Seagate’s FireCuda Forge moves your data between a hard drive and SSD

Checking the news template so the section order follows the source.The source has a clear order: the Alkemi announcement, store pricing, hybrid-versus-NAS contrast, how files move, then the speed numbers.Seagate announced a new external storage solution, called the FireCuda Forge, that combines the speed benefits of an SSD with the affordability of a higher-capacity hard drive. The Verge's report by Andrew Liszewski, a senior reporter who has been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, is dated Nov 10, 2026, at 11:01 AM UTC. The Forge is the first drive powered by Seagate's Alkemi intelligent storage platform, which learns how your data is used and relocates the files you are currently using, or use most frequently, to the faster SSD.

This piece is for buyers pricing a large external drive who also want SSD speed and are ready to supply their own NVMe SSD. It covers the FireCuda Forge's 8TB and 20TB hard drives on Seagate's online store, the user-replaceable disks, and the memory shortage that adds to the price because the NVMe SSD is not in the box. It then explains how Alkemi differs from Seagate's older hybrid drives and from a network attached storage cache, and it records the read and write speeds tied to Windows 11 and macOS 26.

01FireCuda Forge on the Alkemi platform

Seagate's external storage solution is called the FireCuda Forge. It is built to combine the speed benefits of an SSD with the affordability of a higher-capacity hard drive, and it is the first drive powered by the company's Alkemi intelligent storage platform. Alkemi learns how your data is used and relocates the files you are currently using, or the files you use most frequently, to the faster SSD.

The hard-drive half of that pair comes in two capacities. You can choose between an 8TB or 20TB hard drive, and the Forge requires you to provide your own SSD. Seagate supplies one of those two hard drives, and the NVMe SSD that receives the files Alkemi relocates is a drive the owner has to add.

028TB and 20TB Seagate store prices

The FireCuda Forge is now available through Seagate's online store with an 8TB hard drive for $699, or a 20TB hard drive for $899. Both of those hard drives are user-replaceable. The $699 and $899 figures are the store prices of the two hard-drive options Seagate is offering, not a bundled price that already contains the SSD.

The NVMe SSD is not included with either the 8TB model or the 20TB model. In the middle of a memory shortage, buying that SSD will significantly add to the Forge's price. The $699 and $899 prices are for the Forge with its user-replaceable hard drive, and the NVMe SSD the buyer still has to purchase sits on top of whichever capacity they choose.

03Decades of Seagate hybrid flash drives

Combining a hard drive with flash storage is not a new idea. Seagate has been selling hybrid drives with flash memory built in for decades. The Forge changes the buying choice those older hybrids did not offer: it lets users choose what hard drive and what SSD they want to use together, instead of taking a drive that already has its flash memory built in.

The arrangement sounds similar to network attached storage (NAS) solutions that let you add an SSD where frequently accessed data is temporarily cached. Seagate says its new FireCuda Forge works differently. Alkemi uses machine learning to dynamically move data from one drive to the other based on your current workload and what data that requires, which is the behavior Seagate sets against that temporary NAS cache.

04Machine learning across one PC drive

The Alkemi technology uses machine learning to dynamically move data from one drive to the other based on your current workload and what data that requires. Files you are currently using move to the faster SSD, and so do the files you use most frequently. That move runs between the hard drive Seagate provides in the Forge and the NVMe SSD the owner adds.

As your needs and tasks change, the data will be dynamically reorganized across the two drives, and it will always appear as just a single drive connected to your PC. The hard drive and the SSD both sit behind that one drive. Alkemi keeps moving the files you are currently using, or use most frequently, onto the faster SSD as the workload changes.

052,500MB/s reads and 2,000MB/s writes

The FireCuda Forge offers read speeds up to 2,500MB/s and write speeds that top out at 2,000MB/s. Those figures apply on computers running at least Windows 11 or macOS 26. The speed claims sit with the 8TB or 20TB hard drive Seagate ships and the NVMe SSD the owner supplies, which are the two drives Alkemi moves data between.

A computer has to be running at least Windows 11, or at least macOS 26, for Seagate's stated FireCuda Forge speeds to apply. On those systems, reads are up to 2,500MB/s and writes top out at 2,000MB/s. The Forge those numbers describe still uses the owner's NVMe SSD as the faster drive and the 8TB or 20TB hard drive as the higher-capacity drive, shown to the PC as a single drive.