Seagate to release 2TB SSHD and 5TB HDD in 2.5" form-factor

Seagate announces that they will release a 2.5″ Solid State Hybrid Disk (SSHD) holding a capacity of 2TB and a 8GB NAND cache. The company will also release a 5TB HDD in the same form-factor.

The SSHD is part of Seagate’s FireCuda series, the HDD part of the BarraCuda series. The FireCuda SSHD thanks to its smaller form factor will fit in laptops. The 5TB HDD not so much though as its height is 15mm. Seagate embeds a NAND cache of 8GB. The cache would be managed by an algorithm that stores the most frequently used files in the NAND  flash memory. The 5TB is a bit slow, it spins at 5,400 RPM and has a specified maximum write speed of 140MB/s.

Let’s get straight to it. Productivity, creativity and even gaming have been transformed over the last decade thanks to the mobile revolution. One striking example – the amazing photos people take today were not even possible 10 years ago. The same is true of video and other forms of artistic expression and entertainment. And when it comes to professional productivity, there are countless, well researched studies that show how we have become far more prolific in our chosen professions because of what the mobile revolution has enabled.

With these changes comes the ability to store everything in the cloud. And while we love what that enables, if you’re a technology enthusiast, an avid gamer, a creative professional or simply your family’s resident photographer (like many of us here at Seagate), you still want to take your digital stuff with you wherever you go. Which is why Seagate is pleased to announce the availability of two of our most advanced mobile consumer drives yet -- the 5TB mobile BarraCuda and the 2TB FireCuda. Both products are based on Seagate’s breakthrough 2.5 inch 1TB platters introduced in January.

The BarraCuda mobile offers best-in-class versatility, performance and reliability for nearly every mobile PC compute need and application. However, as consumers ourselves, we want flexibility in how we store and move our data, which is why we are offering internal and external storage options for this drive – a super thin 7mm mobile or laptop upgrade design and a 15mm design for external solutions, both at the best price point per terabyte and millimeter compared to competitive storage options. So, if you’re an enthusiast builder and tinkerer, go ahead and do your own upgrade – it’s simple and easy. If you’re all about the content and don’t like to mess with the tech, all you need to do is plug in and you’re off and running.

FireCuda, meanwhile, represents the fastest, thinnest and lightest 2TB hard drive on the market today. Not only does it offer unmatched performance and capacity at a great price, it includes some great new technology we’re really excited about.

First, FireCuda uses 8GB of flash to enable lightning quick boot times, blazing application starts, and dominating game load speed. While we’re proud of this performance, we agree these are table stakes nowadays. Which is why we want to give you a quick peak under the hood, because that’s where this drive gets really interesting.

That 8GB of onboard flash? We designed new firmware that allows it to take over data storage and management for system tasks and applications-in-use, allowing the platters to spin down and cut your power consumption without sacrificing any performance. We’ve also developed highly sophisticated caching algorithms that continuously analyze how you use your system. These algorithms then get to work tweaking every aspect of FireCuda’s operations so that the drive is always perfectly synchronous with the unique way you work and play. We call it Multi-Tier Caching and it would be like owning a smart car that continuously tunes itself up as you drive – always performing at peak efficiency for the task at hand.

Both BarraCuda mobile and FireCuda are new entries in the recently launched Guardian SeriesTM of highly engineered storage solutions, which you can read more about on our web site. And while you’re at it, go ahead and do a Google search – we’re confident you’ll like what you see.

Oh… one more thing. BarraCuda mobile comes with a 2-year limited warranty and FireCuda is backed by an industry leading 5-year limited warranty. So we’ve got you covered if you ever have a problem. We hope you enjoy these new products. 

Seagate has not released any pricing on these units, neither an actual release date.