Introducing Seagate's 7200.9: The New Generation
by Purav Sanghani on October 10, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Seagate's Upcoming Offerings
Perpendicular recording has been in the news recently, with Toshiba bringing to the market the first drive utilizing the technology. We asked Seagate how soon it would bring a product using the new recording method to the desktop and notebook market. Back in June, Seagate introduced the 160GB Momentus 5400.3 notebook drive, the highest capacity notebook drive to date, achieved by using perpendicular recording and higher density platters for the increased disk space. The 160GB version of the 5400.3 will use two 80GB platters in combination with 4 heads to achieve this capacity. The 5400.3 line will offer 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, and 120GB as well with an 8MB cache and both PATA and SATA 1.5Gb/sec transfer rate with Native Command Queuing.
Another offering that we are looking forward to is the Momentus with FDE (Full Disc Encryption) technology. This implements a hardware-based encryption method to protect the contents on a lost or stolen drive. Since the encryption is hardware-based, there is virtually no chance of breaking into a locked volume, and in cases where the drive is to be disposed, the Disc Erase feature will completely wipe the platters clean of any sensitive data. The Momentus 5400 FDE line will come in 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, and 120GB sizes. It will feature an 8MB cache and looks like it will be offered only in the PATA flavor - at least initially.
Perpendicular recording has been in the news recently, with Toshiba bringing to the market the first drive utilizing the technology. We asked Seagate how soon it would bring a product using the new recording method to the desktop and notebook market. Back in June, Seagate introduced the 160GB Momentus 5400.3 notebook drive, the highest capacity notebook drive to date, achieved by using perpendicular recording and higher density platters for the increased disk space. The 160GB version of the 5400.3 will use two 80GB platters in combination with 4 heads to achieve this capacity. The 5400.3 line will offer 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, and 120GB as well with an 8MB cache and both PATA and SATA 1.5Gb/sec transfer rate with Native Command Queuing.
Another offering that we are looking forward to is the Momentus with FDE (Full Disc Encryption) technology. This implements a hardware-based encryption method to protect the contents on a lost or stolen drive. Since the encryption is hardware-based, there is virtually no chance of breaking into a locked volume, and in cases where the drive is to be disposed, the Disc Erase feature will completely wipe the platters clean of any sensitive data. The Momentus 5400 FDE line will come in 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, and 120GB sizes. It will feature an 8MB cache and looks like it will be offered only in the PATA flavor - at least initially.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
72 Comments
View All Comments
JarredWalton - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
2.6 bels is of course the same as 26 decibels. (deci = 1/10)That said, people claiming that 26 dB is not quite probably are going by advertising numbers rather than reality. I have an SPL (Sound Pressure Level) guage, and 26 dB is extremely quiet. I can still hear it, but a room with no noise in it ranges from 24 to 30 dB. A car driving by outside makes about 40 to 45 dB of noise.
The problem is that if you trus the noise levels from computer hardware manufacturers, you might actually believe that your PSU, fans, HDD, etc. only put out 26 dB of noise. I've got a case with three "26 dB" fans, plus a "28 dB" PSU. Anyone want to guess at the real noise level? I won't keep you in suspense; at 1 meter form the case, the actual measured noise level is 48 dB, FAR higher than the rating of any of the components. Multiple fans plays a part, but even a single "26 dB" fan still came up with a 38 dB rating on my SPL.
I would agree mostly with Seagate's claim that 26 dB (2.6 Bels) is below the threshold of human hearing. A device putting out 26 dB at a distance of one foot would be inaudible at a range of 10 feet, that's for sure. (Unless you have dog hearing....) Whether or not that's how Seagate rated their drives, though, I can't say.
ATWindsor - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
First of all, a room with "no noise" is much more quiet than 24-30 db, it just that you are used to the background noise. a 26 db fan at one feet is around 15-16 db at 10 feet, which is a clearly adible sound that too (this i have measured in an anecoic room). However, in most rooms the background noise would mask it. 26 db is quiet, but its far from inaudible.JarredWalton - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
We don't live in sound-proof environments, though. While it may not be truly silent, an empty house without any noise from neighbors or traffic is still going to have a background noise level above 20 dB. If something is below the background noise level for a house, I'm willing to call it "silent" - even if it isn't technically dead silent. I guess that's a difference of opinion, though.JarredWalton - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
"26 dB is not quite" should be "26 dB is not quiet". Still need that edit function.... grumble.DRavisher - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Indeed. Though I doubt anyone can accurately detect even a 1dB sound :).ATWindsor - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
That of course, can be discussed, but most people would easily detect 26 db, or 20 for that matter. And saying that 29 db is "barly audible" is a far strech IMHO.DRavisher - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
I agree. You can certainly hear 20dB+ sounds. Especially if you were to set up a completely closed environment (no background noise that is).Xenoterranos - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
OK, there's a period there. they said 2.6 thats "2 point 6"DRavisher - Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - link
They said 2.6 bels, which equalts (does it not?) 26 decibels (dB).Tiamat - Monday, October 10, 2005 - link
Agreed. At 2AM (when I am sleeping with my computer idle 10 feet away) I can hear its 28dB and its not very quiet. I would say in the dead of night, a computer would have to be roughly 18dB to be considered unhearable above typical background noise.However, there seems to be a mix-up between Sound power and Sound Pressure - two totally different entities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_power_level">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_power_level
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure_level">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure_level