World's First USB-C Powered 8TB External HDD

[Megalith]

Yeah, it’s a Seagate, but the wafer design is interesting and it doesn’t need a power cable.

The drive is available in an 8TB storage capacity and does not require any power cable to operate, using only a single USB Type-C connector as a source of both power and data. Seagate claims that in the world of consumer electronics, there is an abundance of external hard drives that still require additional power adapters, and with technologies like 10Gbps USB Type-C capable of delivering up to 100 watts at 20 volts over a single cable, this really does not have to be the case anymore.

 

[mw8t]

Very nice. Now that is progress. Good to see.

 

[kandrey89]

Nice design and great use of USB-C, but laughable at 2 year warranty.

 

[LightningCrash]

Nice design and great use of USB-C, but laughable at 2 year warranty.

*shrug* The WD externals I looked at came with a 1yr warranty.

 

[Galvin]

Time to start using usb 3.1 over sata?

 

[evilsofa]

Does it come with a USB-C cable that isn't just a USB 2.0 cable with a USB-C connector slapped on? I would hope the reviews for this drive look into that very closely, because I don't trust Seagate to not cheap out on the cable.

 

[MV75]

My external 2.5" drives are powered / connected by just the one usb3.0 cable. Not 3.1 or C, just 3. What's the big deal? Sure it's a bigger drive, etc, but my point is I'm already just using one cable for power / data and fail to see the amazing of this.

 

[nutzo]

*shrug* The WD externals I looked at came with a 1yr warranty.

But with Seagate you'll likely need to use that 2 year warranty.... multiple times.

 

[Geforcefly]

It was only a matter of time for this one... one drive, 8TB, one cable, not two.

 

[LightningCrash]

But with Seagate you'll likely need to use that 2 year warranty.... multiple times.

<that animated gif of the office space guys beating a dead horse.gif>

 

[westrock2000]

My external 2.5" drives are powered / connected by just the one usb3.0 cable. Not 3.1 or C, just 3. What's the big deal? Sure it's a bigger drive, etc, but my point is I'm already just using one cable for power / data and fail to see the amazing of this.

Well, I think the big deal here is being able to get 12V through a single cable. The 2.5" harddrives are self powered, but they are also topped out at 2TB right now. Being able to power a 12V device allows us to break that capacity limitation using existing technology. It's clunky, but it does work and it's using proven technology.

EDIT: Let me clarify, it's not a big deal. But more a showcase of the freedom we have with a 20V supply. It can be stepped down much easier than trying to upconvert 5V.

 

[defaultluser]

Time to start using usb 3.1 over sata?

For hard drives, yes. For SSDs I'd stay with SATA.

The latency of an SATA transfer is about ten times lower than a USB 3 transfer. So you can get higher throughput from SATA when doing small file random reads/writes. For most opeerations if's not the bulk transfer rate that's limiting SSDs.

 

[Beaflag VonRathburg]

My external 2.5" drives are powered / connected by just the one usb3.0 cable. Not 3.1 or C, just 3. What's the big deal? Sure it's a bigger drive, etc, but my point is I'm already just using one cable for power / data and fail to see the amazing of this.

Someone already mentioned this, but 8TB versus only having 2TB available. It's innovation headed in the right direction.