The Barracuda 7200.8 series packs more data on the hard-drive platters.
Seagate's latest PC hard drives can absorb up to 400 gigabytes of data. The Barracuda 7200.8 family, unveiled this week, includes 200GB, 250GB, 300GB and 400GB models for desktop PCs--up from a maximum of 200GB. The company said it increased the amount of data that the tiny platters inside each drive can hold. Resembling tiny record players, hard drives use one or more platters, which rotate while heads mounted on swing arms read or write data. The 7200.8 series uses 133GB-capacity platters, which spin at 7,200rpm for quicker data transfers.
The 7200.8 drives will hit retail stores this month, where the 400GB drive will range between about $300 and $400, depending on the interface it uses to transfer data inside a PC, a Seagate representative said.