Seagate Announces New 16TB PMR Hard Drives
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Seagate takes the next step to increase the capacity of hard drives, announcing 16TB PMR drives.
16 TB PMR hard drives will begin production in more in the second half of the year
Seagate expects to start mass production in the second half of 2019, and by the second quarter of 2020 the new 16TB drives will be its highest-revenue products, they estimate. What is particularly notable here, in addition to the capacity, is that these units do not utilize the next-generation heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology. Instead, they rely on the more contemporary Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), which is being powered by two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR).
Seagate's first 16TB hard drives were expected to be based on its HAMR technology; select Seagate customers began receiving the company's HAMR-based Exos X16 units in December. However, it turns out that Seagate isn't going to augment those HAMR units just yet. Instead, Seagate has taken the surprising step of creating a helium-filled 3.5 16-inch hard drive based on some nine PMR + TDMR-based drives.
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Seagate appears to be making good progress in developing these new PMR units, and several cloud data center customers have already begun qualification testing for the units.
The transition from an eight-deck to a nine-deck hard drive architecture is no less of a problem as it requires a major redesign of the internal components as well as the addition of thinner magnetic media and support mechanisms.
This announcement also evidences the delay of HAMR technology, although it is still very present in the company's roadmap. Seagate plans to begin mass production of HAMR units in 2020, with capacities of 20TB or more.
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Seagate hamr 16tb hard drives coming in 2019
The company says internal testing with 16TB HAMR discs is going well, and that it is expected to launch on the market during 2019.
Western digital implements mamr technology on its 16tb hard drives
Western Digital already has its new 16TB hard drives with MAMR technology ready, plus they plan to go up to 20TB. More info here.
