Sansung Hard Disk Drive Business is Now Seagate!

Sansung Hard Disk Drive Business is Now Seagate!Seagate and Samsung announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement on April 19,2011 as following:

1. Samsung combining its hard disk drive (HDD) business into Seagate;
2. Extending and enhancing the existing patent cross-license agreement between the companies
3. A NAND flash memory supply agreement. (Samsung will provide Seagate with its market-leading semiconductor products for use in Seagate’s enterprise solid state drives (SSDs), solid state hybrid drives and other products.)
4. A disk drive supply agreement(Seagate will supply hard disk drives to Samsung for PCs, notebooks and consumer electronics.)
5. Expanded cooperation between the companies to co-develop enterprise storage solutions;
6. Samsung receiving significant equity ownership in Seagate;
7. A shareholder agreement under which an executive of Samsung will be nominated to join Seagate’s Board of Directors;

The combined value of these transactions and agreements is approximately $1.375 billion USD, which will be paid by Seagate to Samsung in the form of 50% stock and 50% cash.

These transactions and related strategic agreements will enable both companies to better align their current and future product development efforts and roadmaps, accelerate time-to-market for new products and position the companies to better address rapidly evolving opportunities in markets including, but not limited to, mobile computing, cloud computing and solid state storage. In connection with its strategic alliance with Samsung, Seagate expects also to strengthen its relationship with TDK Corporation/SAE Magnetics (H.K.) Ltd. Together, these transactions and agreements broaden a strategic relationship between Seagate and Samsung that began with a joint development agreement announced in August 2010.

“We are pleased to strengthen our strategic relationship with Samsung in a way that better aligns both companies around technologies and products, with these agreements, we expect to achieve greater scale and deliver a broader range of innovative storage products and solutions to our customers, while facilitating our long-term relationship with Samsung.” – said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman, president and CEO.

Seagate expects these transactions and agreements to be meaningfully accretive to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share and cash flow within the first full year following the closing, and Seagate does not expect any material restructuring costs in connection with them.

“Delivering value to the market and consumers is the primary goal of the extensive agreement announced today. Samsung looks forward to extending our existing strategic ties with Seagate, to deliver creative technology solutions for a broad diversity of consumer, business and industrial applications,” – said Oh-hyun, Kwon, president of the semiconductor business of Samsung Electronics.

The transactions and agreements significantly expand Seagate’s customer access in China and Southeast Asia. In addition, the mutual supply agreements enable Seagate to secure an important source of leading-edge NAND flash supply as the company expands its SSD and solid state hybrid product offerings, and position Seagate to be a more significant supplier of disk drives to Samsung. The agreement also gives Samsung a significant ownership position in Seagate.

Under the terms of the agreement, Samsung will receive consideration consisting of 50% Seagate ordinary shares and 50% cash. Upon closing, Samsung will receive Seagate ordinary shares valued at $687.5 million (45.2 million shares, or approximately 9.6% ownership of Seagate, which is based on Seagate’s 30-day volume weighted average stock price prior to signing), plus $687.5 million in cash. Samsung will have a right to designate a nominee to j oin Seagate’s Board of Directors following closing.

The agreement has no financing contingencies, and is subject to customary closing conditions, including review by U.S. and international regulators. The transactions are expected to close by the end of calendar year 2011.

See another post: Hitachi Hard Disk Drive Business is now Western Digital

Because Hitachi recently transfered its hard disk drive business to Western Digital, the cooperation of Samsung and Seagate is almost inevitable.

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter T, U, V, W)

Samsung Hard Drive Glossary TOC
Table of Contents

Track
a radial position of heads over the media (circular ring)

Track following servo (also closed loop)
Control system which reflects if the head is in the correct position over the track, if this isn’t the case, the actuator is instructed to adjust its position (in real time)

Transfer rate
the speed at which the drive sends and receives data from the controller

Thin-film head
an older type head technology, with a single head which reads and writes information (dual function)

TPI
Tracks Per Inch, reflects areal density

UDP (Universal Disk Product)
A file system that supports the current generation of CD’s such as CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video

USB (Universal Serial Bus)
A common part on Personal Systems that allow compliant peripherals to be integrated into supporting systems

Voice Coil Motor
electro-magnetic positioning motor (actuator). A wire coil is placed in a stationary magnetic field. When current is passed through the coil the resultant flux causes the coil to move

Winchester Disks
early IBM hard disk model, still used as a reference to today’s HDD

WORM (Write Once Read Many)
description for media which can only be written on once

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter S)

Samsung Hard Disk Drive Glossary SCSI
Small Computer System Interface, device interconnection standard allowing daisy chaining of devices. There are various standards of SCSI: SCSI, SCSI-2, SCSI-3 and SCSI-4

Sector
Smallest grouping of data that can be assigned to store data on the media of an Hard Disk Drive, comprises of 512 bytes (section of a track)

Seek (time)
The movement of a head in search of the right data track

Sequential Access
The reading or writing of data in a sequential order as opposed to random access

Servo data / pattern
Magnetic markings that indicate the position of a head relative to a track (guide for head)

Servo system
a recorded segment of the CD that may contain one or more tracks of any type (data/audio)

Settle Time
The time lapse between arrival of the head at a specific track, and the head to stop fibrating so that a reliable read/write can take place

SFF
Small form factor, a committee consisting of suppliers of IDE hard disk drives, formed to agree technical specifications such as E-IDE

Shock rating
Measurement (Gs) indicating how much shock a disk drive before damage could occur

S.M.A.R.T
Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, an automatic process which provides an advanced warning of device degradation and/or faults, to help prevent loss of data. Early warning system

Spindle Motor
Motor that rotates the platters

Soft Error
A data error which can be corrected by attempting to re-read the data

SSA
Serial Storage Architecture, an new type of interface, using copper or fibre optic connections. Data travels serially (one bit at the time)

Stepper Motor
predecessor of Rotary Voice Coil Motor, component that controls head movement

Storage Density
recording density (see BPI, TPI, Areal Density)

Substrate
The material underneath the magnetic coating of a disk

Surface
each side of a disk has a surface that is coated with the magnetic material for data storage

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter R)

Samsung Hard Disk Drive Glossary RAM
Random Access Memory, a memory chip that allows any data to be stored and retrieved randomly, directly and individually (increasing the amount of RAM on a PC will improve the performance)

RAM Disc
Part of the RAM that is used as if it were a disk drive, RAM is faster than disk drives

Recalibrate
Function where the heads are returned to cylinder zero

R&D
Research and Development

RLL
Run Length Limited, a process which compresses data so that more data can be stored on a disk

RMA
Return Merchandise Authorisation

RPM
Rotations Per Minute, speed at which the disk spins

ROM
Read Only Memory, a memory chip that once programmed can be read and accessed, but cannot be altered (chip retains the information even when the power is turned off)

Rotary Voice Coil
component which controls the head movement

Rotational Latency
The time lapse between a head reaching the right track, and the disk spinning around to the correct sector / block where the data can be read/written by the head

Rotational speed (also RPM)
measure of the number of times a disk spins per minute

RWMRead-write Memory, this describes computer memory (usually chip) that can be both read from and written to

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter O, P)

Samsung Hard Drive Glossary OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer

Operating System
Software program that facilitates communication between the computer and its user

Outside Diameter
Largest radius track on a platter

Parity
a data error detection method, that ensures that the number of binary digits in a bit is always odd, so that accurate transmission of data can be checked by counting the number of bits for an odd parity

Partitioning
division of the area on the platter and allocating sections each of which becomes a logical device, so that the File Allocation Table (FAT) can deal with when in use

Parallel Port
PC peripherals are commonly connected to a PC via the parallel port

PCB
Printed Circuit Board, board that has the HDD chips attached to it

PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect

Periphera
components usually attached to a computer systems CPU by controllers and cables

Plated Media
platters whose surface is plated with metallic alloy , allowing the disc to store more data than on iron-oxide plated discs

Platter
the magnetic disc that is part of a disk drive, the part of the HDD on which the data is stored

POH
Power on Hours

PnP
Plug and Play, the ability for users to plug in new devices into their existing system and immediately be able to use it, as a result of a group of leading hardware manufacturers (initiated by Microsoft), who have configured their hardware so that it automatically identified and configures peripheral devices

PRML
Partial-response maximum likelihood. Data is stored on hard drives as a tiny area of magnetism for each bit. As more and more data is squeezed on a disk, the magnetic areas become closer and closer and may affect one another. PMRL is a set of steps applied to data read from the disk. It removes probable errors and produces valid data from the tightly packed bits. PMRL allows an increase of up toe 30 % in the density of data on the disk

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter J, K, L, M)

JPEG
Joint Pictures Expert Group. Compression method for still images

Jumper
connector box that can be placed over pins that protrude from the circuit board. The jumper can be changed to configure the HDD according to the system requirement

KB
Kilobyte, a measuring unit, 1 KB is 1,024 bytes

Landing Zone
(see head landing zone)

Latency
(see rotational latency)

LBA
Logical Block Address, a set of 28 bits, used by the E-IDE interface system, representing the capacity of the hard disk drive. These 28 bits can theoretically support a drive capacity of up to nearly 137 GB, but in practice DOS Limits this to 8.4GB

Low Level Formatting
The process of creating sectors on the media so that a drive can store information

Main Memory
(see head landing zone)

MB
Megabyte, unit of measure of bytes

Media (Magnetic)
the magnetic area on the platter, the area where the data is stored inside the hard disk

MFM
Modified Frequency Modulation, method of recording data on media using a recording code that is recognised by a specific and dedicated Hard Disk Controller (an encoding method to record data on a magnetic data carrier with twice the data density of FM)

MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group)
A compression method for full motion video, MPEG files are smaller than uncompressed video files

MR
Magneto-resistive. This describes materials whose electrical resistance changes when they are exposed to magnetic fields. Since hard drives store data as tiny spots of magnetism, it is possible to use magneto-restive heads to read the stored data. MR heads can be produced very small, allowing the circular disk tracks to be squeezed closer together ? thus increasing the capacity of the disk

MR head
Magnetic Recording head

MTBF
Mean Time Before Failure, rating indicating the expected number of power on hours (POH) before failure will occur

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter G, H, I)

Samsung Hard Disk Drive Glossary Gigabyte (GB)
1 Gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 digital bytes / 1,000,000,000 decimal bytes, a unit of measure for data

Hard Error
a data error which is not able to be overcome when the disk is reread, it occurs repeatedly at the same location on the media, indicating a defect in the surface

Hardware
computer equipment (as opposed to the computer programs and software)

HC
High-speed CMOS)

HDA
Head Disk Assembly

HDD
Hard Disk Drive, magnetic storage device

Head crash
Occurs when a head and disk accidentally touch, thereby damages the media (and subsequently the data)

Head Landing Zone
Area on the media which is dedicated to head takeoff and landing, no data is recorded in this area

Head positioner
(see Actuator)

Host
the computer system that the drive is integrated into

Hot swap
replacement of hard drives, whilst computer is in operation with zero downtime

Host adapter
a plug-in board or circuitry on the motherboard that acts as the interface between a computer system bus and the disk drive

IC
Integrated Circuits. IC’s are arrays of electronic components such as transistors, diodes, resistors built from a single piece of semiconductor material. Huge numbers of components (millions) can be placed upon a single chip, the external connections being made via the pins on the IC package

IDE
Integrated Drive Electronics, a hardware interface that allows peripheral devices to be attached to a PC

IDE Controller
The controller translates commands from the computer into something that the hard drive understands

Interface
transmitters/receivers that establish links between various parts of a computer and facilitate the exchange of data between these components (e.g. IDE, EIDE, SCSI, and for notebooks PCMCIA). The way the drive and host communicate with each other. It is a standard defined by industry organisations

Interleave factor
the number of sectors that pass beneath the heads before the next sector arrives (a means to optimise performance of a drive)

Internal Transfer rate
the speed at which data is transferred to and from the media, reflected in millions of bits per second (Mbits/second)

Inside Diameter
smallest radius recording track on a platter

Inside Diameter
smallest radius recording track on a platter

I/O
Input/Output

ISA
Industry Standard Architecture

ISO

International Standards Organisation, sets standards for computer industry

ISO-9660
a data format designed by the ISO in 1984

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter E, F)

Samsung Hard Disk DriveE Block
component that connects the actuator to the head/slider assemblies

ECC
Error Correction Code, detects and correct errors in a data field

Effective Seek Time
The time it takes to seek data, when all/part of the data needed is already stored in the buffer of the drive (speeds up the process)

EIDE (also ATA)
Enhanced Integrated Device Electronics, interface

Embedded Servo
Servo data that is embedded on the media. Allows the actuator to fine-tune the position of the head(s). It is a positioning signal that keeps the read/write heads positioned over the data. The advantage of an embedded servo is that the data can flow without interruptions making the drive suitable for multimedia and AV applications

ESD
Electro-static discharge

FAT
File Allocation Table

FCI
Flux Changes per Inch of data track, equals BPI

Firmware
permanent instructions and data programmed directly into the circuitry of read-only memory (cannot be erased) for controlling the operation of the computer or disk drive

Flux change
reflects the point where the direction of magnetisation reverses in order to define a binary digit (0 or 1)

Format
The arrangement of a magnetic track pattern on the media. This enables the drive to store user data, and is never altered (see also low level formatting)

Form factor
industry standard that defines the dimensions of a particular device (e.g. 5.25″, 3.5″, 2.5″)

Flying Height
the height at which the head moves over the media, a lower height, equals larger areal density

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter C)

Samsung hard disk driveCache Memory
Part of the Personal Computer (area of DRAM) that transfers data between system elements with different performance characteristics (increases processing speed)

Capacity
The maximum amount of data that can be stored on a specific HDD, expressed in gigabytes (GB) / megabytes (MB)

Capacity Barriers
On certain occasions (primarily with older Personal Computers) the full capacity of the disk drives in a PC is inaccessible. This may result from a combination of Hardware, BIOS, and Operating System constraints. General solution is either to upgrade the system BIOS or install Driver software

CD-R (also CD Recordable)
A recordable compact disc that holds read only data that cannot be changed

CD-ROM
A pre-mastered compact disc that contains data thanks to an extra recording layer built into the structure of the disc. Once written, the data cannot be erased

CD-RW (CD Re-Writable)
compact disc that allows you to re-record data up to 1000 times

CHS
Cylinders, Heads and Sectors. A term used to describe the properties of hard disk drives, the CHS information for a drive is stored in the computer BIOS

Clean Room
Dust free environment, which is required when manufacturing hard drives

Closed Loop (also track following servo)
Control system, which reflects if the head is in the correct position over the track, if this isn’t the case, the actuator is instructed to adjust its position (in real time)

Component Design Life
The amount of time the drive should operate without any problems

CMOS
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor. CMOS chips are extensively used in computer systems because of their low power consumption. They can also operate over a very wide range of supply voltages. They are, however, susceptible to damage by static electricity and care is required when handling them

CPU
Central Processing Unit, the brain of all modern computers. The microprocessor chip that executes programmed instructions

Crash
breakdown in hardware/software in a system

CRC
CRCCyclic Redundancy Check; part of a sector which detects if parts of a string of data is missing within the sector. It is a method of testing that the data retrieved from a disk is without error. When data is written to disk, a special check number (CRC) is calculated, based on the data itself, and stored with it. As data comes off the disk, the CRC is re-calculated and compared with the stored CRC. The two match if no errors are present

Cylinder
The vertical position of all the heads over the (various) platter(s) on a specific track of a disk drive, forming a vertical cylinder

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Glossary of Samsung Hard Disk Drive (Letter B)

Bad Block/Sector
An area on the media that is damaged and thus not reliable (detected by ECC). Such areas are generally auto assigned to spare sectors

Binary
Means of storing data on media, using two digits, (i.e. 0 & 1)

Bit
Binary Digit (i.e. 0 or 1). The form in which computers process information

Block (also cluster)
A group of sectors accessed/stored as a logical unit

BIOS
(Basic Input/Output system, firmware that is permanently stored in the memory of the CPU). The BIOS ROM first performs test routines when a system is switched on. It searches for and loads the operating system from the disk and contains programs to access the system hardware

BPI
Bits per Inch, reflects Areal Density

Buffer
A part of the HDD which temporary stores data. The buffer compensates for a difference in data transfer rates and data processing rates

Byte
a number of bits, considered a unit (8 bits = 1 byte)

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