Seagate delivers Barracuda upgrade

Storage hardware maker Seagate began shipping its ninth-generation Barracuda 7200-RPM hard disk drive on Monday, the first of 10 new products the company promised back in June. The new 3.5-inch 7200.9 model ships in capacities from 80GB ($75) to half terabyte ($429) and will replace the two previous versions. The internal drives are designed for low-end servers, high-end PCs and workstations, and mainstream PCs.

An external version of the half terabyte (500GB) that is made up of four 125GB platters is expected to come out in November, Seagate said. Retail stores like Best Buy and Fry's Electronics are expected to carry the internal version for consumers who want to upgrade. Seagate is now preparing to transition its larger drives to the industry's new perpendicular technology starting with its Momentus drive in the first quarter of 2006.