We mentioned perpendicular recording hard drives last year (read that link for technical details on PMR). Well, it’s not just a buzzword anymore. Hitachi recently announced 2.5″ models that utilize perpendicular recording, and now Seagate has leaked info on new SATA 750GB versions in their Barracuda line. Dude. Sweet.

Seagate claims an access time of 4.16ms, and 78 Mbytes/sec maximum sustained transfer rate. That is pretty damn fast. Fast enough to wonder if they are padding the stats. We shall soon see…

This is the first fullsize (3.5″) drive to support vertical-bit storage (i.e. perpendicular recording). And the advantages of perpendicular storage are immediately evident…it’s 750GB in a single drive! Bear in mind of course that due to the totally incompatible way an OS sees drive space vs the way drive space is marketed, your ACTUAL net capacity on a 750GB drive is a lot closer to 700GB. Not that I’m
complaining or anything…

(Via Slashdot)