Seagate Launches FireCuda SSHDs: Up to 2 TB, SMR, 8 GB of NAND
by Anton Shilov on October 21, 2016 2:01 PM ESTSeagate has officially introduced its fifth-generation solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs) under the FireCuda brand name. They have a thinner form-factor compared to previous-gen solutions. The drives use Seagate’s 1 TB SMR platters as well as the company’s multi-tier cache technology. The FireCuda 2.5” are the first SSHDs to use shingled magnetic recording (SMR).
The Seagate FireCuda 2.5” family will offer 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB capacities and will be compatible with both desktops and thin laptops, thanks to its 7 mm z-height (down from 9.5 mm in case of the Laptop SSHD drives). To a large extent, the Seagate FireCuda SSHDs resemble the recently announced BarraCuda 2.5” HDDs: the drives are also based on the 1 TB SMR platters which have an areal density of more than 1.3 Tb/in2 (note that the areal density of the FireCuda products is higher compared to that of BarraCuda devices). They feature 5400 RPM spindle speed and come with 128 MB of DRAM cache buffer. The maximum transfer rate and average latency for the BarraCuda 2.5” and FireCuda 2.5” are the same: 140 MB/s and 5.6 ms.
Seagate FireCuda 2.5" SSHDs | |||||
2 TB | 1 TB | 500 GB | |||
NAND | 8 GB MLC | ||||
Platters/Heads | 2/4 | 1/2 | |||
Spindle Speed | 5400 RPM | ||||
Cache | 128 MB + multi-tier caching technology | ||||
Transfer Rate | 140 MB/s | ||||
Avg Latency | 5.6 ms | ||||
Areal Density | 1327 Gb/in² avg | ||||
Recording Density | 2296 Kb/in avg | ||||
Track Density | 580 Ktracks/inch avg | ||||
Idle Power | 0.5 W | 0.45 W | |||
Read/Write Power | 1.7/1.8 W | 1.6/1.7 W | |||
Interface | SATA 6 Gbps | ||||
Form-Factor | 2.5"/7 mm | ||||
Model Number | ST2000LX001 | ST1000LX015 | ST500LX025 |
The differentiating aspect of the FireCuda SSHDs is their 8 GB NAND buffer. It caches data from frequently used sectors to enable faster boot times and shorter load times for certain applications. Therefore, when it comes to real-world performance, FireCuda 2.5” SSHDs should provide better performance compared to the BarraCuda 2.5” HDDs. However, it is unknown how the FireCuda 2.5” drive stack up against the Laptop SSHDs based on PMR platters. Seagate has not revealed whether the new FireCuda SSHDs use a new caching algorithm compared to the previous-gen hybrid hard drives, but this is certainly a possibility given the use of SMR platters. As before, the company says that the algorithm is continuously trying to optimize performance of FireCuda SSHDs.
Seagate has started to ship the FireCuda drives to its customers, but has not listed official prices or market availability dates. The latter depends on retailers and/or PC makers. Seagate tells us that the FireCuda 2.5" 2 TB will cost around $100, but the supply/demand situation is bound to affect that pricing. Meanwhile, Amazon offers the FireCuda 2.5" 1 TB for $70. All of the previous-gen Laptop SSHDs ended up in retail, so, it is a question of time before the whole FireCuda 2.5" family will be up for grabs. One of the advantages of Seagate’s hybrid drives is their five-year warranty, which is longer than that of typical HDDs.
Source: Seagate
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ImSpartacus - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
I know, right?I'm betting that the drives aren't sophisticated enough to properly cache the right things and maintain consistent healthy performance.
I mean, you're caching the entire OS and several apps with 128gb. Seagate's tech probably just isn't good enough to justify the additional cost and they know it. There's no way someone hasn't internally tested such a drive.
michael2k - Monday, October 31, 2016 - link
Even so, these drives still boast 3x better performance than normal spinning discs:http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_laptop_sshd_1...
80mb/s in the middle of a gaming session isn't terrible. A standard seagate drive only gets 26mb/s:
http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_mobile_hdd_re...
chrcoluk - Monday, December 31, 2018 - link
thats an older gen model tho, has SLC and isnt SMR.zodiacfml - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
LOL. WD can beat them to this.philehidiot - Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - link
*Checks size of Windows 7 folder*Hmm... Just the Windows folder, which you'd want on the SSD side, is 12GB on this system.
Yeh, this is certifiably shite.
Robert Pankiw - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Is there any news on the details of the NAND? Everyone is always saying that 8GBs is too little (I entirely agree) but what about things like technical specs of that NAND? Is it some planar MLC bargain bin stuff? Let the manufacturers know we care about this sort of product, maybe they will take a hint that there is an unserved market!CaedenV - Saturday, October 22, 2016 - link
if they added more they wouldn't have to be so worried about endurance...name99 - Saturday, October 22, 2016 - link
If they're so cheap as to use only 8GB, you can bet your life it is the lousiest, lowest quality, USB2-flash-drive-quality flash they could lay their hands on...Clearly quality engineering was not driving the design.
Lolimaster - Sunday, October 23, 2016 - link
Lasts hybrid drives had a shi*tty mlc, nand, for 8GB don't expect anything better even if its 2016.With quality 500GB SSD prices, these type of products are DOA.
Morawka - Friday, October 21, 2016 - link
Moar Nand Please, 8GB won't even fit photoshop CC onto the nand for fast operation