Scheduled for the end of 2023, the first mass-produced hard drives of 30 TB and more will make it possible to further densify servers and other data centers. While waiting for the 50 TB discs planned around 2026.
While hard drives with mechanical platters are gradually deserting consumer storage in favor of SSDs, demand is not waning, thanks to data centers. Centers that manage a volume of data in constant explosion, an explosion to which future Seagate disks will try to respond. Scheduled for the third quarter of 2023, the first units of 30 TB and more therefore have the heavy task of densifying the infrastructure on their shoulders. Because after energy, space is the second cost item for data centers. Clearly, the denser the disks, the cheaper the storage arrays cost per gigabyte.
The small demand for external storage and for consumer NAS means that platter storage technologies are less highlighted than those related to flash memory. However, the environment continues to evolve, with several different storage techniques. The one that these future “super disks” of more than 30 TB will use is called HAMR (pronounced “ hammer like the hammer in English). Meaning “heat-assisted magnetic recording” (Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording in English), HAMR technology is the only one that can achieve these densities. A long-time Arlesian of storage technologies, HAMR took almost three decades to be developed. The principle is to heat the magnetic surface with a diode, making the material more sensitive when writing data. De facto reducing the surface necessary to save the files, which mechanically increases the density.
But HAMR disks are not yet certified for data centers – which, quite logically and fortunately for the integrity of our data, prefer mature and certified processes. Also, Seagate will launch in parallel 22 TB and 24 TB drives based on the PMR pair (perpendicular magnetic recording) and SMR (shingled magnetic recording). If these technologies still have some under the pedal, Seagate’s roadmap relies above all on HAMR to increase significantly in density in the near future. According to the most recent documents, a 50TB (and more?) HAMR hard drive could see the light of day as early as 2026. A huge capacity in the consumer world, but just good enough for the insatiable appetite of the digital world.
Read also: Why the good old hard drives have not (yet) disappeared (January 2023)
If the 2025-2030 horizon is still the playing field for “classic” mechanical hard drives, the fall in the price of flash memory and the incredible promise of the magnetic tape roadmap should scare HDD manufacturers. Who have an interest in continuing to find tricks, even a technological revolution within a decade if they want to continue to stay in the race.
AnandTech
