Forget 14TB hard drives – 15TB is where it is at. The new Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC620 15TB is the largest platter-based hard drive in the market. It is however primarily designed for data centers.
The drive uses shingled magnetic recording (SMR) for higher data density per platter. It also uses WD’s HelioSeal technology, which utilizes helium gas to ensure the platters are airtight and can spin at higher speeds.
The host-managed SMR HDD is optimized for sequential writes and areal density to deliver better access speed which is why it is fit for server and data centers applications. Not to forget, it boasts high shelf-life and also high data density per server rack.
For example, the raw storage for a 4U 60-unit HDD SAS or SATA enclosure equates to 900TB per installation – a 60TB increase over last year’s 14TB solutions. Meanwhile, there is no pricing for the drive at the moment but given the amount of storage and its designated market, it surely will not be cheap.
