Seagate Unveils Exos X24 24TB and 28 TB: Setting the Stage for HAMR HDDs

Seagate on Wednesday introduced its Exos X24 family of hard drives, it's highest capacity series of drives to date. The new family is comprised of both conventional magnetic recording technology (CMR) and shingled magnetic recording (SMR) models, with the CMR drive topping out at 24 TB, while SMR brings the peak capacity up to 28 TB. Both are, as of now, the highest-capacity HDDs in their respective segments. But perhaps the most important technological development with the Exos X24 lineup is that it uses a platform that will be largely re-used for the upcoming HAMR drives.

The Seagate Exos X24 3.5-inch helium-filled hard drive family includes 12 TB, 16 TB, 20 TB, and 24 TB models, which are built using up to 10 2.4 TB platters. Seagate's platters feature perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) and heads utilizing two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) technology (to minimize adjacent track interference and ensure reliable reading at high track pitch densities). In addition, Seagate offers a sole 28 TB SMR version of the Exos X24 to select cloud customers who can self-manage shingled recording in their datacenters.

Seagate's Exos X24 HDDs operate at a spindle speed of 7200 RPM and feature a segmented 256 MB cache (check out all of its specifications in tables below). The family's 2.4 TB platters have an areal density of 1260 Gbit/inch², allowing for a peak sustained transfer rate of 285 MB/s, which is in line with previous-generation HDDs (which is a bit surprising as typically higher areal density enables higher transfer rates). The entire Exos X24 range offers up to 168/550 random read/write IOPS (4K, QD16), which is again in line with previous-generation drives.

Seagate plans to make the Exos X24 HDDs available with either a SATA 6 Gbps or a dual-port SAS 12 Gbps interface to cater to varying customer needs.

As for power consumption of Exos X24, it ranges from 6.3W (idle) to 8.9W (max) for SATA versions and from 6.5W (idle) to 9.8W (max) for the SAS SKUs. Exos X24 HDDs are also adaptable to meet the diverse needs of major clients, supporting PowerBalance technology, which offers data centers the ability to harmonize power usage with IOPS performance. Additionally, they feature PowerChoice technology, optimizing power consumption during periods of inactivity.

The enterprise-focused drives otherwise check all of the usual boxes for this market segment, including vibration resistance and RV sensors. The drives are rated to handle workloads up to 550 TB/year, with a 5 year overarching warranty.

Seagate said it had commenced shipping of qualification Exos X24 drives to select customers, and the production drives are slated to be widely available for channel distribution in December.

Finally, and most interesting of all, the company has also revealed that the 10-platter helium-sealed platform will be significantly re-used for the company's upcoming heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) hard drives. Those drives will be available in capacities up to 32 TB, with Seagate set to ramp up production in early 2024.