Seagate to Discontinue 7200rpm 2.5" Drives Later This Year
Earlier today X-bit Labs reported that Seagate will stop the production of their 7200RPM 2.5" drives by the end of this year and I just got a confirmation from Seagate that this is really the case.
Context & Ripple Effects
Seagate had already expanded beyond conventional disk-only products with its 2007 hybrid-drive launch and, in 2012, tied up with DensBits to overhaul its flash-memory strategy. Retiring the high-speed 2.5-inch disk tier narrows that legacy lineup while making its storage-transition strategy more consequential.
First-order effects
- Seagate will end production of its 7200RPM 2.5-inch drives by year-end, requiring customers and channel partners that specify those models to plan around their withdrawal.
- Seagate’s product organization must direct performance-oriented small-drive demand toward the remaining options in its portfolio rather than a new generation of 7200RPM 2.5-inch disks.
Second-order effects
- Laptop makers, integrators, and distributors using Seagate’s 7200RPM 2.5-inch models face qualification, inventory, and configuration decisions before production ends.
- The withdrawal raises the strategic importance of Seagate’s hybrid-drive and flash-memory efforts for buyers seeking performance beyond slower conventional small-form-factor disks.
Third-order effects
- If other storage suppliers make comparable portfolio choices, performance storage in compact systems will shift away from faster-spinning hard disks toward hybrid and flash-based designs.
- The change points to a storage market in which disk makers differentiate conventional drives through capacity and external-storage products while flash-oriented technologies take a larger role in performance tiers.
The trend: Compact performance storage is moving away from spindle-speed upgrades and toward hybrid and flash-memory architectures.