Western Digital Is Preparing 40TB HDDs, but It's Not Stopping There

Western Digital (WD) has shared a program to summation HDD retention space, with the extremity of releasing 40TB hard drives by the extremity of 2026. However, this is conscionable a azygous measurement connected the mode to 100TB hard drives successful the acold future.

This is simply a immense leap, and it's imaginable due to the fact that of Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology. HAMR exertion is an important portion of WD’s semipermanent program to scope and transcend 100TB hard drives wrong the adjacent 10 years. For now, the institution is utilizing different technologies similar OptiNAND and UltraSMR to summation retention abstraction arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable until HAMR becomes much affordable and matches expected lawsuit demand.

HAMR uses laser heating to temporarily little the magnetic absorption of the hard drive's disk. This volition mean importantly denser information writing, translating to higher thrust retention capacities. Western Digital believes its existent imaginable begins astatine 40TB.

OptiNAND integrates flash representation with HDDs to boost capacity, performance, and reliability. It fundamentally combines HDDs' precocious capableness with flash memory's velocity and reliability. UltraSMR (Ultra Scalable Magnetic Recording) uses precocious mistake correction to battalion information tracks much densely than accepted SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording). It's fundamentally a method to summation retention density connected the existing HDD exertion earlier transitioning afloat to HAMR.

The institution has chosen to hold earlier afloat adopting HAMR. While immoderate competitors are already utilizing HAMR successful 30TB drives, WD believes the exertion volition beryllium astir effectual astatine the 40TB level. Additionally, starting large-scale HAMR accumulation earlier request rises would pb to overmuch higher costs.

This expected emergence successful request is tied to the accelerated maturation of AI. WD predicts that retention needs volition turn importantly successful the 2nd fractional of 2026 owed to the expanding magnitude of information created by AI applications. The institution is timing its improvement of high-capacity HAMR-based hard drives to lucifer this expected demand, which volition assistance support costs down and marque the champion usage of resources.

Kimihiko Nishio, income manager for Western Digital Japan, told PC Watch, “Right now, there's a immense surge successful request for generative AI, but retention hasn't truly benefited from it yet. Currently, the biggest beneficiaries are GPU servers. First, information is being generated successful ample volumes, and aft that, it volition request to beryllium stored. That’s wherever we expect retention request to spike.”

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This cautious timing is an important portion of WD’s program to scope its semipermanent extremity of offering hard drives with much than 100TB of retention by 2030, utilizing Heat Dot Magnetic Recording (HDMR) technology. HDMR, which immoderate expect to beryllium the adjacent large advancement successful hard thrust technology, volition usage nano-patterned magnetic retention to summation information density and capableness further than ever before.

Seagate, WD’s biggest competitor, has already released a 36TB HAMR thrust and announced plans for a 60TB model. Making things much complicated, Seagate precocious bought Intevac, a institution that makes specialized HAMR manufacturing equipment. Intevac’s exertion is utilized by astir hard thrust manufacturers worldwide, including WD, which could make a proviso concatenation issue.

This is fundamentally a agelong mode of saying that 40TB hard drives are imaginable and considered 1 measurement successful getting to 100TB. The companies that are successful the contention for 100TB conscionable privation to marque definite determination is simply a fiscal inducement to marque hard drives. While you oregon I whitethorn not request them, AI companies volition apt beryllium purchasers of the exertion since AI uses truthful overmuch memory.

Beyond accepted hard thrust technology, WD is besides moving connected much precocious retention solutions. The institution is researching DNA-based and ceramic-based storage, which could connection highly precocious retention density and semipermanent information preservation for archival purposes. So, places similar aesculapian probe facilities, subject labs, libraries, and much could usage these retention options.

Source: PC Watch, TechRadar