Seagate Technology and Western Digital Vie for Technology Supremacy

Seagate's Barracuda ATA V will take advantage of 60GB platters to offer 120GB on only two disks. The Barracuda ATA V will also offer a native Serial ATA interface, which is designed to replace the Parallel ATA interface. The drive will begin shipping this month with the Ultra ATA/100 interface and 2MB of cache. A drive with Serial ATA interface and 8MB cache will be available this fall. The Barracuda ATA V will feature Seagate's SoftSonic Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor, which helps the drive operate quietly.

Also in July, Western Digital will offer WD Caviar 60GB-per-platter 7200RPM hard disks ranging in capacity from 120GB to 200GB. Like Seagate's drive, Western Digital's drives will offer optional FDB motors to ensure quiet operation in noise-sensitive environments.