HDD Archives - Gizmochina

Apacer unveils AS714 portable SSD with ProRes support, debuts Eco series with recycled plastic drives

Soumyakanti — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 15:07:58 +0000

Apacer has launched a new line of portable storage products under its Eco series, targeting environmentally conscious users. The new lineup includes the AH270 Eco USB flash drive and the AC236 Eco portable hard drive. Both models feature shells made from 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic. Alongside these, the company also introduced the AS714 portable SSD, which focuses on mobile performance.

The company said this move aligns with global sustainability goals. According to a 2022 OECD report, the world generates about 353 million tons of plastic waste annually, with packaging waste making up nearly 40%. Apacer stated that its Eco series aims to reduce this burden by giving discarded plastics a second life.

Talking about specs, the AH270 Eco flash drive supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 and comes with a USB-C connector for broad compatibility with laptops, tablets, and smartphones. It is available in 64GB and 128GB capacities and weighs just 5.8 grams. Apacer included a lanyard hole to make it easier to carry and personalize. The device works with Windows, macOS, and Linux, and carries a five-year limited warranty.

The AC236 Eco portable hard drive is available in 1TB and 2TB variants. It uses a 2.5-inch SATA HDD and supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 with transfer speeds up to 5Gbps. The drive is only 10.8mm thick and weighs 139.5 grams, making it 14% lighter than many similar products. Apacer said the AC236 passed over 10,000 plug/unplug tests and includes smart power management that automatically enters a power-saving mode after 10 minutes of inactivity. It comes with a three-year limited warranty.

Apacer also introduced the AS714 portable SSD alongside the Eco series. This model is designed for mobile use, supporting USB 3.2 Gen 2 with read/write speeds up to 1000MB/s. It is compatible with Android USB-C phones, iPhone 15 and newer models, and supports ProRes direct video recording. The drive includes a silicone case with a built-in lanyard and offers IP65-rated protection against dust and water. It has passed a 1.22-meter drop test and is available in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.

In related news, Samsung brought back the T7 series with a refreshed eco-friendly portable SSD made from fully recycled aluminum, and a new ultra-mini SSD is gaining traction for its discreet, security-focused design aimed at people who manage confidential files.

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Seagate unveils the largest hard drive to date, a massive 30TB, and it will be available for everyone

Soumyakanti — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 23:20:05 +0000

Seagate has made a significant advancement in the data storage industry by introducing the Exos X Mozaic 3+, a 30TB mechanical hard drive. This product is the largest capacity hard drive available to date, primarily aimed at enterprise and data center users.

Seagate’s Exos X Mozaic 3+ Sets New Standard with 30TB on Ten 3TB Platters

The hard drive’s impressive capacity is achieved through advanced technology. It contains ten 3TB platters, achieving an extraordinary density of 1.742 TB per square inch. Seagate has utilized cutting-edge magnetic field reading sensors, which are the smallest and most sensitive of their kind, to read data on the hard drive’s platters. Additionally, the drive features a 12-nanometer integrated controller, enhancing efficiency by three times compared to older models.

Despite this achievement, in an interview with Tech Radar, Seagate’s Executive Vice President, BS Teh, stated that the company doesn’t plan to increase the number of platters in the future. This decision is to avoid issues with noise, cost, reliability, weight, power consumption, and heat dissipation.

Seagate is experiencing significant demand for its Mozaic 3+ hard drives from data center clients, who are expected to fully adopt and start using these drives in large quantities by the end of this quarter.

Seagate’s CEO, Dave Mosley, highlighted that Seagate is the only hard drive manufacturer capable of reaching 3 TB per platter, and is planning to introduce platters with a capacity of 5 TB in the future. This technological advancement is especially crucial as the use of AI grows, increasing the need for large amounts of raw data storage.

Mosley also emphasized the importance of areal density in meeting the growing demand for data storage, indicating that Seagate’s innovations are well-aligned with current and future data storage needs.

Seagate’s new Exos 30TB hard drive is expected to be available in Q1 2024. Initially, it will be aimed at hyperscale cloud customers. However, it will eventually be offered to the general public, with a predicted price of around $450.

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PC makers will be required to mandatorily switch to SSD from HDDs by 2023: Report

Viraj Gawde — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:10:42 +0000

It will be mandatory for PC makers to switch from hard disk drives to solid-state drives for all Windows 11 PCs launching in 2023. The information comes from publication Tom’s Hardware which reported that the Redmond-based tech giant is pushing OEMs to drop HDDs as their primary storage and instead shift to SSD.

Currently, a large number of Windows laptops come with hybrid storage systems that include a HDD as well as SSD. The former is used for bulk storage whereas the latter offers performance enhancements like fast loading times, data transfers etc. The report adds that the exact date of shifting from HDDs to SSD is not clear yet but Microsoft had plans of making it a requirement this year. The switch to SSDs is now likely pushed to the second half of 2023.

PCs with hybrid storage systems and only SSDs are quite costly. Apart from this, leading brands including Dell, HP, Lenovo, and more also offer affordable models with only HDD as the storage option. There are also models with eMMC storage for those on a tight budget.

The move to switch to SSD from HDD would result in increased prices of PCs as SSDs are expensive compared to the traditional spinning drives. The additional costs are likely to be transferred to the customers by raising the prices of the laptops and PCs.

Microsoft’s rival Apple already uses SSDs in its MacBook and Mac range of computers.