WESTERN DIGITAL

Company presents the largest hard disk in the market

Western Digital announced the first 15TB hard drive, the UltraStar DC HC620, aimed at corporate audiences. To achieve this capability WD used the SMR recording process and helium filling.This double guarantees a higher density, which allows the inclusion of thinner disks, which form the total capacity of the hard disk. The HD will have versions both based on SATA 6 Gbps (consumption of 6.4 Watts) or SAS 12 Gbps (consumption of 8.3W). The buffer is 512 MB and the form factor is 3.5 inches.Internally there are 8 platters, divided between 1.75 TB and 1.85 TB each, each with a read and write speed of 255 MB, a record of a HD with a SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) recording process, surpassing the 14 TB model , launched by WD last year, through its subsidiary HGST, which reaches 233 MB / s.The disc is based on the Ultrastar DC HC620 14T WD, released last year, which also adopts the SMR process, the helium fill and 8 internal discs. To reach the 15 TB in the new model, WD raised the write density, which went from 1,034 gigabytes per square inch in the 14 TB model to 1,108 gigabytes per square inch in the 15 TB model.The escalation of hard drives with increasingly storage-intensive models is fully connected with the SMR process, which allows to increase the capacity in each dish by 16% when compared to the Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) method."By establishing a new TCO boom, the 15TB SMR HDD managed by the Ultrastar host is well-positioned for hyper-scale cloud workloads and the traditional data center, including major video surveillance, storage for regulatory compliance, and Big storage Data" said the company through a press release.Regarding the characteristic of it being sealed by Helium, WD explains that the UltraStar DC HC620, is based on the fifth generation of HelioSeal. This technology allows more disks to be stacked internally, as they can get closer together. The other advantages of helium-sealed HD are: less friction, the discs can rotate faster, less overload to the motor, which guarantees less energy consumption and impact on the life of the disc.The MTBF, mean period between failures, is 2.5 million hours, and the warranty is 5 years.


William Plaza