- Seagate and Western Digital develop hard drives up to 100TB using HAMR technology to improve storage density storage.
- HAMR technology enables more precise data writing by localized heating of the disk surface.
- Seagate has received orders for an exabyte of storage from major technology companies.
- The advancement in HDD disks remains competitive against the SSD thanks to improved capacity and reduced costs.
Advances in data storage continue to evolve And despite the rise of solid-state drives (SSDs), mechanical hard drives (HDDs) continue to be developed. Seagate and Western Digital are working on new storage units up to 100TB, focused on the business market and data centers.
The key to this growth in capacity lies in the use of the Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR), a technology that allows data to be written at higher density. HAMR uses a low-power laser to temporarily heat the disk surface, allowing data bits to be stored more compactly.
How does HAMR technology work?
Traditionally, hard drives use a magnetic head to write information to spinning platters. However, as storage capacity increases, the bit size of information needs to be reduced. This poses a problem: the materials used can become unstable. HAMR solves this problem briefly heating the area where the writing will be done, allowing data to be recorded accurately without compromising its stability.
Thanks to this technical improvement, Seagate has managed to develop disks with much higher densities than those available on the market today. Furthermore, this technology is essential for continuing to increase capacity over the long term without sacrificing reliabilityTo learn more about the types of hard drives, you can check out our guide on types of hard drives.
Seagate and Western Digital in the race for mass storage
One of the most notable news surrounding this technology is that Seagate has received storage orders totaling one exabyte, which is equivalent to one million terabytes. These orders come from large cloud computing companies, probably giants like Microsoft, Google, Amazon or Meta.
The estimated cost of this acquisition is around $35 million., an investment that demonstrates the viability of HDDs in large-scale storage. Although SSDs dominate in speed and energy efficiency, HDDs remain a more affordable option when it comes to storing large volumes of data. For those looking for a secure option, we recommend reading about the best encrypted external hard drives.
Future prospects for hard drives
In the coming years, it is expected that HDD capacities continue to increase, with 60TB models planned and, eventually, the aforementioned 100TB drives. To accelerate this development, Seagate has entered into negotiations for the acquisition of Intevac, a company specializing in HAMR technology.
Despite competition from SSDs, Traditional hard drives continue to evolve and play a key role in enterprise storage, where the capacity/price ratio remains a determining factor. Innovations in HAMR and their implementation by manufacturers such as Seagate and Western Digital not only improve storage capacity but also allow hard drives to remain relevant in an ever-changing market.
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