HDDs
Western Digital is gearing up to start sampling of its 28 TB nearline hard drive for hyperscalers. The new HDD will use the company's energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording (ePMR) technology with UltraSMR track layouts. Since both technologies are now familiar to hyperscalers, the validation and qualification of this hard drive should be relatively straightforward. "We are about to begin product sampling of our 28 TB UltraSMR drive," said David Goeckeler, chief executive of Western Digital, at the company's most recent earnings call. "This cutting-edge product is built upon the success of our ePMR and UltraSMR technologies with features and reliability trusted by our customers worldwide. We are staging this product for quick qualification and ramp as demand improves." Right now, Western Digital is shipping its 26...
Seagate 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 6/4/2019Seagate Ships 16 TB CMR Hard Drives, Preps 18 TB SMR HDDs
Continuing the march of progress in the HDD industry, Seagate has revealed that they have started shipping their 16 TB PMR hard drives. In a quarterly earnings call last...
27 by Anton Shilov on 5/6/2019Shipments of PC Hard Drives Predicted to Drop By Nearly 50% in 2019
According to a new financial presentation from Nidec, a Japanese motor manufacturer who is responsible for around 85% of all HDD spindle motors, the company believes that shipments of...
79 by Anton Shilov on 5/3/2019Western Digital: Over Half of Data Center HDDs Will Use SMR by 2023
Western Digital said at OCP Global Summit last week that over half of hard drives for data centers will use shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology in 2023. At present...
33 by Anton Shilov on 3/19/2019Toshiba's HDD Tech Roadmap: A Mix of SMR, MAMR, TDMR, and HAMR
In an interview published this week with Blocks & Files, Toshiba outlined the company will be relying on a mix of hard drive technologies in order to keep increasing...
12 by Anton Shilov on 3/13/2019Western Digital to Demo Dual-Actuator HDDs Next Week: Double the Actuators for Double the Perf
Western Digital has revealed this week that it will demonstrate its first dual-actuator hard drives at next week's OCP summit. Marking the company's first foray into multi-actuator drives, WD...
24 by Anton Shilov on 3/8/201918 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 2/22/2019HOYA Starts to Build Next-Gen HDD Glass Substrate Production Facility
HOYA Corp., an optical glass maker from Japan, announced this week that it had started construction of its new production facility for hard drive platter glass substrates. These substrates...
12 by Anton Shilov on 2/14/2019State 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 2/7/2019CES 2019: The Quintessential ADATA HC770 External HDD, with RGB
There is a wide choice of RGB-lit components and accessories to suit all tastes. There is also plethora or RGB-lit keyboards, mice, and even displays. Even despite (in spite?...
7 by Anton Shilov on 1/23/2019Toshiba at CES 2019: World’s First 16 TB TDMR HDD Debuts
Toshiba has announced the industry’s first hard drive featuring a 16 TB capacity. The MG08-series HDDs are designed for nearline applications and use two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) technology, therefore...
8 by Anton Shilov on 1/9/201916 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 1/4/2019OWC Launches Drive Dock with USB Type-C: Two SATA Drives, Up to 981 MB/s
OWC has released its new Drive Dock external storage solution that can accommodate two hot-plug-capable HDDs or SSDs. What makes this latest drive dock particularly notable is that it...
15 by Anton Shilov on 12/10/2018Toshiba 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 Starts to Test 16 TB HAMR Hard Drives
Seagate on Monday disclosed that it had begun testing the industry’s first HAMR hard drive intended for evetualy commercial release. With a capacity of 16 TB, the HDD is...
14 by Anton Shilov on 12/4/2018Best Consumer Hard Drives: Holiday 2018
Data storage requirements have kept increasing over the last several years. While SSDs have taken over the role of the primary drive in most computing systems, hard drives continue...
0 by Ganesh T S on 11/15/2018New Halo 15TB HDDs: Western Digital Unveils the Ultrastar DC HC620
Western Digital this week introduced its new Ultrastar DC HC620 family of hard drives that consists of 14 TB and 15 TB models. The HDDs use shingled magnetic recording...
19 by Anton Shilov on 10/26/2018Seagate 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 9/7/2018