Helium HDD
Western Digital made a number of announcements yesterday related to their enterprise hard-disk drives (HDD) product lines. While there was nothing unexpected in terms of the products being announced, two aspects stood out - one was the retail availability of EAMR (energy-assisted magnetic recording) HDDs, and the other was additional information on the EAMR technology itself. In 2019, WD had announced the sampling of EAMR-based Ultrastar DC datacenter HDDs with 18TB and 20TB capacities. Yesterday's announcements build upon those products - the WD Gold-branded version of the Ultrastar DC CMR drives is now available for retail purchase, and the Ultrastar drives themselves have moved to general availability. The Ultrastar JBOD and storage server product lines have also been updated to utilize these new high-capacity...
Toshiba to Expand HDD Production: 20 TB & 10-Platter Drives Coming
While hard drive sales on a unit basis have continued to decline, the drop hasn't been consistent across all segments of the market. In particular, high capacity drives for...
22 by Anton Shilov on 12/2/2019Western Digital’s Ultrastar DC HC330: A 10 TB HDD for Enterprises w/ 40% Faster Writes
Western Digital has introduced its new top-of-the-range air-filled hard drive for enterprises that use storage servers, RAID arrays, and distributed storage. The Ultrastar DC HC330 HDD expands the capacities...
9 by Anton Shilov on 7/23/2019Seagate Announces Helium-based 16 TB Exos and IronWolf Hard Drives
Seagate is launching their 16 TB CMR (conventional magnetic recording) helium drives today under two product lines - the Exos X for datacenter usage, and the IronWolf / IronWolf...
37 by Ganesh T S on 6/4/201918 TB HDDs: Toshiba Collaborates with Showa Denko for MAMR HDDs
Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) announced on Thursday that it had completed the development of its microwave assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) platters for next-gen hard drives. The company is set...
7 by Anton Shilov on 2/22/2019State of the Union: Seagate's HAMR Hard Drives, Dual-Actuator Mach2, and 24 TB HDDs on Track
Seagate this week reiterated that the company is on track to launch two crucially important technologies later this calendar year. Firstly, the company plans to start ramping up its...
56 by Anton Shilov on 2/7/201916 TB MAMR Hard Drives in 2019: Western Digital
Western Digital revealed recently that it has begun to sample its next-generation hard drives based on microwave assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) technology. The sampling is a prelude to mass...
25 by Anton Shilov on 1/4/2019Toshiba Launches 12 TB and 14 TB HDDs for Desktops and NAS [UPDATED with MSRPs]
Toshiba on Thursday said that its latest and largest hard drives for high-end desktops and NASes will be available later this month in the US. The new N300 and...
18 by Anton Shilov on 12/7/2018Seagate Unveils 14 TB Consumer HDDs: BarraCuda Pro, SkyHawk, IronWolf, & IronWolf Pro
Seagate on Monday introduced a portfolio of consumer-oriented 14 TB hard drives. The new HDDs belong to the BarraCuda Pro, SkyHawk, IronWolf Pro, and IronWolf series, and rely on...
10 by Anton Shilov on 9/11/2018Seagate BarraCuda Pro 14TB HDD Review: Massive Storage for Desktops
The exponential increase in data storage requirements over the last decade or so has been handled by regular increases in hard drive capacities. Multiple HDD vendors supply them to...
71 by Ganesh T S on 9/10/2018Toshiba Unveils MG07SCA 12 TB & 14 TB Enterprise-Class HDDs with Dual-Port SAS
Toshiba is announcing that it has started sampling of its latest MG07SCA-series enterprise-class helium-filled hard drives. Notable for utilizing a dual-port SAS interface, the HDDs are aimed at business-critical...
11 by Anton Shilov on 9/7/2018Toshiba Unveils MN07 Series HDDs Featuring 12 TB & 14 TB Capacity
Toshiba on Tuesday announced its new hard drives featuring 12 TB and 14 TB capacity aimed at NAS and desktop applications. The HDDs are currently sampling to Toshiba’s partners...
7 by Anton Shilov on 8/2/2018Toshiba’s 14 TB HDDs Now Available from Supermicro
Toshiba was the first maker of hard drives to announce a PMR-based 14 TB HDD last December and apparently it is the first company to start their commercial shipments...
24 by Anton Shilov on 7/13/2018Seagate Announces Exos X14: a Helium-Filled 14 TB PMR HDD
Seagate this week formally introduced its first hard drive with 14 TB capacity aimed at cloud datacenters that does not use shingled magnetic recording. The new Exos X14 HDDs...
10 by Anton Shilov on 3/21/2018Toshiba Announces 14 TB PMR MG07ACA HDD: 9 Platters, Helium-Filled, 260 MB/s
Toshiba is announcing its first family of helium-filled hard drives today. It includes the industry’s first 14 TB HDD with nine platters featuring perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology without...
24 by Anton Shilov on 12/7/2017Seagate BarraCuda Pro 12TB HDD Review
Data storage requirements have seen an exponential increase over the last several years. Both cloud and local storage requirements continue to be served by hard drives where workloads are...
62 by Ganesh T S on 11/15/2017Western Digital Now Shipping 14 TB HDDs: HGST Ultrastar Hs14 with 1000 Gb/in2
Western Digital has started to ship its new HGST Ultrastar Hs14 hard drives, promoted as being suitable for cloud datacenters and for hyperscale developments. The capacity increase from its...
34 by Anton Shilov on 11/1/2017Western Digital Stuns Storage Industry with MAMR Breakthrough for Next-Gen HDDs
Western Digital sprang a big surprise yesterday with the announcement of microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) as the foundation for the next generation of high-capacity hard drives. Hard drives...
129 by Ganesh T S on 10/12/2017Seagate Ships Consumer-Focused 12TB Helium Drives
Seagate is launching a trio of 12TB hard drives today with a focus on the consumer market. The 3.5” drives build upon the 'PMR platters in a helium-filled enclosure'...
14 by Ganesh T S on 10/5/2017Western Digital Ships 12 TB WD Gold HDD: 8 Platters and Helium
Western Digital has begun to ship its WD Gold HDD with 12 TB capacity to partners and large retailers. The 3.5” drive relies on the same platform as the...
63 by Anton Shilov on 9/16/2017