14 DAY TRIAL // Seagate plans to release a 300GB Cheetah 3.5in drive rotating at 15,000rpm. The Cheetah 15K.5 will be a four-platter drive using perpendicular recording to achieve its capacity, the first 3.5in unit to use the technology.
The drive holds twice as much data as the previous Cheetah 15,000rpm drive, and transfers data up to 30 percent faster, Seagate has claimed. The company says it is the first drive to go past a transfer rate of 100MBps (megabytes per second).
A two-platter version will offer 147GB and a one-platter model - 73GB.
Perpendicular recording technology involves placing magnetized areas on disk vertically in the recording layer, instead of longitudinally. It also means more data can be recorded in the same space.
Seagate already offers perpendicular recording on its 2.5inch drives. The technology has now been extended to its 3.5inch line. General availability is reckoned to start in June. No pricing information is available yet.