To coincide with May 4th (Star Wars Day, “May the fourth be with you“), Seagate unveiled three special edition external FireCuda hard drives with a Star Wars theme, in collaboration with LucasFilm. The Star Wars Beskar Ingot Drives evoke the spinoff series The Mandalorian and Boba Fett. The drives feature designs of Boba Fett (from The Book of Boba Fett), Grogu (“baby Yoda”), and the title character The Mandalorian.
These 2.5″ drives offer a 2TB capacity and are powered via USB 3.2, a convenient feature. The design incorporates themed motifs and a customizable RGB strip (configurable via PC software). Weighing 167 grams, the external HDDs are pre-formatted as ExFAT for immediate compatibility with PC, Mac, Playstation, and Xbox. Reformatting is, of course, possible to suit specific user requirements.
The FireCuda line typically represents Seagate’s premium offerings, with the BarraCuda series positioned as more budget-friendly. While many FireCuda drives utilize the SSD format, these Star Wars editions do not. After investigation, it was determined that these drives utilize a 5400 RPM mechanical hard drive. While Seagate’s own website lacks this specific detail, this configuration limits the drive to a maximum speed of approximately 140 MB/s. Our tests confirmed performance just below this threshold (see the measurement image below).
Seagate employs SMR (shingled magnetic recording) technology, designed to increase the density of magnetic disks. However, SMR drives often exhibit slower write speeds (more information on SMR technology is available). While 100-140 MB/s is adequate for general productivity or less demanding games, it falls short of the performance offered by modern SSDs, which can be 7-8 times faster. These drives can function as external storage for Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, but only for backward-compatible titles (PS4 and Xbox One). For optimal gaming performance, an SSD is recommended even for those platforms.
The pricing is another consideration. The Seagate FireCuda Star Wars Special Edition 2TB HDD is currently priced around 1300 SEK, a relatively high cost per megabyte. For a lower price, Seagate’s external One Touch offers 4TB of storage at similar speeds. Alternatively, a 1TB SSD provides half the storage capacity but delivers 8-10 times faster performance. Justifying the use of 5400 RPM drives in today’s market is difficult, given the technology’s age and inherent speed limitations. These specifications were common in consoles and entry-level laptops a decade ago. During the PS4 era, upgrading to a 7200 RPM drive (or SSD) significantly improved console performance. While the drive features a USB 3.2 interface capable of up to 1.5GB/s data transfer, the 5400 RPM drive limits practical speeds to approximately one-tenth of that.
The Seagate FireCuda Star Wars Special Edition 2TB HDD is a unique and appealing product for Star Wars enthusiasts and collectors. The FireCuda line is marketed to have an extended lifespan, which could be a factor for some buyers. However, the 1300 SEK price point is difficult to justify based solely on capacity and performance. A 1TB SSD in the same price range or a 4TB standard HDD offers a more compelling value proposition. The stylish Star Wars design and RGB strip may not fully compensate for the performance limitations.
Seagate provided test samples for this review. The provision of review units does not influence our editorial content.
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