Seagate and AMD Demo Serial ATA 6Gigabit/Second Interface For High-Speed PC Applications

Seagate Technology, a company that designs, manufactures and markets hard disk drives and storage solutions, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a leading microprocessor manufacturer, have demonstrated a next-generation high-speed data transfer – Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gigabit/second storage interface – for bandwidth-hungry desktop and laptop applications.

 

The SATA 6Gigabit/second storage technology is capable of delivering burst speeds of up to 6Gigabits per second for all PC applications including gaming, streaming video and graphics multimedia, Seagate said.

 

The demonstration featured two Seagate SATA disk drives – a shipping Barracuda 7200.12 3Gb/second hard drive and a prototype Barracuda 6Gb/second drive – in a desktop PC.

 

Also, the demonstration, powered by an AMD (News - Alert) prototype SATA 6Gb/second chipset, shows the performance difference between the two generations.

 

This shows that Seagate SATA 3Gb/second drive runs at more than 2.5Gigabits per second and the SATA 6Gb/second drive at 5.5Gigabits per second. The performance of each storage interface is displayed on the PC monitor.

 

SATA 6Gb/second was developed by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) under the Serial ATA Revision 3.0 specification. It maintains the low cost and low-power design requirements of previous SATA generations.

 

This third generation solution of the mainstream storage interface for desktop and notebook computers is designed to be backward compatible with the SATA 3Gb/second and SATA 1.5Gb/second interfaces. It works with the same cables and connectors as in the previous generations of SATA, making their integration easier and cost effective, officials said.

 

Additionally, the new storage interface is known for its power efficiency and ability to improve Native Command Queuing, a SATA feature, to increase overall system performance and data transfer speeds of mainstream PC applications. This feature is especially useful to applications with heavily transactional workloads such as scientific modeling and forecasting, and engineering design and simulation.

 

“AMD strives to deliver platform technology that our technology partners can use to create high- performance desktop and laptop PCs,” said Leslie Sobon, vice president of Product Marketing, AMD.

 

“The new SATA 6Gb/second technology not only incorporates the best features of previous SATA generations but also includes new enhancements.”

 

“This innovation enables AMD to continue to evolve its technology platforms and to develop low-cost designs that our technology partners can use to improve their own PC and laptop products,” Sobon said.

 

With increasing popularity of digital information among consumers and businesses worldwide, there has been a growing demand for PC interfaces that can carry even more digital content, says Joan Motsinger, Seagate vice president of Personal Systems Marketing and Strategy.

 

“The SATA 6Gb/second storage interface will meet this demand for higher-bandwidth PCs.”

 

“Seagate has a long history of being first to market with new technologies such as Serial ATA, perpendicular recording and self-encrypting drives, and is pleased to be teaming with AMD to stage the world’s first public demonstration of SATA 6Gb/second storage.”

 

Seagate recently announced a complete home theater solution - Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD media player – which allows users to play stored videos, movies and photos on their TV. It is designed to work with Seagate’s FreeAgent Go portable hard drive and allows users to watch stored digital media on their TV screens rather than their computer monitors.