History

1970s

On November 1, 1979, Seagate Technology (then called Shugart Technology) was incorporated by co-founders Al Shugart, Tom Mitchell, Doug Mahon, Finis Conner and Syed Iftikar. The name was changed to Seagate Technology to avoid a lawsuit from Xerox's subsidiary Shugart Associates (also founded by Shugart).

1980s


Their first product (released in 1980) was the 5-megabyte ST-506, the first hard disk to fit the 5.25-inch form factor of the Shugart "mini-floppy" drive. The hard disk, which used a Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM) interface, was a hit, and was later released in a 10-megabyte version, the ST-412 with which Seagate secured a contract as a major OEM supplier for the IBM XT, IBM's first personal computer to contain a hard disk. The large volumes of units sold to IBM, the then-dominant supplier of PCs, fueled Seagate's early growth.
In 1983, Al Shugart was replaced as president by then chief operating officer, Tom Mitchell. Shugart continued to oversee corporate planning.
Finis Conner left Seagate in early 1985 and founded Conner Peripherals, which originally specialized in small-form-factor drives for portable computers. Conner Peripherals also entered the tape drive business with its purchase of Archive Corporation. After ten years as an independent company, Conner Peripherals was acquired by Seagate in a 1996 merger.
In 1989 Seagate acquired Control Data's (CDC) Imprimis Technology, CDC's disk storage division, resulting in a combined market share of 43 percent. The acquisition was synergistic with little overlap in products or markets; Seagate benefited from Imprimis' head technology and quality reputation while Imprimis gained access to Seagate's lower component and manufacturing costs.

1990s

September 1991 - Tom Mitchell resigned under pressure from the board of directors. Al Shugart reassumed presidency of the company.
November 1991 - Seagate introduced the Barracuda hard drives, the industry's first hard disk with a 7200 RPM spindle speed.
May 1993 - Seagate was the first to ship 50 million hard drives.
December 1994 Seagate Technology Inc moves from Nasdaq to New York Stock Exchange and begins trading under ticker symbol SEG.
February 1996 - Merges with Conner Peripherals to form world's largest independent hard-drive manufacturer.
October 1996 - Seagate introduced the industry's first hard disk with a 10,000-RPM spindle speed.
May 1997 - The High Court of Justice in England awarded Amstrad PLC $93 million in a lawsuit over reportedly faulty disk drives Seagate sold to Amstrad, a British manufacturer and marketer of personal computers.[9]
October 1997 - Seagate introduced the first Fibre Channel interface hard drive.
March 1998 - Seagate produced its 1 billionth magnetic recording head.
July 1998 - Shugart resigned his positions with Seagate.
August 1998 - Seagate Research is established in Pittsburgh.
April 1999 - Seagate ships its 250 millionth hard drive.

2000s

2000 - Seagate incorporated in Grand Cayman.
February 2000 - Seagate introduced the first 15,000-RPM hard drive.
October 2001 - Microsoft Xbox game console shipped with Seagate hard drives.
December 2002 - Seagate re-entered the public market (NYSE: STX).
June 2003 - Seagate re-entered the hard drive market for notebook computers.
March 2005 - Seagate shipped its 10 millionth 15,000-RPM hard drive.
September 2005 - Seagate acquired Mirra, Inc.
November 2005 - Seagate acquired ActionFront Data Recovery Labs.
January 2006 - Seagate named 2006 "Company of the Year" by Forbes Magazine.
April 2006 - Seagate announced the first professional Direct-To-Disc digital cinema professional video camera aimed at the independent filmmaking market (using their disc drives).
May 2006 - Seagate acquired Maxtor in an all-stock deal worth $1.9 billion. Seagate continued to market the separate Maxtor brand.
October 2006 - Seagate shipped the first hybrid drive.
2007 - Seagate acquired EVault and MetaLINCS, later rebranded i365. MetaLINCS was a leader in the Discovery space.
April 2008 - Seagate was the first to ship 1 billion hard drives.
January 2009 - Bill Watkins was released from employment as CEO.
December 2009 - Seagate announce their first solid-state drive, the Seagate Pulsar.

2010s

January 2010 - Seagate's Board of Directors approved changing the company's incorporation Seagate from the Cayman Islands to Ireland. The change was approved at a shareholders meeting on April 14, 2010 and the change of incorporation took effect on July 3, 2011.
June 2010 - Seagate released the world's first 3TB hard drive, in the form of an external hard drive as part of their Seagate FreeAgent line of external Hard Drives.
June 24, 2010 - Seagate announced they were moving their headquarters and most of their staff from Scott's Valley to Cupertino, California.
September 2010 - Seagate released the world's first portable 1.5TB hard drive.
March 2011 - Seagate announced the first standalone version of its 3TB hard drive that can be used with their desktop computers.
September 2011 - Seagate launched the world's first 4TB single hard disk external drive.
December 2011 - Seagate acquired Samsung's HDD business.
March 2012 - Seagate demonstrates the first 1TB/square inch density hard drive, with the possibility of scaling up to 60TB by 2030.