Početak korištenja hard diskova koji rabe tehnologiju vertikalnog zapisivanja bez sumnje predstavlja jednu od najvećih novosti u zadnjih par godina koja se tiče ovog tipa hardvera. Premda Seagate nije prvi proizvođač koji se odlučio na uporabu ove tehnologije, zasigurno je prvi kojemu je to doista i uspjelo. Dokaz za to je nova serija Barracuda koje nose oznaku 7200.10. Osim što je povećan maksimalni kapacitet diskova (najveći model ima kapacitet od 750 GB, a najmanji čak 200 GB), osjetno su povećane performanse što je dakako direktni rezultat povećanja gustoće zapisa na pločama. Štoviše, Seagate ne staje s korištenjem ove tehnologije jer na ovogodišenjem CES-u planiranju predstavljanje terabajtnog diska koji je baziran na pločama s još većom gustoćom podataka.

U našem testu pozabavili smo se dva modela iz nove serije – high-end modelom od 750 GB i osjetno jeftinijim modelom od 320 GB. Cijena većeg modela je oko 2.500 kn dok je više od upola manji model košta oko 720 kn. S obzirom da oba modela imaju vrlo slične performanse, a kapacitet manjeg modela je i dalje više nego dostatan za bilo kojeg kućnog korisnika, jasno je da upravo njega možemo preporučiti kao odličan izbor za pohranu vaših podataka. Osjetno veći, ali i skuplji 750-gigabajtni model pogodan je isključivo ako vam treba zaista veliki disk, a ograničeni ste s dimenzijama računala (npr. HTPC).

Conclusion

Introduction of hard disk which are using perpendicular recording technology is certainly one of the biggest advancement in this field of computer hardware. Altough Seagate is not the first manufacturer which implemented this technology, there is no doubt that its the first one who did it succesfully. Proof of this statement is new generation of Barracuda hard drives from 7200.10 series. In addition to increased data capacity (biggest model can hold 750 GB and smallest 200 GB of data), these drives show big improvement in performance what is direct result of increased data density on platters. Even more, Seagate already managed to improve this technology as company is planning to announce terabyte hard drive next week on CES in Las Vegas. According to unofficial info, this new hard drive is based on new version of platter with increased data density.

In our test we analyzed performance of two models from 7200.10 series – high-end 750 GB model and much cheaper 320 GB model. Price of larger Barracuda is about 2.500 kn while much smaller 320 GB version also has much smaller price of about 720 kn. Considering both hard drives have very similar performance and capacity of smaller hard drive is still more that enough for any home user, its pretty clear why we can recommend this hard drive as excellent choice for storing your data. Much larger and even more expensive 750 GB model is a good choice only if you have need to store large amounts of data while being limited by lack of physical space in your computer (for example, SFF PC).