New Seagate Barracuda LP Hard Drives Spin at 5900 RPM

Storage boss Seagate today adds a new line of hard drives, the Barracuda LP, to its existing Barracuda series. Barracuda LP stands for low-power and the whole line focuses on low-power, cool and quiet drives that come at an entry-level price. Barracuda LP drives are available in capacities of 2 TB, 1.5 TB and 1 TB and are ideal for desktop applications, such as USB, eSATA, low-power PCs, FireWire external storage, and SOHO NAS markets. All drives carry the latest 500 GB disk platters, 32 MB data buffers and special motors that spin not at the standard 5400 rpm but the rather unusual 5900 rpm. That moves the Barracuda LP drives somewhere between a 5400 and 7200 rpm in the performance chart, while being more energy efficient than normal drives. With this new motor, Seagate measured 3W power consumption at idle and 5.6W during load. Also improved are the noise levels, which now are rated at 19 dB and 20 dB for idle and seek. The suggested retail prices are $118 for the 1 TB Barracuda LP, $156 for the 1.5 TB model, and $358 for the 2 TB drive. Learn more here.