Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology, is a major American manufacturer of hard drives, founded in 1979 and based in Scotts Valley, California. The company is registered in the Cayman Islands. Their hard drives are used in a variety of computers, from servers, desktops, and laptops to other consumer devices such as digital video recorders, the Microsoft Xbox and the Creative Zen Micro line of digital audio players. Seagate is the world's largest computer hard disk manufacturer and the oldest independent hard disk maker still in operation.

In 1992, Seagate introduced the Barracuda, the industry's first hard disk with a 7200 RPM spindle speed. The company followed this with the Cheetah (the first 10,000 RPM disk) in 1996 and the X15 (15,000 RPM) in 2000. Seagate also introduced the Medalist Pro 7200 range, the first ATA disk with a 7200 RPM spindle, in 1997. As of 2005, Seagate started an innovation called the "pocket hard drive". Seagate has the highest areal density (number of bits stored per square inch) in the industry and it leverages off of this technological edge to make higher capacity disc drives at lower costs per disc. On December 21, 2005, Seagate confirmed the acquisition of rival HDD firm Maxtor.