Seagate Ships 4 TB-class Hard Drives with 1 TB Per Platter Density

Seagate reportedly began shipping the industry's first 4 TB-class hard drives with 1 TB per platter density. Slotted in the company's Barracuda 7200.15 series, the drive provides 4000 GB of unformatted space, backed by 7,200 RPM spindle-speed, 64 MB buffer, and SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The drive is said to provide sequential speeds as high as 146 MB/s, with the 6 Gb/s interface enhancing buffer-to-host burst speeds. When it reaches stores, the OEM trim (drive-only) can be purchased for as low as US $190, and the retail version (boxed, with cables and documentation), for $212. At these prices, Seagate is claiming the lowest price-per-GB for any internal storage device in the industry. The terabyte platter technology should also make it possible for Seagate to launch a 5-platter 5000 GB hard drive soon.