Why We May Never See Native USB 3.0 for the Mac

"Apple's been a front runner of technology since the company's inception. From the desktop-computer mouse, to the initial adoption of USB as an input, Apple's been speedy about adopting technology before its prime. The Cupertino-based computer giant has also birthed some of its own proprietary technology like FireWire and the Mini Display Port, and while it's a pain for those of us that are cross platform, it does make it easy when it comes to purchasing peripherals. Unfortunately, Apple has yet to follow suit in its perceived reluctance to adopt USB 3.0, but it turns out that there's actually a pretty good reason for that and it might have something to do with a very speedy piece of next-generation technology.

There have been numerous road blocks keeping Apple Computers and USB 3.0 from synching in perfect harmony. Initially, it was a lack of drivers provided for Mac OS X by NEC, followed by the lack of support for the technology from Silicon Valley chip maker, Intel. Intel's reluctance to delve into the USB 3.0 sphere has nothing to do with leaving Apple out of the game, however. The company has been keeping its distance because of its own plans for a next-generation optical cable interface dubbed Light Peak."

Why We May Never See Native USB 3.0 for the Mac

Seagate Ships World's Fastest Desktop Hard Drive; First Drive to Feature Serial ATA 6Gbit/Second Technology

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - September 21, 2009 - Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) today began global shipments of the world’s fastest, largest-capacity mainstream desktop hard drive – Barracuda® XT, a 7200RPM product featuring 2TB of storage capacity and a blazing fast Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/second interface. The 3.5-inch desktop drive, the industry’s first to feature a SATA 6Gb/s interface, meets the capacity demands of gaming, digital video-environments and other storage-hungry desktop computing applications while delivering the highest performance in its class.

The introduction of the Barracuda XT drive marks the shift to the next generation of desktop computing speed as Seagate doubles the storage bandwidth of current computers.

“Capacity and performance remain the defining attributes of hard drives for PC gamers, digital multimedia content developers and many other customers requiring high-end systems at home and in the office,” said Dave Mosley, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing at Seagate. “Seagate is meeting these requirements with the first 7200RPM desktop hard drive to combine 2TB of storage capacity with the fastest Serial ATA interface to date.”

The Barracuda XT product, a four-platter drive featuring an areal density of 368 Gigabits per square inch, delivers the highest performance – burst speeds of up to 6 Gigabits per second – for all PC applications, maintains backward compatibility with the SATA 3Gb/second and SATA 1.5Gb/second interfaces, and uses the same cables and connectors as previous SATA generations to ease integration. The hard drive’s SATA 6Gb/s interface enables system builders using SATA 6Gb/s drive controllers to build high-performance desktop PCs, full-tilt gaming rigs, and home and small business servers, and its 64MB cache optimizes burst performance and data transfer speeds.

“Marvell is pleased to be announcing the industry’s first commercially available SATA 6Gb/s solution and working with Seagate to introduce this technology,” said Dr. Alan J. Armstrong, vice president of Marketing, Business Storage Group at Marvell. “Marvell has been working with a broad group of partners and customers to bring this solution to market. As early adopters of Marvell’s SATA 6Gb/s technology, both ASUS and GIGABYTE offer motherboards to complement SATA 6Gb/s hard drives.”

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