Seagate's 250GB Momentus 5400.4 laptop

nisman · 21-03-2008, 02:58 AM

Responding to expanding demand for desktop and notebook PCs that deliver the highest levels of storage capacity with state-of-the-art security, Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) today announced a 1 terabyte (TB) desktop hard drive that uses government-grade encryption to prevent desktop PC information from falling into the wrong hands, as well as a new 250GB 2.5-inch notebook hard drive.
“Data security has traditionally focused on preventing spoofing, sniffing, eavesdropping, denial-of-service and other threats to data traversing corporate networks and the Internet,” said Tom Major, Seagate vice president of Personal Compute Business. “Now that these networks have been hardened and are much more resistant to attack, computer thugs are increasingly targeting the place where data lives – on the hard drive. Seagate is answering this threat with the strongest security available for desktop PC information.”
The Barracuda FDE (full disc encryption) hard drive is the world’s first 3.5-inch desktop PC drive with native encryption to prevent unauthorized access to data on lost or stolen hard drives or systems. Using AES encryption, a government-grade security protocol and the strongest that is commercially available, The Barracuda FDE hard drive delivers endpoint security for powered-down systems. Logging back on requires a pre-boot user password that can be buttressed with other layers of authentication such as smart cards and biometrics.
Offered in capacities up to 1TB, this 7,200-rpm encrypting desktop PC hard drive also gives organizations an easy, cost-effective way to repurpose or retire desktop computers without compromising sensitive information and to conform to the growing number of data privacy laws calling for the protection of consumer information using government-grade encryption.
Today, business PCs are frequently repurposed when employees leave or new systems are issued, requiring IT managers to repeatedly wipe the hard drive clean of information to prevent the misappropriation of sensitive data. The process can take hours and is far from full-proof. With Seagate FDE drives, all hard drive information can be easily erased and the data rendered unreadable by simply deleting the encryption key for safe, fast repurposing or disposal.
Built with the same Seagate DriveTrust Technology that powers Momentus 5400 FDE.2 hard drives, the world’s first notebook disc drive with built-in encryption, Barracuda FDE provides the optimal balance of capacity, performance and security. DriveTrust delivers new levels of simplicity, transparency and cost-effectiveness for securing digital information. The Seagate security platform automatically protects data stored throughout the drive, not just selected partitions or files, and its security functions operate independently of the hard drive, preserving the hard drive’s full performance. DriveTrust Technology also offers these benefits:

With DriveTrust, secure hard drives are as easy to install and operate as standard drives. The security capabilities run transparently within the drive with no need for additional configuration. Set up can be as simple as creating a password for user authentication.
Drive-level security requires no patches, updates or upgrades, eliminating many of the costs associated with traditional software solutions. DriveTrust Technology hard drives free IT organizations from having to distribute software updates or manage software versions, ensuring consistent and reliable security for data at rest.
Information stored on DriveTrust drives can be quickly erased, making it easy to re-deploy and retire the drives and reducing the time and costs traditionally associated with overwriting and erasing disc data.
DriveTrust Technology gives independent software vendors (ISVs) a platform for building stronger security applications. The DriveTrust Technology software developer kit (SDK) includes the documentation and tools necessary to build DriveTrust Technology-enabled applications such as access controls needed to manage encryption keys, passwords and other forms of authentication for large deployments.

Momentus 5400.4 – Delivering high capacity and throughput for laptop computing
As explosive growth of laptop PCs continues, more users want all the capabilities of a desktop PC, including high capacity, great performance and strong shock resistance for the power of desktop computing on-the-go. The Momentus 5400.4 hard drive, the industry’s only second-generation notebook drive to use capacity-boosting perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology, combines up to 250GB of capacity with a super-speedy Serial ATA 3.0 Gbit/second interface.

This 2.5-inch, 5400-rpm little giant delivers 250GB of capacity on just two platters and is tough to the core. Seagate’s newest notebook drive packs industry-leading operating and non-operating shock resistance of 325 Gs and 900 Gs, respectively, making it ideal for systems that are subject to rough handling or high levels of vibration. The entire series of Momentus hard drives is lean on power consumption, allowing notebook users to work longer between battery charges, and are virtually inaudible thanks to Seagate’s innovative SoftSonic fluid-dynamic bearing motors and QuietStep ramp load technology.
Momentus 5400.4 is designed for a wide range of systems including mainstream notebook PCs, workstations, external storage enclosures and small form factor desktop PCs.
Availability
Momentus 5400.4 is expected to ship to system builders and original equipment manufacturers in the fourth quarter of calendar 2007, and Barracuda FDE is on track to ship in 2008. The drives exemplify Seagate’s continuing leadership in delivering cutting-edge storage technologies that are core to the explosive growth of digital information worldwide