Western Digital's HAMR Technology on the Brink of Commercialization

Western Digital Corporation is on the verge of significant growth due to the increasing demand for data storage solutions. The company is poised to benefit from the commercialization of its Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology, which will enable higher storage densities and capacities. This will help Western Digital stay competitive in the rapidly evolving data storage market.

Seagate has recently introduced its Exos M 30TB and IronWolf Pro 30TB hard disk drives (HDDs), marking a significant milestone in the data storage industry. These drives utilize heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology, which employs a laser to increase storage density. This is the first time Seagate has made HAMR HDDs based on its Mozaic 3+ technology available to the mass market [1].

The new 30TB HDDs come in the industry-standard 3.5-inch form factor and operate at a rotational speed of 7,200 RPM, which is standard for enterprise-class performance hard drives. They feature 3TB platters with an unprecedented areal density, offering a maximum sustained transfer rate of 275 MB/s, approximately 5 MB/s higher than previous-generation drives. The drives are designed to balance performance and power consumption, with Seagate's PowerChoice and PowerBalance technologies adjusting idle power consumption and balancing IOPS performance [1].

The Exos M 30TB is designed for large-scale deployments in cloud and enterprise environments, particularly those used for AI. It comes with numerous design enhancements to improve reliability and ensure predictable performance in highly-vibration environments, such as a top and bottom attached motor, RV sensors, and other means to reduce turbulence. The IronWolf Pro 30TB, on the other hand, is designed for use in NAS systems within commercial and enterprise environments, fully supporting continuous operation in multi-bay and multi-user setups [1].

Seagate's new HAMR-based HDDs are the first to be available in channel and retail markets, previously only available to select hyperscale customers. This broader availability is a significant milestone for the company, as it opens up the benefits of HAMR technology to a wider range of clients [1].

Both the Exos M 30TB and IronWolf Pro 30TB utilize conventional magnetic recording (CMR), ensuring compatibility with standard storage systems while increasing capacity. They use a SATA 6 Gbps interface and consume 6.9W (average) – 9.5W (maximum), making them drop-in compatible with existing storage systems [1].

The new hard drives enable unprecedented storage density, with a modern 4U storage server capable of accommodating up to 100 3.5-inch HDDs and storing up to 3,000TB of data. This means a fully equipped machine with Seagate's 30TB HDDs can store up to 30PB (42U rack) to 36PB (48U rack) per single rack [1].

Performance-wise, while the new 30TB drives increase capacity and storage density, they still offer roughly the same amount of performance as their predecessors. The increased density doesn't come at the cost of performance in the most important types of workloads for HDDs [1].

Seagate's 30TB HDDs are now officially available globally through the Seagate online store and through the company’s network of approved resellers and distribution partners. The listed retail prices are $599.99 for both the Exos M 30TB and IronWolf Pro 30TB models, and $569.99 for the 28TB variants of each drive [1].

References:
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/seagate-unveils-30tb-hdds-for-the-masses-laser-powered-hamr-drives-are-now-widely-available