O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: Seagate

  • Rumor: Intel to bring Thunderbolt port to “first-tier” Windows PCs in April, 2012

    You were wondering when that rather-nifty Thunderbolt port would make its way to Windows PCs and thus spread the use of the technology?

    Well, now there’s something of an answer.

    Per DigiTimes, Intel has begun notifying PC makers that it will “fully release” the high-speed I/O in April 2012, according to a new report.

    Sources from within PC players have stated that “several first-tier” PC vendors are readying Thunderbolt-equipped motherboards, notebooks and desktop computers for release. Sony and Asus are expected to adopt the new technology, while Gigabyte technology will reportedly launch a Thunderbolt-capable motherboard in April of next year.

    According to the report, Intel cooperated with Apple exclusively this year in order to “speed up the standardization of Thunderbolt.” As interest in the technology has continued to grow, Intel has readied the technology for “public use.”

    Thunderbolt should see even further adoption in the second half of next year as related costs drop. Sources told the publication that the technology will be “standardized gradually in the future” as chip prices fall.

    In June, Sony was originally thought to have developed the first non-Mac Thunderbolt PC with its VAIO Z laptop and Power Media dock. However, it was later revealed that the company had used an early version of Intel’s technology that did not match the Thunderbolt standard.

    Apple partnered up with Intel to unveil the Thunderbolt I/O in its MacBook Pro lineup this February. The Mac maker quickly added the technology to its products, including the iMac, MacBook Air, Mac Mini and LED Display.

    Thunderbolt combines Intel’s “Light Peak” specification with Apple’s Mini DisplayPort to support transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps. The technology uses the PCI Express standard, allowing for a range of peripherals and functions.

    The first Thunderbolt peripherals, such as RAID systems and external drives arrived on the market throughout 2011, but high costs have reportedly been a barrier to companies looking to make Thunderbolt accessories.

    For its part, Intel claimed earlier this year that Thunderbolt has attracted “tremendous response from the industry,” touting more than twenty companies, including Belkin, Canon, Seagate, Western Digital and Adobe, interested in adding Thunderbolt support to their products.

    Also affecting Thunderbolt adoption is the growing presence of USB 3.0. HP, the world’s largest PC maker, has decided to go with USB 3.0 after not finding a “value proposition” with Thunderbolt. Intel has said it will support USB 3.0 alongside Thunderbolt, which is meant to be “complementary,” but some PC industry insiders have claimed that Thunderbolt could “greatly affect” adoption of the competing standard.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

  • iMac 2TB hard drive build-to-order delay reduced to 2-4 weeks

    Hang on a bit longer and you’ll get the 2-terabyte internal hard drive you want.

    Per AppleInsider, custom-built iMac desktops with 2-terabyte hard drives now have a shipping estimate of 2 to 4 weeks, suggesting Apple has seen its stock of high-capacity hard drives improve.

    The story broke a week ago that Apple’s build-to-order iMacs with 2TB hard drives had an estimated shipping time of 5 to 7 weeks. Though Apple didn’t comment on the situation, the lengthy and uncharacteristic delay was potentially the first sign of the company being hit by a lingering global hard drive shortage.

    But just a week later, shipping times for 2TB iMacs have already improved to between 2 and 4 weeks, indicating that any hard drive shortage seen by Apple may be short lived.

    While shipping times have improved, there is still quite a bit of a delay with an estimated 2 to 4 week shipping time. For example, a custom-built iMac with a 256GB solid-state drive has a shipping estimate of just 2 to 4 business days.

    Apple’s shipping time for desktops with higher-capacity hard drives may be a result of flooding in Thailand, which has caused disruption in the hard drive supply chain, including Western Digital and Seagate. About 14,000 factories have been shut down and more than 600,000 people were put out of work by the devastating floods.

    Western Digital announced last week that it had resumed hard drive production in Thailand. But industry watchers expect the industry-wide hard drive shortage to linger well into 2012.

    Just this week, IHS predicted that the flooding in Thailand would cause a shortfall of nearly 4 million total PC units in the first quarter of calendar 2012. The research firm also reduced its projected total PC sales in 2012 from 399 million to 376 million, partly due to the hard drive shortage, as well as weakening demand.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

  • Hitachi announces 4TB external hard drive unit, includes Thunderbolt port

    Following up on Seagate’s announcement of a 4TB external hard drive, Hitachi has introduced its own 4TB disk and is packing two of them inside a whopping 8TB G-RAID external case complete with Thunderbolt.

    Per Mac|Life, the company has placed two such drives inside a G-RAID casing and Thunderbolt I/O port on the outside. The company’s new 4TB-based G-RAID and single-drive G-DRIVE solutions will ship with Thunderbolt in the fourth quarter, but lovers of legacy I/O ports including eSATA, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 can get their mitts on one in October.

    G-RAID with Thunderbolt is billed as the highest capacity two-drive RAID 0 external storage device in the world, ready to use right out of the box with Mac OS X systems where it appears as a single, big and fast hard drive. (G-RAID also supports Windows systems with a simple reformat.)

    The company hasn’t announced any firm pricing for the new G-RAID with Thunderbolt, but interested consumers of big storage can stay tuned to the company’s website for more details in the near future.

  • Seagate releases 4TB FreeAgent GoFlex external hard drive

    This could prove useful.

    Per Mac|Life, the cool cats at Seagate have released the company’s latest GoFlex Desk external hard drive, which now tops out at a whopping 4TB for only US$249.

    Seagate has announced a new model of their popular FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive, which now maxes out at 4TB with a USB 3.0 (backward compatible with USB 2.0) connection for only US$249.99. The model is currently in stock and shipping now.

    The drive functions as a single 4TB hard drive in an external case, which the company is touting as an industry first.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available and if you’re able to get your mitts on one, please let us know what you make of it in the comments.

  • Apple initiates replacement program of 1TB Seagate hard drives for iMacs sold between May and July of 2011

    If you bought an iMac between May and July of this year, you might have a replacement hard drive coming your way.

    Per AppleInsider, Apple is recalling some Seagate 1TB hard drives used in iMac systems sold between May 2011 and July 2011 because of an unspecified failure issue.

    The program was initiated on Friday and affected iMac owners who provided an email during the product registration process are being contacted regarding the issue.

    “Apple has determined that a very small number of Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems, may fail under certain conditions. These systems were sold between May 2011 and July 2011,” the company said.

    Users who have not received an email from Apple can check the program’s web site to see if they are eligible for the replacement.

    The company offers three options for replacing the hard drives: Apple Retail Store, Apple Authorized Service Provider and Apple Technical Support.

    Apple recommends that customers take advantage of the replacement “as soon as possible.” Customers are also advised to back up their data prior to going in for service. They will also need to have the original OS installation discs that shipped with their product in order to reinstall the “operating system, other applications and any backed up data after your hard drive is replaced.”

    The program will run through July 23, 2012, at which time Apple will evaluate whether further extensions are needed. The recall does not extend the standard warranty coverage of the iMac.

    Apple released the current generation of iMacs in May, adding quad-core Sandy Bridge processors from Intel and the high-speed Thunderbolt input/output port. 1TB hard drives come standard on all but the entry-level model.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.