Seagate revealed three new Barracuda hard disk drives for personal computers on Monday. All of them utilise the latest 80GB per disk platters and allow the company to create up to 160GB HDDs. In addition, Seagate will ship both Parallel as well as Serial ATA-supporting models of their newcomers.

• The Barracuda 7200.7 Plus has a standard onboard cache of 8MB and capacities of 160GB and 120GB.
• The Barracuda 7200.7 offers cache of 2MB on 160GB, 120GB, 80GB and 40GB models. In addition, the design of the unit resists up to 350Gs non-operating shock. A number of new design improvements enable the Barracuda to continue Seagate's industry-leading ruggedness. Fewer, smaller and lower-profile PCB components protect against handling damage. The PCB itself is now recessed to reduce the risk of handling damage. A recessed motor housing and connector with protective nub also shield against handling damage. And the drive's chip set is more integrated than ever, with just a single chip dedicated to both read-channel and interface functions.

Both 7200rpm HDD utilise Seagate’s patented SoftSonic Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor and are very quiet. The new models will also offer the choice of a native Serial ATA interface or a Parallel ATA interface.

Seagate also announced the new Barracuda 5400.1 hard drive that combines many advanced features and the well-known reliability of Seagate’s Barracuda and U Series product families. It offers a value-focused, single-head configuration with a 40GB capacity and a 5400rpm performance level.

Unfortunately, Seagate remained tight-lipped about pricing and availability of its products at this time.