Seagate co-founder dies

by on December 13, 2006

Weird, I just got back from Seagate where I talked with folks about what they are announcing at CES and how far the hard drive business has come and the first thing I see in my news aggregator is that Al Shugart, co-founder of Seagate, has died (thanks Mike Cassidy of the San Jose Mercury News). Like Mike notes, Al Shugart is a name that’s been in the press all during my lifetime.

Today Seagate showed me what they are bringing out at CES: a 1.8-inch 60GB drive. Al saw the business go from the original 5MB (megabyte, not gigabyte) drives which venture capitalists and pundits thought no one would ever need cause they are “too big” all the way up to 750GB drives (Seagate is working on terabyte sizes and more). What a lifetime!

Imagine what my son Patrick will see in his lifetime (he was born the same year Netscape was).

Disclaimer: Seagate pays my salary through its sponsorship of my show, which I greatly appreciate.

  • I saw one of Seagate's 750G HD's yesterday.

    I think we'll see a Terabyte Drive at CES.
  • Paul: I'm not sure a terabyte will make it out at CES. Sounds like it'll be a little later. But, at least, they are talking about it.
  • There has to be more to the story than a 1.8" 60GB drive...that's hardly news
  • John: there is. It uses less power, and is more shielded from shocks, than other 1.8" inchers. But they have a lot more than that coming.
  • mo
    I love seagate hd's, they are my fave
  • rhm
    Al Shugart! Wasn't one of the earliest harddrive interface standards called the Shugart interface? Legendary.
  • Neil
    I made a fair bit of money selling 5 mb hard drives in the early 80s.

    Shugart was THE drive to have, pre voice coil days(Ah the memories)
  • Alan Enid
    My extensive pr0n collection wouldn't have been possible without him
  • Rob,

    Al was a genuine American original. He lead by characture, hard work and a hand shake. Yes at times he was difficult, never enjoyed the corporate "suits" mentality, and did business on a handshake or a phone call. Frankly I enjoyed that about him. You always knew with Al was where you stood with him-- because "life's too damn short." he'd tell me.

    We will really miss him.
  • Earl Cook
    I have a Shugart 15 megabyte HD from the early 1980's. It has a clear canopy so that you can see the large 14 inch platter and head assembly. It is about 24 inches long, 18 inches wide and weighs approximately 45 lbs. This drive was never used beyond testing. When verified, this disc had zero bad sectors, something very rare. I built custom computers and we used this type of drive. It is model 1500 and the 30 mb model was 3030 and where the name 'Winchester Drive' came from. Have held onto this drive for almost 27 years, but need to make an investment and looking to sell. Anyone wish to venture upon a value or where I can find serious collectors of early computer history?
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