Seagate Barracuda

Available in capacities between 6.8 GB and 28.2 GB, with a 512 KB[5] cache buffer and an ATA/66 interface. This is the first model in the Barracuda family equipped with an ATA/IDE interface.[6]

Available in capacities between 10 GB and 30 GB, with a 2 MB (2 MiB) cache. Supports up to ATA/66 interface.[7]

Available in capacities between 10 GB and 40 GB, with a 2 MB cache. Supports up to ATA/100 interface.[8]

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 use fluid dynamic bearings in their spindle motors.[9]

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.

Available in capacities between 30 GB to 120 GB, with a 2 MB cache, with either SATA/150 and ATA/100 interfaces. Barracuda V with SATA port is one of the first hard drives to feature a SATA interface.[10]

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.

Available in capacities between 40 GB and 200 GB, with ATA/100 and SATA with NCQ. The drives have 2 MB or 8 MB of cache, depending on the model.[11]

Available in capacities between 200 GB and 400 GB, with either an ATA/100 or SATA interface with NCQ, these were sold alongside the 7200.7 series, providing higher capacities than the 7200.7. The drives have 8 MB or 16 MB of cache, depending on the model.[12]

Available in capacities between 40 GB and 500 GB, with either ATA/100 or SATA 3 Gbit/s interfaces. 2 MB, 8 MB or 16 MB, depending on the model and interface.

Available in capacities between 80 GB to 750 GB and either an ATA/100 or SATA 3 Gbit/s interface. 2, 8 or 16 MB of cache, depending on the model. This was the first Seagate hard drive to use perpendicular magnetic recording technology (only in 250 GB models: ST3250410AS with 16 MB of cache and ST3250310AS with 8 MB of cache).

This is the last generation of Barracuda to feature IDE interface on certain models. This is the only generation of Barracuda to feature 750 GB as the greatest in storage limit of IDE drive ever made by any manufacturer. Industry's competitors ended development of IDE hard drives on lower capacities: Maxtor (before its acquisition by Seagate) and Western Digital ended on 500 GB and Hitachi and Samsung ended on 400 GB.

The SATA models of this family with firmware 3.AAK [codename GALAXY] or older (e.g. 3.AAE[codename TONKA]) have introduced a firmware (microcode) bug:

• There is a performance anomaly using hdparm with an NCQ queue depth of 31 in AHCI mode. Speed test measures only 55–64 MB/s (expected: >70–75 MB/s).[13]

Seagate does not officially provide firmware updates for this issue; however, an unofficial firmware update (3.AAM) exists for the following drive models:

• ST3320820AS with part number 9BJ13G-308,
• ST3320620AS with part number 9BJ14G-308 (with firmware 3.AAK),
• ST3500830AS with part number 9BJ136-308 and
• ST3500630AS with part number 9BJ146-308.

Available in capacities between 250 GB to 750 GB, with SATA 3 Gbit/s interface and 8 or 16 MB of cache depending on model. The ES (Enterprise Storage) family were high-reliability drives based on Barracuda 7200.10 design. Intended for business-critical use, with all drives having a 5-year warranty. Barracuda ES series replaced previous NL35 series (based on 7200.8) and NL35.2 series (based on 7200.9) enterprise drives.

With a SATA 3 Gbit/s interface, capacities range from 160 GB to 1.5 TB.[14] Codenames are Moose (earlier revision) and Brinks (later revision). Their cache size can be 8 MB, 16 MB or 32 MB, depending on the drive model.[15]

This family has introduced many severe firmware (microcode) bugs:

1. Disks may not show and utilize all the cache.[16]
2. FLUSH_CACHE commands may time out when NCQ is used.[17]
3. There is a performance anomaly using hdparm with NCQ queue depth 31 in AHCI mode. Speed test measures only 45–50 MB/s (expected: > 100–110 MB/s).
4. Disks may be inaccessible at power on.[18][19]

Disks affected by the last bug will not be detected by the computer BIOS after a reboot. Numerous users have complained about this and are discussing it in a public forum[20] when discussions in Seagate's forums[21] were subjected to heavy moderation and subsequently closed. The symptom of the problem is that the computer BIOS will no longer detect the hard disk after a reboot, and upon connecting to the hard disk with a serial TTL board, this error code will be seen as "LED:000000CC FAddr:0024A051." Faulty firmware triggers this "failure."

Seagate FreeAgent external drives have also utilized 7200.11 hard disks with the SDxx firmware, and failures of these hard drives were also reported. The access LED remains permanently on, despite being disconnected from USB and no longer being recognized by the computer. However, Seagate says that the LED light remaining permanently on had nothing to do with firmware problems. The drives have also become known for their unusually high failure rates, including sudden mechanical failures; the rapid development of large numbers of bad sectors; the motherboard detecting the drive as a different model and the drive regularly "freezing" when being read from or written to.

Other companies have claimed to be able to resolve this problem using their own solution, namely Ace Laboratory PC3000-UDMA (version 4.13).

In order to fix the first bug, Seagate released firmware update AD14 for the affected disk models; to fix the second, third and fourth bugs, Seagate released firmware updates SD1A, SD1B, SD2B and SD81. The SD2B firmware update for Brinks removes the DCO ATA feature from the disks, while SD1A for Moose adds two ATA features.

Available in capacities between 250 GB and 1 TB, 16 MB cache for SAS models and a 32 MB cache for SATA 3 Gbit/s models. Enterprise-grade drives based on 7200.11 series.[22]

Similar to the 7200.11 family, this family has introduced many firmware (microcode) bugs, which was fixed by SN06 firmware released by seagate:

• RAID arrays using these disks may fail.[23]
• Secure Erase command is not handled properly.[24]
• There is a performance anomaly using hdparm with NCQ queue depth 31 in AHCI mode. Speed test measures only 50 MB/s (expected: >100 MB/s).[17]
• Disks may be inaccessible at power on.[25]

Barracuda ES.2 is currently the last product in Seagate's enterprise line to bear the "Barracuda" name. The successor of ES.2, launched in early 2013,[26] is branded as "Constellation ES.3" which is based on the design of 14th-generation Barracuda.

Available in capacities between 160 GB to 1.0 TB. Initial models (CCxx firmware) supported up to SATA 3 Gbit/s, while later revisions (firmware JCxx) support the newer SATA 6 Gbit/s interface.[27] Their cache size can be 8 MB, 16 MB or 32 MB, depending on the drive model. Power consumption is reduced from previous models, resulting in lower heat dissipation and claimed reliability improvements.

Hard disk Seagate Barracuda 1500 GB, 3.5 inch, capacity 1.5 TB, built 2011

Available in capacities between 2 TB and 3 TB (XT) with 64 MiB cache, 1 TB and 2 TB (LP) with 16 MiB or 32 MiB cache, 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB (Green) with 16 MiB to 64 MiB cache depending on model. This is the first Barracuda series to support SATA 6 Gbit/s and its buffer size is 64 MB. Rotation speed is 7,200 RPM for XT, and 5,900 RPM for LP and Green.

XT is Intended for high-performance gaming computers and workstations with sustained data transfer rate of 149 MB/s. LP is designated for mass storage applications favoring low heat output, quiet operation and better-than-average energy efficiency.

Barracuda Green 2000 GB (ST2000DL003)

The Barracuda Green series was introduced in December 2010 as a high-performance, eco-friendly, low-power internal drive, replacing the Barracuda LP series.[28] It is the first to use Advanced Format sectors and operates at 5900 RPM.

The Barracuda LP series also present firmware issues that might be alleviated by the latest firmware available on the Seagate web site (CC35),[29] although there are reports that drives with the CC35 firmware loaded continue to exhibit the same problems as earlier firmware releases.[30] The most commonly referred issue with the Barracuda LP series drives appears to be one variation or another of the infamous click of death problem; the drive will start to emit a regular clicking noise at some point in its early life (possibly even at first start) and after some time will fail altogether, often after a few months of use. While the clicking noise is emitted, the hard drive is inaccessible and may prevent the BIOS from detecting it.

There is also a CC95 firmware (at least some of those drives came as part of external Seagate FreeAgent drives), but it is not clear whether this build fixes all known issues, and why firmware versions between CC35 and CC95 do not seem to exist.

Available in capacities between 250 GB to 3 TB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB to 64 MB cache, depending on the model. First Seagate hard drives with 1 TB[31] per platter technology. From this generation onwards, Seagate phased out previous "green" models, citing the inherent power saving functions featured on the 14th generation removed the need for a separate low-power design.

The successor of the 14th generation Barracuda, branded as "Desktop HDD", was a 5,900 RPM series launched in early 2013 and was not considered part of the Barracuda line.

"Barracuda" series made a comeback in 2016 with a stylized BarraCuda trademark. Available in capacities between 500 GB to 8 TB. Buffer sizes vary from 32 MB (32 MiB) for 500 GB and 1 TB models to 256 MB (256 MiB) for 3 TB to 8 TB units.[32]

Available in capacities between 2 TB and 14 TB. Launched alongside BarraCuda, it is described as "Perfect for high performance desktop, creative pro desktop applications, and gaming".[32] This series has higher read/write performance than standard BarraCuda drives; one PCWorld review noted its consistent read speed throughout its entire capacity, which is unusual for a conventional HDD.[33]