HGST crams 10 TB into helium-filled datacenter hard drive

[Scorpus]

HGST, an subsidiary of Western Digital, has released a massive 10 TB helium-filled hard drive designed for datacenters and other enterprise applications.

The new hard drive, called the Ultrastar He10, features seven platters spinning at 7,200 RPM inside a sealed, helium-filled, standard-height 3.5-inch case. Impressively, unlike other hard drives of this capacity, the He10 uses perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), which has been the hard drive recording standard for nearly 10 years and provides the best performance.

Also read: Best in Storage 2015: Solid State, HDD, Home NAS & more

Previous drives of a similar capacity have used shingled magnetic recording (SMR) to increase the areal density of platters, though this technology negatively affects write speeds in some circumstances. Rather than opting for fewer platters with SMR, HGST has managed to develop the He10 by simply cramming more platters into a standard 3.5-inch case, while retaining PMR technology.

The inclusion of seven platters in a 3.5-inch hard drive is something Seagate hasn't managed to achieve, which is why the company hasn't released a drive larger than 8 TB. HGST, on the other hand, has used helium to reduce air resistance within their new drive, allowing them to slot in an extra platter without significantly affecting performance or reliability.

The He10, which is available in an 8 TB capacity as well as 10 TB, boasts 256 MB of cache and either SATA 6 Gbps or SCSI interfaces. The 10 TB model is capable of 249 MB/s transfers, while the 8 TB is rated at 225 MB/s, both with read/write seek times of 8/8.6 ms and power consumption ratings under ten watts.

HGST hasn't announced how much the Ultrastar He10 will cost, but as it's designed for datacenters, it won't be cheap.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/63004-hgst-crams-10-tb-helium-filled-datacenter-hard.html

 

[DDG4005]

I hope this eventually becomes available in the consumer space.

 

[Adhmuz]

That's a whole lot of stuff on a single drive, for home use it could mean losing just about everything you could have on a single drive, would absolutely need to go RAID for this size of drive, otherwise it's just too risky. I'd need at least 3 of these in RAID 5 to assure data security, 20TB of RAID 5 sounds pretty sweet.

What's really neat is Hitachi was the first to hit the 1TB mark back in 2007, now almost 10 years later, with the help of WD, have increased capacity 10 fold. Back in 2007 that drive sold for $345, or 35 cents a GB, it'll be interesting to see how much they sell this 10TB model for. That same 1TB drive currently goes for 9 cents per GB, revised, never replaced.

 

[RustyTech]

Another 5 years and consumer grade HDDs will be completely obsolete. Will Western Digital/HGST really be able to survive by only offering enterprise grade HDDs?
I saw a chart once showing how densities of SSDs will be increasing and when they will finally overtake hard disk drives.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why Western Digital/HGST is not investing in their own SSDs? Won't they have to close shop when everyone moves away from disk drives?

 

[yRaz]

Another 5 years and consumer grade HDDs will be completely obsolete. Will Western Digital/HGST really be able to survive by only offering enterprise grade HDDs?
I saw a chart once showing how densities of SSDs will be increasing and when they will finally overtake hard disk drives.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why Western Digital/HGST is not investing in their own SSDs? Won't they have to close shop when everyone moves away from disk drives?

Until SSD'S overtake HDDs in capacity, HDDs will remain extremely profitable in the enterprise sector. Long term reliability is also a concern for enterprise users and SSDS can't beat the reliability of these enterprise HDDs.

 

[VitalyT]

It's a dead technology, only survived by lower prices.

Mechanics can't compete with electronics, LOL

 

[Reehahs]

Another 5 years and consumer grade HDDs will be completely obsolete. Will Western Digital/HGST really be able to survive by only offering enterprise grade HDDs?
I saw a chart once showing how densities of SSDs will be increasing and when they will finally overtake hard disk drives.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why Western Digital/HGST is not investing in their own SSDs? Won't they have to close shop when everyone moves away from disk drives?

Until SSD'S overtake HDDs in capacity, HDDs will remain extremely profitable in the enterprise sector. Long term reliability is also a concern for enterprise users and SSDS can't beat the reliability of these enterprise HDDs.

Only cost and capacity are keeping SSD's back from enterprise otherwise they have proven their reliability from day 1 over HDD.

 

[DaveBG]

I really like HGST but SSD technology is already at 6TB and prices are in free fall. Soon 10TB for mechanical drive will be not that impressive.

 

[oldikes]

Prices will only drop so low. It will be curious to see if the Price per GB of SSDs will reach anything close to that of HDDs before it stops falling.

 

[MoeJoe]

Another 5 years and consumer grade HDDs will be completely obsolete. Will Western Digital/HGST really be able to survive by only offering enterprise grade HDDs?
I saw a chart once showing how densities of SSDs will be increasing and when they will finally overtake hard disk drives.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why Western Digital/HGST is not investing in their own SSDs? Won't they have to close shop when everyone moves away from disk drives?

WD/HGST is merging with Sandisk.

 

[cliffordcooley]

WD/HGST is merging with Sandisk.

The term I heard was Western Digital buying out Sandisk. If so, that is not the same as a merger.

 

[Uncle Al]

It's a dead technology, only survived by lower prices.

Mechanics can't compete with electronics, LOL

Hahahahaha .... I do believe the same has been said about newspapers & magazines, film camera's, and bicycles, just to name a few ..... If their stock prices are any indication, the two major producers of that dead technology had a pretty good year in 2014 & 2015. Might be time to replace those glasses!

 

[cliffordcooley]

Hahahahaha .... I do believe the same has been said about newspapers & magazines, film camera's, and bicycles, just to name a few ...

I get what you are saying but in this case [HDD vs SSD] is the equivalent to [Floppy vs Flash Storage]. Eventually SSD will overtake and HDD will die the way of the dinosaur (aka:Floppy). Optical media will also suffer the same fate.

 

[misor]

Hahahahaha .... I do believe the same has been said about newspapers & magazines, film camera's, and bicycles, just to name a few ...

I get what you are saying but in this case [HDD vs SSD] is the equivalent to [Floppy vs Flash Storage]. Eventually SSD will overtake and HDD will die the way of the dinosaur (aka:Floppy). Optical media will also suffer the same fate.

I somewhat disagree.
people tend to backup files into something that is handy and 'local'.
this is why we still need optical media (Blu-ray, dvd-writers).
even (high end) smartphones need to have microsd slots.

imo, cloud storage is never 100% reliable and I don't trust the persons or corporations maintaining such services.
(I guess I am just old fashioned)

 

[cliffordcooley]

I somewhat disagree.
people tend to backup files into something that is handy and 'local'.
this is why we still need optical media (Blu-ray, dvd-writers).

Yes I am one of them, that still doesn't change the fact that optical is dying.

 

[Nero7]

I somewhat disagree.
people tend to backup files into something that is handy and 'local'.
this is why we still need optical media (Blu-ray, dvd-writers).

Yes I am one of them, that still doesn't change the fact that optical is dying.

People use the term dying awfully quick. Their share is being reduced since other technologies come into the market. Same mistake with everything else like Tablet vs PC. PC sales didn't die because a tablet was invented, they reduced to a certain degree.

 

[risc32]

Another 5 years and consumer grade HDDs will be completely obsolete. Will Western Digital/HGST really be able to survive by only offering enterprise grade HDDs?
I saw a chart once showing how densities of SSDs will be increasing and when they will finally overtake hard disk drives.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why Western Digital/HGST is not investing in their own SSDs? Won't they have to close shop when everyone moves away from disk drives?

Until SSD'S overtake HDDs in capacity, HDDs will remain extremely profitable in the enterprise sector. Long term reliability is also a concern for enterprise users and SSDS can't beat the reliability of these enterprise HDDs.

Only cost and capacity are keeping SSD's back from enterprise otherwise they have proven their reliability from day 1 over HDD.

not from what my IT friends say. They had had SSD's dying at a much higher rate than the old spinners, but hey, I only know what my friends who work on hundreds of computers say to me in passing...

 

[VitalyT]

Hahahahaha .... I do believe the same has been said about newspapers & magazines, film camera's, and bicycles, just to name a few ..... If their stock prices are any indication, the two major producers of that dead technology had a pretty good year in 2014 & 2015. Might be time to replace those glasses!

Every item you mentioned has been on the market for well over a century, mostly because humans are the limiting factor. You can't compare them to a temporary piece of engineering, which is being replaced without looking back.

 

[MoeJoe]

Hahahahaha .... I do believe the same has been said about newspapers & magazines, film camera's, and bicycles, just to name a few ...

I get what you are saying but in this case [HDD vs SSD] is the equivalent to [Floppy vs Flash Storage]. Eventually SSD will overtake and HDD will die the way of the dinosaur (aka:Floppy). Optical media will also suffer the same fate.

L o L

 

[MoeJoe]

WD/HGST is merging with Sandisk.

The term I heard was Western Digital buying out Sandisk. If so, that is not the same as a merger.

You completely missed the point and instead, feel compelled to be 'effective'
in what is obviously an ineffectual existence. This wasn't a discussion about
M&A fooly and your comment is L O L.

 

[cliffordcooley]

You completely missed the point.

If you go back and reread the comments, you may actually see where my comment strengthens your comment. By changing the notion that WD now owns SSD technology instead of merging with an SSD company.

 

[Toadman]

RAID 5 (and equivalent) is dead at these drive sizes. You need to do the math on the probability of a drive failure during a rebuild. You'll quickly see that RAID 6 or better is required.

 

[Toadman]

You did see that WD is buying SanDisk right??

 

[Raoul Duke]

Drives of cavernous capacity make it easier to have a backup. I have 12 TB in the desktop and will NOT use the Cloud so...nice to be able to buy a drive or two for external backup.
Not having an optical drive (that can read Blu-ray) in my PC is unthinkable, your mileage may vary

 

[Emexrulsier]

Cool now the high pitched whines you hear from some harddrives will now sound even higher