Seagate BarraCuda 6Gb SATA 2.5-Inch Up to 2TB SSD, Not Really Impressive

Expanding the BarraCuda portfolio of products, Seagate Technology LLC announced its BarraCuda SSD designed to take data to the next level of speed, dependability and versatility with its flash-speed performance and 6Gb SATA interface.

With this launch, the company continues to build on the evolution of its storage capabilities, now offering a range of HDD, hybrid and SSD solutions for the everyday computer user to PC system architects and professionals.

BarraCuda SSD provides performance for range of applications:

Speed: Designed to maximize drive performance and equipped with flash-speed function up to 560MB/s and 90,000 IO/s that accelerates boost-time, file transfers and application loading, the BarraCuda SSD provides the desired capabilities for nearly every compute need and provides a first-rate solution for every budget.
Dependability: 5-year warranty, 1.8 million hour MTBF, up to 1,092TBW with 24-hr global technical support.
Versatility: The BarraCuda SSD offers versatility with multiple capacity options (250, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB) and a standard 2.5″ form factor with 6Gb SATA interface to enable users to integrate into most laptops and desktop PCs. Optimized for capacity and equipped with low power mode support for reduced power consumption, performance seekers can rest assured that the BarraCuda SSD will deliver quality and performance.

The product will be available on Amazon exclusively starting on Prime Day 2018, prior to availability in September 2018.

UK pricing is as follows:

BarraCuda SSD 250GB – £74.99
BarraCuda SSD 500GB – £109.99
BarraCuda SSD 1TB – £229.99
BarraCuda SSD 2TB – £449.99

Comments

This 6Gb SATA SSD from Seagate is not impressive for two reasons:

1/ It's a relatively low capacity drive compared with several competitors also in 6Gb SATA units: for example Intel and Toshiba at 3,84TB, Memsspro at 5TB, TeleCommunication Systems at 6.4TB, Micron at 7,68TB, Cactus, Foremay, Integral Memory, Novachips, Samsung and Smart High Reliability Solutions at 8TB, and Fexstars at 13TB, even if there is a need for relative low-cost units for consumer PCs.

2/ 6Gb SATA as well as 6GB SAS will progressively completely disappear in favor of much faster PCIe NVMe interface.

Seagate, leader of the worldwide HDD market in par with Western Digital and in front of Toshiba, is betting on its large market share of 6Gb SATA HDDs to be replaced by its new device.

Furthermore, it's always a handicap for a company to have two products (HSS and SDD) in competition in its portfolio.

We doubt that Seagate will dramatically increase its tiny market share in SSDs, not even being listed by Trendfocus in the first ten companies in the world.

For its quarter ended March 2018, 'enterprise systems, flash and others' all together represent only 8% of its global revenue, and decreasing 12% Y/Y.

The firm never was a significant actor in this field in which it invests about nothing in term of acquisitions and not being able to buy SanDisk.

Its investment of $1.26 billion in Toshiba Memory Corp., to counter rival Western Digital, is nevertheless a good one, to get flash chips as a privileged buyer and probably at good prices.