Seagate Launches 750GB Hard Drive

Seagate on Wednesday introduced its Barracuda 7200.10, the first computer desktop hard disk to reach the 750-gigabyte storage mark. The drive, with a retail price of $559 USD, is 50 percent larger than the previous 500-gigabyte marker leader.

Initially, the drive will be released to PC makers for inclusion in new computer systems. Starting next week, it will be introduced to the general public, Seagate said.

To put its size into perspective, the drive could hold 375 hours of standard-definition television or 75 hours of high-definition video. In music terms, it could hold 10,000 CDs converted to the MP3 format.

A technology called perpendicular recording is what has made possible one of the largest capacity jumps in the hard drive industry's history. Today's hard drives store data lengthwise across the hard disk platter. However, with storage demands increasing, that method is meeting its limitations.

Perpendicular recording drives store data like their name implies -- perpendicular to the disk platter. This method provides two benefits: First, data is able to be stacked closer together, allowing for higher capacity. Second, data is more easily accessible, thus allowing drives with faster data transfer rates.

These new drives will soon make it into consumer electronics as well. One of the most enticing uses of such capacity may be for the digital video recorder, allowing users to store more programming without having to worry about deleting it.

According to Seagate, perpendicular technology will make possible a 1-terabyte drive in the near future, although the company did not specify if it was attempting to produce one.