Seagate has launched a new BarraCuda drive which offers the biggest capacity you can currently get for an external HDD, alongside a fresh FireCuda model which is targeted at gamers boasting speedy performance levels.
For those who want the most space to cart about their photos, videos, documents, presentations or other files, the new mobile BarraCuda drive has no less than a 5TB capacity.
Built with Seagate’s new 2.5-inch 1TB platters, the BarraCuda model is available in a 15mm form factor for external drives. However, it’s also being supplied in a much thinner 7mm form as an internal disk to upgrade your svelte laptop with – although in this case, the maximum size drive is 2TB.
You get a two-year warranty with the mobile BarraCuda drive.
Fiery performer
Moving on to the FireCuda, Seagate notes that this is the thinnest and lightest hard disk ever made when it comes to 2TB offerings. The drive is a hybrid with 8GB of flash on-board to help speed up booting and level loading times for gamers, but this isn’t just any old cache.
It uses a system the company calls ‘multi-tier caching’ which basically means the drive analyses how you use your PC, and tweaks itself intelligently to maximise performance gains based on your most-used apps or games.
Seagate also says its firmware lets the drive take the reins of data storage and management for system tasks and running apps, meaning it can let platters spin down and optimise power efficiency without having any negative effect on performance. That’s particularly handy for laptop users of course, because any drop of battery juice saved is a win.
The FireCuda drives are backed by a weighty five-year warranty and come in 2.5-inch models aimed at laptops with capacities of 500GB, 1TB and 2TB, and 3.5-inch flavours with capacities of 1TB and 2TB.
Also in the world of storage today, Western Digital introduced some new SSDs signalling its fresh ambitions in the solid-state arena.
- Here’s our top 10 of the best external hard drives
