB SSDs with the same measurements. Seagate's move to high-density 2.5' products is essential as it attempts to stave off denser SSDs. HDD vendors tend to use a base HDD design for several products with various performance ratings, so it is reasonable to expect 2.5' 5TB 7,200RPM enterprise models in the future. A combination of SMR and helium could theoretically offer much higher density, so there is still room for further density enhancements beyond 5TB with existing technology. The drives also use standard air-based technology, in contrast to the helium designs that have yet to penetrate the 2.5' segment. The 5TB model features five platters and ten heads. Seagate is using the 1TB platter technology it announced earlier this year (1,307 Gb/in 2 average areal density) to achieve the increased density. Seagate limited the startup current to 1.2A, which allows the company to retain backward compatibility with legacy enclosures. HDDs require a big 'jolt' of energy to get started, which could limit applications in power-constrained USB 2.0 external enclosures. The entire range of BarraCuda 2.5' HDDs have an average 1.9/2.1W read/write power consumption rating and idle/sleep at 1.1W/.18W.

The 2.5' BarraCuda models have a 5,400RPM spindle speed that limits the data transfer rate to 140MB/s, but the slower spindle speed helps reduce power consumption. More detail here.) SMR suffers performance disadvantages during random write workloads, but the faster PMR technology allows the drive to offer faster, more responsive performance in diverse workloads. Seagate representatives indicate the company will correct the manual.

( EDIT: The drive is an SMR drive, but Seagate omitted that designation in its manual.

#Seagate barracuda vs firecuda series

The SATA 6Gbps BarraCuda series uses standard PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording), which is a nice surprise, as we expected the company to use SMR ( Shingled Magnetic Recording) for the 5TB model.