The PCB

The 750GB Barracuda 7200.10's PCB is pretty small, occupying less than half of the drive's underside. It's populated by two main chips - the hard drive controller and the motor drive controller. Let's check them out.

The Hard Drive Controller

The 750GB Barracuda 7200.10 hard drive uses the same custom-made Agere Systems hard drive controller used in the Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 hard drive.

We couldn't find out anything about this controller, even after searching through Agere Systems' website. But this hard drive controller should not differ much from others in its job of managing the transfer of data between the drive and the host.

Agere Hard Drive Controller	Texas Instruments Motor Drive Controller

The Motor Drive Controller

Just like the Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 hard drive, Seagate used a separate motor drive controller (see above) from Texas Instruments. Again, this appears to be the same custom chip, made specifically for Seagate.

Although it cannot be confirmed, this motor drive controller is likely to employ pseudo-sinusoidal drive technology, similar to ST's proprietary Smooth Drive technology.

Such technologies allow the hard drive to minimize torque ripple to reach a higher track density as well as reduce acoustic noise.