Seagate this week unveiled a gargantuan new hard drive aimed at the small and midsized business (SMB) storage market along with a new standard-setting external backup drive.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based hard drive maker launched its new 10-terabyte (TB) IronWolf Pro hard drive for network-attached storage (NAS) systems (also available in 6TB and 8TB capacities). Priced at $430, the hard disk drive (HDD) can sustain a 300TB per year user workload rate, a 5X improvement over conventional desktop HDDs, claims Seagate.
IronWolf Pro features rotational vibration and humidity sensors, along with low-power settings that balance the always-on nature of NAS storage environments with energy savings. The drive is backed by a 5-year warranty and features another perk that customers will ideally never need to use.
Should disaster strike, the drive is covered by Seagate’s two-year Rescue Data Recovery Service Plan. In case of drive failure or data loss, the plan offers in-lab data recovery services, complete with shipping. Customers can have the data returned to them on a drive or they can elect to download it from the cloud.
“An extension of Seagate’s Guardian Series of 10TB hard drives launched in July, the IronWolf Pro gives businesses greater durability and agility to run their heaviest workloads in large, multi-user NAS environments,” said Jeff Fochtman, vice president of global marketing at Seagate, in a Nov. 15 media advisory. “With the added peace of mind of Seagate Rescue, businesses can know their data is safe.”
A day earlier, the company announced the world’s biggest USB-connected external hard drive, at least in terms of storage capacity.
Outwardly, the new 5TB Backup Plus looks unchanged from last year’s 4TB model. Inside, the storage bump “is made possible thanks to Seagate’s new BarraCuda internal drive, featuring its breakthrough 2.5-inch 1TB platter technology announced last month,” wrote Steve Pipe, senior internal communications manager at Seagate.
The new design allows PC makers to stuff 2 TB of data storage capacity into their laptops using a single 2.5-inch, 7mm drive. In the Seagate 5TB Backup Plus, the new drive technology helped the company lay claim to the external drive crown.
“No other storage company offers a 5TB portable drive,” continued Pipe. “With 5TB of capacity, you can store approximately 1 million photos, 1,250,000 songs or 600 hours’ worth of HD movies.”
Seagate 5TB Backup Plus costs $189.99 and will available later this month in black, blue, red and silver.