Seagate unleashes 'world's first' 3TB external desktop drive

[soybean]

"For the serious digital archivers out there, Seagate has just unveiled the FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive with a new capacity of 3TB of storage space to fill as you please." 

Article continued at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/seagate-unleashes-worlds-first-3tb-external-desktop-drive/16049

[rthompson80819]

Anybody have an idea why it is released as an external drive?  It seems like something that you would put in a server as an internal drive.

[BC_Programmer]

Anybody have an idea why it is released as an external drive?  It seems like something that you would put in a server as an internal drive.

Servers have had much larger capacities for quite some time, in the area of around 16-32 TB, I believe. (probably smaller, but still larger then a consumer drive)
but those are almost always SCSI and certainly out of the price range of the average consumer.

[wbrost]

actually 2 TB is the largest drive you can get for a server. It is even smaller if you are wanting speed over storage (SAS over SATA). Most of the large storage used by servers are 500GB 10,000 k SAS drives in a 5 - 10 drive array. This will be nice when it hits full use by groups like Dell. Currently the largest storage enclosure offered by Dell is there 96TB Equlogic. But that is achieved by only 2TB SATA drives in a massive 48 drive enclosure.   

[Computer Hope Admin]

I continue to be amazed on how cheap the drives continue to be. So amazing that this 3TB solution is $249.99.

[rthompson80819]

I spent twice that much for the first hard drive I got, and it was only 10 MB (for the younger viewers, that M is not a typo).

[patio]

I still rember a buck a MG drives....

[kpac]

I continue to be amazed on how cheap the drives continue to be. So amazing that this 3TB solution is $249.99.

Having said that you'd get 3 1TB HDs for $200. Not really great value.

[soybean]

Having said that you'd get 3 1TB HDs for $200. Not really great value.

Where can could get 3 1TB HDs for $200? 

And, keep in mind that 3 1TB HDs takes up more space and USB ports and a single 3TB HD.

[kpac]

I've seen a few 1TB HDs for around $70-$80 each.

[BC_Programmer]

Where can could get 3 1TB HDs for $200? 

NewEgg, TigerDirect, etc.

kpac is referring to Internal hard drives; since there is literally no difference. a External hard drive, no matter how you slice it, is always an internal hard drive thrown in an enclosure. Same with external Floppy drives and SuperDisk drives. That is why I find it outrageous that you can often pay almost 50% more for what amounts to a few flaps of metal or plastic and a cheap circuit board to perform the adaptation between SATA/IDE to USB/Firewire/whatever. you can get sturdy enclosures for 20-40 dollars that are often a lot better then the externals many companies sell, not to mention that you can choose exactly what goes inside.

Actually, this brings up an important point. We don't know that the 3GB external drive doesn't actually have 3 1TB drives, 2 1.5TB drives, or a single 3TB drive (as we are all assuming). I'm apt to think it's one of the first two, especially since it's snugly sized to fit exactly two 3-1/2" hard drives.

[soybean]

... We don't know that the 3GB external drive doesn't actually have 3 1TB drives, 2 1.5TB drives, or a single 3TB drive (as we are all assuming). I'm apt to think it's one of the first two, especially since it's snugly sized to fit exactly two 3-1/2" hard drives.

I see no reason to think they are doing such a deceptive tactic with the 3 TB HD.  And, I don't believe that the 3 TB drive housing is quite large enough to hold 2 standard sized 3.5 inch hard drives.  The FreeAgent® GoFlex™ Desk External Drives come in 1, 2, or 3 TB capacities and they all have the same outer dimensions.

Also, according to a comment on http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1719775/seagate-external-3tb-hard-drive-tips, "Seagate Unit Is ONE HDD, With 6 500 GB Platters."

[Salmon Trout]

"Seagate Unit Is ONE HDD, With 6 500 GB Platters."

This is last year's "latest technology". Way back in February TDK (who mass produce platters and sell them to HDD manufacturers) announced they were moving from 500 GB per platter to 640 GB per platter. That meant that a 3 TB drive will only need 5 platters.