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One of the largest manufacturers of hard drives (HDD). The company's products are used everywhere, where there are computers and other devices, one way or another related to data storage.
The company was established in 1979. Its first product was a 5.25-inch hard drive, which appeared a year later. It was the ST-506 model, with a capacity of 5 MB. Very quickly, the company achieves that its discs are not only successfully sold (in 1993 their number reached 50 million, in 1999 - already 250 million, and in 2008 the billion mark was taken), but also regularly win prestigious awards. On account Seagate more than one technical achievement, other HDDs produced by it had the proud mark of “first in the world”.
Today, the company produces many series of HDDs, with different performance, form factors and purposes. But perhaps the most famous were and remain the "animal" series: Barracuda (Barracuda *) and Cheetah (Cheetah). The latter are famous for their exorbitant speed performance (the spindle speed for these models can reach 15 thousand rpm) and are created exclusively for high-performance systems. Series Cheetah was introduced in 1996, and the first "15-thousander" - the Cheetah X15 model appeared in 2000. Well known models free agent – external HDDs.
There are also lines of hard drives that are created on the contrary, for leisurely budget solutions. Naturally, both internal and external drives are produced.
On account of the company, the absorption of such competitors as Conner Peripherals и Maxtor - fairly well-known HDD manufacturers in their time. And almost no one remembers the first one. In the case of the second (the purchase took place in 2005), the brand was retained - now the name Maxtor wears a line of budget hard drives Seagate. By the way, in April 2000 Maxtor took over the company Quantum, and for some time was considered the world's largest manufacturer of hard drives. So by purchasing Maxtor, Seagate, in fact, acquired two former competitors at once.
With the advent of a truly formidable enemy - solid-state drives (SSD) - the company was faced with many upcoming problems. I can't believe that SSDs will be able to completely replace HDDs in the near future. However, it is expected that in 5 years the vast majority of desktop and especially mobile systems will be equipped with SSD. A company that is fully invested in rapidly aging mechanical storage technology can have a hard time. At the beginning Seagete tried to demand the introduction of some restrictions on the production of SSD. Naturally, this did not lead to anything. It was then announced that the company's first SSD would arrive in 2008, but that didn't happen. First SSD from Seagate appeared only at the very end of 2009.
At the end of November 2007, there was a rumor on the Internet that Seagate will be purchased by a Chinese company. The official refutation of these rumors appeared literally the next day. However, one can still hear the opinion that the deal did not take place due to the intervention of the US National Security Services, who did not want the company's (the last American manufacturer's) developments to go to China. Like it or not, it is impossible to say for sure.
Headquarters Seagate is located in Scotts Valley, California, USA. In order to reduce taxes, the company is registered in the Cayman Islands.
*) Barracuda is a predatory fish, sometimes reaching a length of more than one and a half meters. Sometimes it is called sea pike. It is distinguished by both gluttony and swiftness (hunting, it can accelerate to a speed of 45 km / h). It lives exclusively in warm subtropical and tropical waters. Barracudas usually hunt in packs. Almost never attacks a person.