Computerworld - Seagate today released the next generation of three of its enterprise hard disk drive (HDD) lines. The new drives have capacities ranging from 1TB to 4TB.
The various offerings are aimed at multiple markets, including near-line storage, archiving and cloud bulk-data storage.
The new Constellation ES.3, the sixth generation of Seagate's 7200rpm, 3.5-in enterprise-class HDD, adds another terabyte of capacity at the high-end -- 4TB versus 3TB in the predecessor model.
As with the previous Constellation ES.2, the ES.3 comes with either a SAS or SATA (6Gbps) interface, and AES 256-bit or 128-bit encryption.
The new drive offers a 175MB/s sustained data rate transfer speed versus 155MB/s and a 1.4 MTBF versus 1.2 MTBF in the previous model. The Constellation ES.3 also uses 9% less power during idle times than the ES.2
The Constellation CS, which Seagate calls its enterprise value HDD, is a brand new 7200rpm, 3.5-in form-factor drive that offers from 1TB to 3TB of storage. The low-power device operates at under 6.4 watts while idle.
The Constellation CS offers up to 14% faster data transfer rates than Seagate's other 3.5-in 6Gpbs SATA drive - the Barracuda.
The Constellation CS's sustained data transfer rate ranges from 150MB/s to 180MB/s compared with the Barracuda's 155MB/s rate.
The new model also offers a MTBF of 800,000 hours versus 600,000 hours in the Barracuda and has enterprise-class error correction firmware. The drive comes with a 3-year warranty and enterprise-class support versus the 2-year warranty and standard support for the Barracuda.
The Constellation CS is aimed at nearline storage applications, that is, data storage that is not offline archive or primary storage. For example, Constellation drives would typically be used in virtual tape library appliances.
As with other Seagate enterprise drives, the Constellation CS offers native 256-bit AES encryption, with the ability to protect "sensitive" but unclassified data.
The new 2.5-in form factor Savvio 10K.6 10,000 rpm and 15,000 rpm Seagate Enterprise Capacity drives are positioned as a replacement for larger 3.5-in, 10,000 rpm Savvio 10K.5 drives.
The new 2.5-in version offers the same capacities as the previous iteration - from 146GB to 900GB - with lower power use and faster performance, Seagate said.
The Savvio 10K.6 delivers up to 21% more performance than the prior generation and matches the older drives sustained data transfer rates, Seagate said.
"This drive offers up to 900GB of storage in a small form factor, which is 50% more capacity using 70% less space than the highest capacity 3.5-in 15K drive. It also delivers a staggering power consumption reduction of up to 71% compared to 15K-RPM, 3.5-inch drives and up to 14% compared to the prior generation," Seagate said in a statement.
As with the previous drives, the Savvio 10K.6 also offers AES 128-bit and 256-bit encryption.
The drive is currently being reviewed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to determine whether it meets FIPS 140-2 Level-2 certification.
It's expected to be available by mid-2013.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at 
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. His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.
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