Seagate starts shipping Barracuda eco-drive

Seagate has launched its eco-friendly Barracuda Green 3.5in hard drive worldwide, one of the first recyclable storage devices that complies with the forthcoming Advanced Format standard.

The hard drive has a SATA 6Gbit/s interface and with up to 64MB of cache, it is optimised for cache-intensive applications, Seagate noted.

Other key features include a spindle speed of 5900rpm and an average read seek time of 12ms. The sustained data rate transmission of 144MB/s sets a new standard for
performance in the eco-drive category, the manufacturer claimed.

Seagate recommends using the device in conjunction with direct attached USB,
FireWire, eSATA, network attached storage products and Windows storage
servers. The storage device is also suited to use with eco-friendly PCs.

The Barracuda Green is one of the first hard drives to incorporate Seagate’s SmartAlign technology, aimed at aiding the transition to Advanced Format 4K storage method.

From 1 January 2011, all laptops and desktop hard drive platforms shipped will be required to have a sector size of 4096 bytes (4K), instead of the traditional 512 bytes.

Advanced Format has been agreed by hard drive manufacturers to help deliver higher capacity points and improve error correction by increasing format efficiency.

SmartAlign technology maintains consistent hard drive performance, and is utility-free, therefore saving time in hard drive integration, the firm added.

More than 70 percent of the materials used to build the drive can be recycled and low halogen components are used to reduce environmental impact.

Seagate offers 1, 1.5 and 2TB capacities with a 2TB 32MB cache drive available for £69.99.