HDDs
UPDATE 5/17, 6 PM: Western Digital has confirmed that the new 2.5-inch T GB HDDs uses 6 SMR platters The vast majority of laptops nowadays use solid-state drives, which is why the development of new, higher-capacity 2.5-inch hard drives has all but come to a halt. Or rather, it almost has. It seems that the 2.5-inch form factor has a bit more life left in it after all, as today Western Digital has released a slate of new external storage products based on a new, high-capacity 6 TB 2.5-inch hard drive. WD's new 6 TB spinner is being used to offer upgraded versions of the company's My Passport, Black P10, and and G-DRIVE ArmorATD portable storage products. Notably, however, WD isn't selling the bare 2.5-inch drive...
Western Digital Unveils Dual Actuator Ultrastar DC HS760 20TB HDD
Without much fanfare, Western Digital this week introduced its first dual actuator hard drive, a 20TB drive that is designed to offer SATA SSD-like sequential read/write performance. The Ultrastar...
35 by Anton Shilov on 2/1/2023Seagate Confirms 30TB+ HAMR HDDs in Q3, Envisions 50TB Drives in a Few Years
Seagate this week confirmed plans to launch the industry's first 30+ TB hard drive that uses its heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology, as well as reaffirming its commitment...
70 by Anton Shilov on 1/27/2023Western Digital 22TB WD Gold, Red Pro, and Purple HDDs Hit Retail
Western Digital's 'What's Next' event back in May 2022 had seen the announcement of its 22TB platform based on ePMR and OptiNAND (with ArmorCache). At the event, WD indicated...
22 by Ganesh T S on 7/19/2022Destination 30 TB: HDD Vendors Plan Different Routes to Hit Storage Milestone in 2023
In the recent months all three hard drive manufacturers — Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital — and some of their partners have outlined plans to ship 30TB HDDs already...
24 by Anton Shilov on 6/3/2022Western Digital Announces 22TB CMR and 26TB SMR HDDs: 10 Platters plus ePMR
Western Digital is announcing the sampling of its new 22TB CMR and 26TB SMR hard drives today at its What's Next Western Digital Event. As usual, the hyperscale cloud...
25 by Ganesh T S on 5/9/2022Western Digital Spills Beans on HDD Plans: 30TB HDDs Planned, MAMR's Future Unclear
Western Digital this week said that its energy-assisted magnetic recording (ePMR) and OptiNAND technologies coupled with increased number of platters per hard drive would enable it to build HDDs...
41 by Anton Shilov on 12/2/2021Seagate Exos X20 and IronWolf Pro 20TB Expand Retail 20TB HDD Options
Seagate has updated their flagship capacity options for the retail HDD market with the availability announcement for two new hard drives today - the Exos X20 and IronWolf Pro...
10 by Ganesh T S on 12/2/2021Western Digital Reimagines HDD - Flash Integration with OptiNAND
The last few years have seen plenty of new innovations come up in the hard-disk drive market. For quite some time, the HDD technology roadmap was shared industry-wide -...
51 by Ganesh T S on 8/31/2021Seagate Signs HAMR Deal with Showa Denko: Secures Second Source for HAMR Platters
Seagate this week signed an agreement with Showa Denko in a bid to secure a second source of platters for its hard drives based on heat assisted magnetic recording...
17 by Anton Shilov on 6/11/2021Seagate's Roadmap: The Path to 120 TB Hard Drives
Seagate recently published its long-term technology roadmap revealing plans to produce ~50 TB hard drives by 2026 and 120+ TB HDDs after 2030. In the coming years, Seagate is...
70 by Anton Shilov on 3/10/2021Toshiba Unveils World's First FC-MAMR HDD: 18 TB, Helium Filled
Toshiba this week announced the industry's first hard drive featuring flux-control microwave-assisted magnetic recording (FC-MAMR) technology. The new MG09-series HDDs are designed primarily for nearline and enterprise applications, they...
25 by Anton Shilov on 2/19/2021Western Digital Expands Purple Surveillance Storage Options with 18TB HDD and 1TB microSDXC Models
Western Digital has been marketing their surveillance-focused storage solutions under the Purple branding since 2014. After the SanDisk acquisition, the company started selling WD Purple microSDXC cards as a...
15 by Ganesh T S on 9/23/2020Western Digital Updates Red Pro Line with 16 and 18TB Capacity Points
Western Digital recently unveiled their first energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) HDDs for the retail channel. Today, the company is taking advantage of the same hardware platform with some tweaks...
9 by Ganesh T S on 9/23/2020Western Digital's 16TB and 18TB Gold Drives: EAMR HDDs Enter the Retail Channel
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...
72 by Ganesh T S on 7/9/2020Showa Denko Begins Shipments of Platters for MAMR HDDs
Following up on news from earlier this month that they have developed HAMR HDD platters, Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) has announced that it has started shipments microwave assisted recording...
8 by Anton Shilov on 2/18/2020Silicon Power Unveils Stream S07 External Hard Drives: Up to 8 TB
Silicon Power has revealed a new series of consumer-oriented 3.5-inch external USB hard drives. The Stream S07 HDDs can be used with PCs, Smart TVs, and other devices. The Silicon...
86 by Anton Shilov on 2/7/2020Western Digital Roadmap Updates: Energy Assisted Recording, Multi-Stage Actuators, Zoned Storage
Between CES at the beginning of the month, a series of presentations at Storage Field Day last week and a quarterly earnings report this week, we've heard from just...
115 by Billy Tallis on 1/31/2020Western Digital Begins to Sample 18 TB & 20 TB ‘Energy Assisted’ Hard Drives
Western Digital has started partner sampling of its 18 TB and 20 TB energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) drives. The HDDs utilize WD's up and coming EAMR tech to further...
23 by Anton Shilov on 12/23/2019OWC Launches ThunderBay 4 Mini DAS: 4 SATA Bays With SoftRAID, Up to 1.5 GB/s
OWC has introduced a new small form factor high performance, high redundancy DAS for the professional market. The ThunderBay 4 Mini incorporates 4 2.5-inch storage bays, allowing it to...
29 by Anton Shilov on 12/16/2019Western Digital: Expect More Energy-Assisted Tech For 24 TB & Beyond
Western Digital has been promoting its microwave assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) technology for over a couple of years now, yet surprisingly, its upcoming 18 TB and 20 TB drives...
12 by Anton Shilov on 12/12/2019