Western Digital is shipping what it says is the world’s highest capacity UltraSMR HDD, up to 32TB leveraging energy-assisted PMR (ePMR) recording technology for hyperscalers, CSPs and enterprises.
It is also shipping the highest-capacity ePMR CMR HDD with up to 26TB for enterprise and channel customers, with commercially available 11-disk design.
As AI systems become more sophisticated, they process and generate vast amounts of data that must be stored efficiently. HDDs play a crucial role in this ecosystem, handling both the input side, where data is gathered, ingested and stored, and the output side, where AI content is generated and preserved.
Western Digital’s newest 26TB CMR and 32TB UltraSMR drives utilise multiple technological innovations to enable data centers to maximise their storage efficiency.
In addition to ePMR, OptiNAND, ArmorCache and a triple-stage actuator (TSA), the drives feature the world’s first commercially available 11-disk platform along with other design enhancements.
- 32TB Ultrastar DC HC690 SMR HDD – with up to 32TB capacities support customer goals for cost-effective deep content storage at scale. These new HDDs have up to 257 MiB/s sequential performance and use as little as 5.5W power idle, making them ideal for warm and cold tiers of data.
- 26TB Ultrastar DC HC590 CMR HDD – a drop-in replacement for continued capacity growth with a reliable, field-proven technology foundation. This latest generation of drives delivers unbeaten CMR capacity, seamless qualification, easy integration and rapid adoption while maintaining superior dependability and reliability. The Ultrastar DC HC590 26TB CMR HDD features a sustained transfer rate of up to 288 MiB/s and utilizes as little as 5.6W power while idle.
- Ultrastar Data60, Data102 Hybrid Storage Platforms – qualified and integrated into the company’s Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 JBOD hybrid storage platforms, which are high-density, scalable storage solutions that are ideal for modern data centres, private clouds, and big data analytics. These platforms provide flexible configurations, accommodating up to 60 or 102 HDDs, and can deliver up to 3,26PB of raw capacity. Key technologies like IsoVibe™and ArcticFlow™ensures reduced vibration and optimised cooling.
- 26TB WD Gold SATA HDDs – available in the channel, they can handle heavy, continuous read-write workloads in the toughest of enterprise and commercial system environments. With a five-year limited warranty supporting up to 2.5M hours MTBF4 (projected), WD Gold drives provide the utmost in storage performance, reliability, durability and flexible capacity for small and medium businesses and design professionals whose mission-critical data and creative output are essential to their success.