Seagate Ships Industry's Easiest To Deploy 3TB Desktop Drive To Overcome 2TB Barrier

[btarunr]

Seagate today began shipments of the industry’s most elegant, easy-to-install 3TB desktop drive – the Barracuda XT hard drive – a product that eliminates the need to purchase extra hardware or software to overcome the 2TB barrier. The Barracuda XT hard drive delivers the highest available capacity for home servers and workstations, high-definition video editing and production systems, high-performance PC gaming systems and desktop PCs.

Legacy PC BIOS designs and device drivers and older operating systems such as Windows XP are incapable of using hard drive capacities beyond 2.1TB. The upshot is that existing desktop drives with more than 2.1TB of storage capacity must be deployed with additional software or hardware and may also require extra device drivers to overcome this limitation.



The Barracuda XT hard drive with free Seagate DiscWizard software is a complete, easy-to-deploy solution. DiscWizard software makes it simple to configure the computer operating system and device drivers to access the full 3TB of capacity on legacy systems using Windows XP and PC BIOS and on personal computers equipped with newer versions of Windows or the new UEFI BIOS. The new DiscWizard software is available for free download here.

“Seagate is squarely focused on delivering the storage performance, capacity and innovation to ensure that technology transitions remain seamless for our customers,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president of sales, marketing and customer service. “The Barracuda XT hard drive epitomizes our commitment to providing end-user customers and PC manufacturers with the world’s most advanced storage solutions.”

The Barracuda XT hard drive combines a 64MB cache that optimizes burst performance in cache-intensive applications such as PC gaming and nonlinear video editing with Serial ATA 6Gb/s – an interface that delivers the highest system throughput – to enable the highest performance available in a desktop hard drive. The 3.5-inch, 7200RPM drive’s 3TB of storage capacity gives desktop PC users the most space ever available for videos, games, photos and files.

The Barracuda XT 3TB hard drive launch comes only months after Seagate introduced the Barracuda Green hard drive, another Seagate desktop drive that streamlines technology transitions to simplify drive installations for PC makers and consumers. The eco-friendly Barracuda Green hard drive features Seagate’s SmartAlign technology to enable all the benefits of the new 4K sector standard while simplifying drive installation. SmartAlign technology works by eliminating the need for utilities often required to ensure optimum drive performance.

[pr0n Inspector]

As expected from Seagate. It's disk not disc.

[Breathless]

Originally Posted by pr0n Inspector

As expected from Seagate. It's disk not disc.

huh?

[cheesy999]

Originally Posted by Breathless

huh?

Originally Posted by btarunr

The Barracuda XT hard drive with free Seagate DiscWizard software is a complete, easy-to-deploy solution. DiscWizard software makes it simple to configure the computer operating system and device drivers to access the full 3TB of capacity on legacy systems using Windows XP and PC BIOS and on personal computers equipped with newer versions of Windows or the new UEFI BIOS. The new DiscWizard software is available for free download here.

It says Discwizard

[Breathless]

Originally Posted by cheesy999

It says Discwizard

It sure does....

[Jack Doph]

Originally Posted by cheesy999

It says Discwizard

Which is correct.
"Disk" is the common misspelling for HDD, whereas 'disk' was originally a reference to 'diskette', which this of course is not.

[pr0n Inspector]

Originally Posted by Jack Doph

Which is correct.
"Disk" is the common misspelling for HDD, whereas 'disk' was originally a reference to 'diskette', which this of course is not.

Wrong. "Disk" devices was in use long before the invention of floppy disk. They've been called "disk" form the very beginning. "disc" is an alternative spelling of the same word, but in the tech world it is used to differentiate optical media from magnetic media.

[Jack Doph]

Originally Posted by pr0n Inspector

Wrong. "Disk" devices was in use long before the invention of floppy disk. They've been called "disk" form the very beginning. "disc" is an alternative spelling of the same word, but in the tech world it is used to differentiate optical media from magnetic media.

It's really quite academic, as both are acceptable.
The reason disc was used is a reference to the Latin discus - the shape of the item in question.
However, in this instance, DiscWizard is still the right spelling.
Why get hung-up about it?

[pr0n Inspector]

Originally Posted by Jack Doph

It's really quite academic, as both are acceptable.
The reason disc was used is a reference to the Latin discus - the shape of the item in question.
However, in this instance, DiscWizard is still the right spelling.
Why get hung-up about it?

1. It's a tool for hard disk drives, not CDs or DVDs or Blu-Ray. (What does "hard drive" even means?)
2. Seagate is American.
3. I can be very anal.

[Jack Doph]

Originally Posted by pr0n Inspector

1. It's a tool for hard disk drives, not CDs or DVDs or Blu-Ray. (What does "hard drive" even means?)
2. Seagate is American.
3. I can be very anal.

LOL!
OK, point taken xD


EDIT: I should have written lmao. Cos I ended up in a coughing fit of laughter (in the good sense) xD

[Completely Bonkers]

I don't want a 3TB drive... this is going to cause all kind of setup and driver headaches on my "legacy" systems. Nope, I don't want to have to install disckwizzard to get my drive to work. However, I'm really happy they have been launched... it should help the price of 2TB drives come down! And running in "2.1GB mode", ie without the drivers, it might even be faster due to the higher areal density. I would rather Seagate (who are well behind on SSD tech) started developing HYBRID drives, with a SSD partition and a HDD partition in the same device. GREAT for laptops. A 32GB SSD partition would be good for the OS, and a 250GB HDD for the D: drive for data and games, etc.

[SvB4EvA]

Originally Posted by pr0n Inspector

Wrong. "Disk" devices was in use long before the invention of floppy disk. They've been called "disk" form the very beginning. "disc" is an alternative spelling of the same word, but in the tech world it is used to differentiate optical media from magnetic media.

This was always my understanding of it too. I was actually going to comment on it till I saw your post, lol

I dont think this will bring down prices of smaller drives. Seems HDDs have just hit a point where it costs the same to buy a 700GB or 2TB drive.

Considering WDs 3TB drive is $300+ and their other drives prices have not changed I dont expect a price drop from Seagate either.

[aj28]

I believe the correct usage is "hard disk" versus "optical disc," but when considering the way language is developed, I'm not going to fret about it. If enough people say it, it becomes true.

[H82LUZ73]

Originally Posted by pr0n Inspector

1. It's a tool for hard disk drives, not CDs or DVDs or Blu-Ray. (What does "hard drive" even means?)
2. Seagate is American.
3. I can be very anal.

lol if you looked at the drive it is a disc inside it not a disk as you claim ......silly dude with pot .....

[pr0n Inspector]

Originally Posted by H82LUZ73

lol if you looked at the drive it is a disc inside it not a disk as you claim ......silly dude with pot .....

Go find a dictionary.

[brandonwh64]

DISC

A disc refers to optical media, such as an audio CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVD-Video disc. Some discs are read-only (ROM), others allow you to burn content (write files) to the disc once (such as a CD-R or DVD-R, unless you do a multisession burn), and some can be erased and rewritten over many times (such as CD-RW, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM discs).

All discs are removable, meaning when you unmount or eject the disc from your desktop or Finder, it physically comes out of your computer.
Disks

DISK

A disk refers to magnetic media, such as a floppy disk, the disk in your computer's hard drive, an external hard drive. Disks are always rewritable unless intentionally locked or write-protected. You can easily partition a disk into several smaller volumes, too.

Disks are usually sealed inside a metal or plastic casing (often, a disk and its enclosing mechanism are collectively known as a "hard drive").

[SvB4EvA]

Originally Posted by brandonwh64

DISC

A disc refers to optical media, such as an audio CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, or DVD-Video disc. Some discs are read-only (ROM), others allow you to burn content (write files) to the disc once (such as a CD-R or DVD-R, unless you do a multisession burn), and some can be erased and rewritten over many times (such as CD-RW, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM discs).

All discs are removable, meaning when you unmount or eject the disc from your desktop or Finder, it physically comes out of your computer.
Disks

DISK

A disk refers to magnetic media, such as a floppy disk, the disk in your computer's hard drive, an external hard drive. Disks are always rewritable unless intentionally locked or write-protected. You can easily partition a disk into several smaller volumes, too.

Disks are usually sealed inside a metal or plastic casing (often, a disk and its enclosing mechanism are collectively known as a "hard drive").

Word.

I don't know, but any drive over 1TB should come with something better than S.M.A.R.T. for data integrity monitoring. Personally I find a little stressful to have 3TB of important data, and suddenly loose all when HDD is failing...
An advertise system included in HDD's hardware should be installed just to worn the user that something is not right. Supposedly SMART should be able to do that, but so far I haven't seen at one disk to do that...

[TheGuruStud]

You don't need monitoring software to know that a seagate is going to fail. Just wait a few weeks.

[Loosenut]

Originally Posted by TheGuruStud

You don't need monitoring software to know that a seagate is going to fail. Just wait a few weeks.

[SvB4EvA]

Originally Posted by TheGuruStud

You don't need monitoring software to know that a seagate is going to fail. Just wait a few weeks.

lol... I have only bought one Seagate drive and it was because a had a WD that just totally died with out warning after about a year and a half. I almost cried losing all that data. To be fair tho, I also have 2 other WD drives that are still running fine and they are 10 and 6 years old, but rarely used.

I must say, the Seagate has lasted as a primary drive with heavy daily use for ~8 years, and I still have it installed for low priority storage and its still kickin' after a total of 10+ years.

I was just in the market for a new backup/storage drive in the 2TB flavor and ALMOST bought a WD until I remembered back to that dreadful day. I decided to give Samsung a try this time.

[Delta6326]

Now im not to up to date on this stuff... but wouldn't it be easier for the company to do a 2Tb partition and then the rest on another partition?

[SvB4EvA]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

Now im not to up to date on this stuff... but wouldn't it be easier for the company to do a 2Tb partition and then the rest on another partition?

Yes, but anyone can buy a 3TB drive and make a 1TB partition on it, that's not the point here. I don't know of any drive maker that makes drives with partitions on them from the factory either, at least not for the general public.

The point of this is to have legacy hardware/software be able to utilize the full 3TB of drive space with out having separate volumes.

You may be wondering "Who cares about older software/hardware and who uses them?", but the fact is that many (I forget the percentage) businesses and home users still use Windows XP and would love to have the extra TB of space on a single volume.

Seems Seagate has provided them with this ability.