First, Seagate renamed its Barracuda hard drive family to Desktop HDD.15. Then, it introduced the first model in the new line-up—the Desktop HDD.15 ST4000DM000. Does Seagate's first massive 4 TB desktop disk deliver the performance we want or disappoint?
It’s time to bid farewell to Seagate’s Barracuda. The branding, that is. Not the actual 3.5" desktop hard drive family, which will henceforth be known as Desktop HDD with .15, .14, and .12 generational suffixes.
Seagate is looking to make a splash with its flagship in the newly-named line-up, the Desktop HDD 4TB, also known by the ST4000DM000 model number. Up until now, Seagate's desktop portfolio didn't stretch as high as 4 TB. Only the business-oriented Constellation ES.3 line included a 4 TB repository. But now that Seagate is playing in the super-high-capacity space, it currently enjoys a commanding price-per-gigabyte advantage. The ST4000DM000 is going for as little as $180 on Newegg right now. That's four and a half cents per gig.
The Desktop HDD 4TB (ST4000DM000) spreads its multiple terabytes across four platters and spins at 5900 RPM. The 1 TB and 3 TB Barracuda 7200.14 drives employ the same platter size, but instead spin at 7200 RPM. As a result, we expect the new Desktop HDD.15 to be somewhat slower, and Seagate's technical specifications reflect this. The company says its Barracuda drives are capable of up to 210 MB/s, whereas the Desktop HDD.15 maxes out at 180 MB/s.
Aside from the extra capacity and slower spindle, nothing else really changes from the Barracuda 7200.14 to the Desktop HDD.15. The drives still sport a SATA 6Gb/s interface, feature 64 MB of data cache once you hit the 1 TB model, and are built for 300,000 load/unload cycles. Our benchmarks should give you a good indication of how the Desktop HDD.15 ST4000DM000 performs, and how it stacks up to the Barracuda 7200.14.
- A Tropical Predator Retires; Farewell Barracuda
- Technical Specifications And Benchmark System
- Results: Data Throughput And Interface Bandwidth
- Results: 4 KB Random Read And Write, Access Time, And I/O Performance
- Results: PCMark 7
- Results: Temperature, Power Consumption, And Efficiency
- Seagate's 4 TB Desktop HDD.15 Is Great For User Storage

Noticed a small insignificant error in the "Drive Surface Temperature" chart. It lists the 4TB HDD.15 as a 7200rpm drive rather than a 5900rpm one.
Bring on the 2160p content!
For me this is a big mistake for Seagate. I always bought their drives because they were the fastest, but it seems they are now joining the WD green lineup. I'll probably have to go with hitachi now to have some decent speed.
I just see these big drives as a huge liability really, but folks will hoard their data.
Bring on the 2160p content!
1) 6TB drives are well on their way, but delayed. They were supposed to launch earlier this year... but then again most 4TB drives were supposed to launch a year ago as well but some floods seem to have delayed timetables a bit. I would give it another year before we see 6TB drives hit the market.
2) 4K content is not significantly larger than 1080p content. The nice thing about super high resolution video is that there are a ton of redundant pixels, which means that it compresses very nicely even at a lossless editable compression. Sure, if you are in a studio where you need purely uncompressed 4K video then the larger the drives the better... but if you are in that environment then you ought not be using these types of drives in the first place.
And for how many hours/year are those rated? 2400? 2600?
My last 4TB drives were Hitachi desktar 7200rpm and 24/7.
I agree with those who disagreed.
For near-line storage, I am far more interested in reliability and low power. 5xxxRPM drives run 5-10C cooler than 7200RPM drives, use 3-8W less power and all other related factors combined should help with reliability.
One thing that really annoys me about Seagate and warranties: warranty duration is omitted from datasheets and product info. The only official method to get warranty info is to use a serial number for a warranty check. It seems pretty retarded to me that a company that claims to provide world-leading quality shies away from including a standard warranty in their specs.
For me this is a big mistake for Seagate. I always bought their drives because they were the fastest, but it seems they are now joining the WD green lineup. I'll probably have to go with hitachi now to have some decent speed.
simple solution for ya, especially if you would buy a 4TB SSD if it was available : it's called a "professional RAID CARD"
I boycotted HDD sales after the flood because prices were outrageously expensive, that said, HDD sales took at 100% price increase when you compared the top of the line before and after the flood (2 TB was the top of the line before the floods).