At the Seagate quarterly reporting conference, the head of the company admitted that at the end of March, deliveries of 16 TB hard drives began, which are now being tested by partners and customers of this manufacturer. Drives using laser heated magnetic platters (HAMR) technology, according to Seagate's chief executive, are perceived positively by customers: "They just work." But a few years ago around the whole HAMR technology cruised about its insufficiently high reliability, and Seagate competitors were in no hurry to adopt it. It should be borne in mind, however, that Seagate is not ready to supply such hard drives in series, and commercial use of HAMR technology will begin only after the release of 20 TB drives.
If you look at it, Toshiba has long focused on increasing the number of magnetic platters in a hard drive case, and was in no hurry to introduce innovations such as the same βtiledβ structure (SMR). As a result, she approached the 16 TB capacity limit with the classical structure of magnetic plates, and only when the 18 TB milestone was stormed would she start using SMR, although she also allows a combination of conventional platters with MAMR technology, which implies exposure to the media using microwaves. But for Toshiba, placing nine magnetic platters in a single 3,5β³ case is a passed stage, and the company is thinking about creating drives with ten magnetic platters.
Toshiba's focus on increasing platter density has even been the target of reproaches from Western Digital Corporation, whose representatives at the quarterly reporting conference said that its 16 TB hard drives of eight magnetic platters with MAMR technology will be cheaper to manufacture than competitors' products. The WDC will master the "tiled" method with the release of 18 TB drives, which will be released before the end of this year. When producing drives with a capacity of over 20 TB in the next decade, WDC will use not only MAMR technology, but also two independent heads (actuators).
Seagate is also implementing the latest solution, and at the quarterly conference the management explained that it is the transition to two head units that can provide a significant increase in data transfer speed, which is necessary, for example, when working intensively with video. In April the company a pre-series version of a 16 TB hard drive with HAMR technology, the supply of samples of such drives began at the end of March, but they will not go into series. In a year, according to Seagate representatives, 16 TB models will be the company's main sources of revenue in the server segment. Serial versions of products of this volume will combine "perpendicular" recording with TDMR on nine platters, Seagate will switch to "tiled" recording only when producing 18 TB drives, but they will do without tricks like HAMR.
In calendar year 2020, Seagate will introduce 20TB hard drives with HAMR technology. Over time, it will allow you to create hard drives with a capacity of over 40 TB, but all Seagate competitors promise about the same thing, using a slightly different set of technologies, so the struggle in the drive market promises to unfold serious.
Source: 3dnews.ru