Digital Home Thoughts: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB Hard Drive Reviewed

"It was a big month for storage. Not only did Western Digital bring to the market the first 2TB consumer hard drive, but Seagate came to the game with another milestone: a two-platter 1TB drive. Both offerings contain 500GB platters, the highest platter density yet achieved. The Barracuda 7200.12 1TB is the first drive we've tested from the 12th generation of Seagate's 7,200rpm Barracuda line, and it's Seagate's best chance for a fresh start following the firmware issues that plagued its 7200.11 line."

High-density platters mean high-performance, and this new drive from Seagate doesn't dissapoint: the read and write speeds of the Barracuda 7200.12 drive get within striking distace of the very fast Western Digital Velociraptor. Sustained write speeds are 99.3 MB/s, and sustained read speeds break the 100 MB/s barrier. This is one fast drive - and when you consider that Amazon.com is selling them for $89.99 USD [Affiliate], it's a no-brainer if you're in need of a bigger hard drive. Or, even if you don't need more storage space but are using an older hard drive, you'd see a significant speed boost by upgrading to this drive. I've been guilty of holding onto "perfectly good" hard drives that have enough capacity for my needs, but are three or four generations behind in terms of technology - and that drags down performance. I think I might pick one of these up...