The Seagate Barracuda is a series of hard disk drives and later solid state drives produced by Seagate Technology that was first introduced in 1993.
The line initially focused on high-capacity, high-performance SCSI hard drives until introducing ATA models in 1999 and SATA models in 2002. Since 2001, the Barracuda is Seagate's most popular product line as the hard disk drive industry started to move to a 7200 RPM spindle speed.
History In 1992, Seagate introduced the first ever 7200-RPM spindle speed hard drive, the Barracuda 1, sold in capacity of 1.7 GB with a size of 3.5 inches. The first model was much thicker than modern 3.5 drives at 1.6 inches(42mm) thick compared to 1 inch for standard 3.5(26mm) drives. The barracuda 2LP(low profile) was the first 7200rpm drive released in early 1994 to use the slimmer 26mm 3.5 form factor just like modern drives. It contained 6 platters inside storing 2GB in total which is large for a drive in 1994.
On July 24, 1995, Seagate shipped its one millionth Barracuda hard drive.
On November 13, 2000, Seagate launched the Barracuda 180 series, it had the world's highest capacity hard drives at the time, with 181 GB. It was the last to ever use the thicker 42mm Half Height Z height as it contained 12 platters inside for maximum capacity.
On December 3, 2001, Seagate introduced the Barracuda 36ES2 series, one of the last Barracuda SCSI series.
On December 2, 2002, Seagate began shipping the first ever Serial ATA hard drive, the Barracuda 7200.7 series. Their Serial ATA hard drives were made available for retail consumers on March 24, 2003.
SCSI Models Barracuda 1 & 2 In 1993, Seagate released the first Barracuda drive, with the ST11950. The drive had a capacity of 2.03 GB (1.69 GB formatted), was available with FAST SCSI-2 (N/ND models) or WIDE SCSI-2 (W/WD models) interface, and was the first hard drive ever to have a spindle speed of 7200-RPM. Owing to the rotational speed, it was very fast but very expensive at the time. The FAST SCSI-2 interface of the N/ND model drives targeted them to servers and high-performance systems, with a 10 MB/s transfer speed. They came in a 3.5 inch "half height" format that was popular at the time, giving it a height of 1.63 inches or 41.4 mm. The drives came with a 5-year warranty, 500,000 hour Mean Time Between Failures rating, and a 4.17 msec latency.barracuda 3.5 inch family, half-height Bus speeds of the original Barracuda line would soon go up to 100 Mbit/s by 1995, even as capacity increased substantially in the first four iterations of the Barracuda.
The Barracuda 1 series was immediately followed up by the Barracuda 2 series, which were the same for the most part except they offered a slightly higher capacity of 2.57 GB (2.1 GB formatted). There was an additional ST12450 model available, which offered 2 heads in parallel which meant it had two read and write channels at once, but it offered a slightly lower capacity of 1.8 GB. It was based on the Seagate Sabre 8" and Seagate Elite 5.25" lines of hard disk drives.
Barracuda 4 The third generation Barracuda drive announced October 18th, 1993, with an expected release in the following year. Capacity was increased up to 4.1 GB formatted, but the drives were otherwise mostly the same to the Barracuda 1 & 2. 6 models were available, with N/ND models using the SCSI-2 FAST interface with 10 MB/s transfer speed while the W/WD/WC/DC used the SCSI-2 WIDE interface, which offered 20 MB/s speed.
Barracuda 180 In late 2000, Seagate introduced the Barracuda 180 series with the ST1181677LW and ST1181677LC. They were the highest capacity hard drives in the world at the time. They had 12 platters with about 15 GB per platter, adding up to 181 GB. The 12 platters made the drive larger than most drives at the time, with 1.6 inches in height. They had Tagged Command Queuing with up to 64 commands and a MTBF rating of 1.2 million hours, or 137 years. The drive has a 26–47 MB/s transfer speed with the Ultra160 SCSI interface, and an average access time of 12.1 ms with 4 MB of on-board cache. On release the drives cost $1,850.
Later Seagate replaced the base models with the ST1181677LWV and ST1181677LCV, they had 16 MB of on-board cache versus 4, and were hot-swappable if they had the right cable connection, but were otherwise the same.
The series was discontinued in early 2004.
Barracuda 36ES The last SCSI Barracuda series was announced in December 2001, with the Barracuda 36ES2 series. The series was a successor to the Barracuda 36ES series. 4 models were available in 2 capacities. The ST318418N and ST318438LW had 18.4 GB while the ST336918N and ST336938LW had 36.9 GB, with 2 MB of on-board cache. Both capacity drives used one platter, with the 18.4 GB ones using one side of the platter. These drives were given an MTBF rating of 800,000 hours, 4.17 msec latency, and a transfer rate of 298 to 500 Mbit/s for 36.9 GB models and 434 to 500 Mbit/s for 18.4 GB models.
SCSI Models Table Model no.Gen.ReleasedPriceCapacity (Formatted)CacheSpeedInterfaceFeature setSector Size (Default)NotesInformationST11950N/ND119931.69 GB1 MB7200 RPMSCSI-2 FASTTCQ512 bytes1 Series1/2 Series ManualST11950W/WD119931.69 GB1 MB (W) 512 KB (WD)7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes1 SeriesST12450W/WD21993$1,8001.85 GB1 MB7200 RPMSCSI-2 FAST/WIDETCQ512 bytes2 SeriesST12550N/ND219932.1 GB1 MB7200 RPMSCSI-2 FASTTCQ512 bytes2 SeriesST12550W/WD219932.1 GB1 MB (W) 512 KB (WD)7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes2 SeriesST15150N/ND310-18-1993$2,6504.19GB1 MB7200 RPMSCSI-2 FASTTCQ512 bytes4 SeriesSeries ManualST15150W/WD/WC/DC310-18-19934.19GB1 MB7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes4 SeriesST12551N19950.99 GB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytes2LP Series Series ManualST31250N/ND19950.99 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-2 FASTTCQ512 bytes2LP SeriesST31250W/WD19950.99 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes2LP SeriesST31250WC/DC19950.99 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes2LP SeriesST32550N/ND19952.09 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-2 FASTTCQ512 bytes2LP SeriesST32550W/WD19952.09 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes2LP SeriesST32550WC/DC19952.09 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-2 WIDETCQ512 bytes2LP SeriesST32171N19962.15 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-3 FAST-20TCQ512 bytes4LP Series Series ManualST32171W19962.15 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-3 WIDE-20TCQ512 bytes4LP SeriesST34371N19964.35 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-3 FAST-20TCQ512 bytes4LP SeriesST34371W19964.35 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-3 WIDE-20TCQ512 bytes4LP SeriesST19171N919969.1 GB512 KB7200 RPMSCSI-3 FAST-20TCQ512 bytes9 SeriesSeries ManualST19171W/WD/WC/DC919969.1 GB512 KB 2 MB7200 RPMSCSI-3 WIDE-20TCQ512 bytes9 SeriesST136475LC/LW7200036.4 GB1 MB or 4 MB7200 RPMUltra2 WIDE SCSITCQ512 bytes36 SeriesST150176LC/LW7200050.1 GB1 MB or 4 MB7200 RPMUltra2 WIDE SCSITCQ512 bytes50 SeriesST1181677LW/LWV72000181.6 GB4 MB (LW) 16 MB (LWV)7200 RPMUltra160 SCSITCQ512 bytes180 SeriesSeries ManualST1181677LC/LCV72000181.6 GB4 MB (LC) 16 MB (LCV)7200 RPMUltra160 SCSITCQ512 bytes180 SeriesST318417N/W18.4 GB2 MB7200 RPM512 bytes36ES SeriesST318437LW/LC18.4 GB2 MB7200 RPM512 bytesST336737LW/LC36.9 GB2 MB7200 RPM512 bytesST318418N8200118.4 GB2 MB7200 RPMUltra20 SCSITCQ512 bytes36ES2 SeriesSeries ManualST318438LW8200118.4 GB2 MB7200 RPMUltra160 SCSITCQ512 bytesST336918N8200136.9 GB2 MB7200 RPMUltra20 SCSITCQ512 bytesST336938LW8200136.9 GB2 MB7200 RPMUltra160 SCSITCQ512 bytesST318436LW18.3 GB2 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytes18XL SeriesSeries ManualST318436LC18.3 GB2 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST318436LWV 18.3 GB4 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST318436LCV18.3 GB4 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST318426LW18.3 GB1 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST318426LC18.3 GB1 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST318416N18.3 GB2 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39236LC9.1 GB2 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39236LWV9.1 GB4 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39236LCV9.1 GB4 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39226LW9.1 GB1 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39226LC9.1 GB1 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39216N9.1 GB2 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytesST39216W 9.1 GB2 MB7200 RPMTCQ512 bytes
ATA and SATA models
Barracuda ATA (1999) Available in capacities between 6.8 GB and 28.2 GB, with a 512 KB1 KB = 1024 B cache buffer and an ATA/66 interface. This is the first model in the Barracuda family equipped with an ATA/IDE interface.
Barracuda ATA replaced Medalist Pro 6530/9140 drives, which were the world's first 7200 RPM ATA/IDE drives available on the market when launched in October 1997.
Barracuda ATA II (2000) Available in capacities between 10 GB and 30 GB, with a 2 MB cache. Supports up to ATA/66 interface. Seagate announced launch of Barracuda ATA II on January 31, 2000.
Barracuda ATA III (2000) Available in capacities between 10 GB and 40 GB, with a 2 MB cache. Supports up to ATA/100 interface. Some models even had optional fluid dynamic bearings which made the drive much quieter than ball bearing counterparts although not standard with ball bearings still being the default configuration at factory. The FDB models had significantly quieter idle operation and also noticeably quieter read/write operations too due to reduced vibration from the spindle bearings. Seagate announced launch of Barracuda ATA III on September 6, 2000.
Barracuda ATA IV (2001) Available in capacities between 20 GB and 80 GB, with a 2 MB cache. Supports up to the ATA/100 interface. These drives operate very quietly as they are one of the first hard drives to exclusively use fluid dynamic bearings in their spindle motors and are significantly quieter in idle and also reads/writes. Furthermore, their seek times were slowed in firmware to reduce noise output via Automatic Acoustic Management(AAM) despite the ATA III being the first to include AAM.
These disks cannot operate reliably at ATA/100 on RCC/ServerWorks IDE controllers, as their drivers blacklist the disks, thus limiting their operation to ATA/66.
Barracuda ATA IV was the first generation of Barracuda ATA drives to be available exclusively with fluid dynamic bearings in spindle motors. Seagate announced their launch on June 27, 2001.
Barracuda ATA V/ATA V Plus/Serial ATA V (2002) Available in capacities between 30 GB (60 GB for SATA models) to 120 GB, with 2 MB cache (8 MB in SATA models), with either ATA/100 and SATA/150 interfaces. Barracuda V with SATA port is one of the first hard drives to feature a SATA interface.
The SATA models have many problems, including random data loss (such as disappearing partitions). These disks cannot work with some Silicon Image SATA controllers, as their drivers blacklist the disks and limit the maximum sectors of each transaction below 8 KB (15 sectors), leading to considerably reduced performance.
Seagate announced launch of Barracuda ATA V on June 24, 2002.
Barracuda 7200.7/7200.7 Plus (2002–2003) Available in capacities between 40 GB and 200 GB, with ATA/100 and SATA interface options. The drives have 2 MB (marketed as Barracuda 7200.7) or 8 MB (marketed as Barracuda 7200.7 Plus) of cache, depending on the model. Seagate announced launch of Barracuda 7200.7 family on December 2, 2002 with 80 GB platters and capacities up to 160 GB. Raised capacities up to 200 GB using 100 GB platters became available in September 2003. SATA models were first launched without NCQ feature, NCQ models were added to offer in 2004 (models ST380817AS, ST3120827AS and ST3160827AS, capacities between 80 and 160 GB; non-NCQ models are ST380013AS, ST3120026AS and ST3160023AS).
A budget version of Barracuda 7200.7, marketed as U Series 9, with 1 MB of cache and different actuator mechanism, became available exclusively to OEMs in early 2003. They were available exclusively with ATA/100 interface. Produced capacities were 80, 120 and 160 GB.
Barracuda 7200.8 (2004)