HDDs with HAMR HD Density based Platters bring 80 TB HDDs on the horizon
The entire technology industry is always innovating and evolving. While for lower capacity and volume SSDs are your best option, for mass storage the HDD seems to stay around for a long time as companies still are actively developing their tech.
The latest technology development for HDD platters is coming from SDK Japanese company Showa Denko KK (SDK). Their High-Density HAMR technology is making use of something we've discussed a couple of time already, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), now updated allowing for way more density. The claim is now that 3.5-inch HDDs can reach capacities of 70 to 80 even TB.
HAMR represents a recording method in which magnetic film is locally heated at the time of recording. This technology has been developed to solve the “magnetic recording trilemma”: difficulty in simultaneously meeting the three requirements of fine-particle structure, resistance to thermal fluctuation, and ease of magnetization. Compared with the recording density of approx. 1.14 Tb/in2 for HD media based on conventional magnetic recording methods, it is said that HAMR-based HD media will achieve recording density of 5-6 Tb/in2 in the future. Provided that the same number of disks are used, it is estimated that a 3.5-inch HDD will achieve storage capacity of approx. 70-80 TB per unit.
The innovation here is based on a thin magnetic layer with an allow of iron and platinum, that created very small crystal particles on that platter, allowed to be written. The materials have another advantage, they can withstand heat quite well.
SDK make any bold claims in terms of specifications, but it does indicate that GAMR discs should be able to reach 5 to 6 Tb per square inch. Currently, that is 1.14 Tb per square inch. So the value that is easily quadrupled. It is uncertain if and when the new technology will go into production.
Sources: SDK via Hardware.info
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@wavetrex people so often think only about their use case thinking is the onlyway and only use case sadly , companies still back up terabytes on tape !
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I don't think (or atleast haven't seen any evidence of) HAMR drives coming in SATA interface.
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Nice. However, just thinking about backing-up the backup is giving me more grey hairs lol.
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From a home user perspective :
With current drive speeds, at best it will take 4.6 days of uninterrupted copying at 200MB/s to fill 80TB, 1.1 days for 20TB.
Backing it up will be just as much an issue.
Average speed of most drives (you will copy to/from) is much lower unless in RAID. You will be lucky to have near only 10% of the drives capacity in SSDs.
I also fear for its random access speed.
This isnt meant for home users yet, the price tag will dictate that.
But progress is progress. We will learn how reliable it is in the long term before it reaches mainstream. It will no doubt evolve.
I have to hope multi head controller drives become the norm, effectively RAID inside a single drive. This will reduce the storage space any head has to address making access times and read/write faster. Multi head can be used more creatively to allow multiple reads/writes simultaneously, giving the same benefit as independent drives
Wikip says ye normal 20TB HAMR drives are expected this year.
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SATA HDD's are at a dead end.
time to move to SAS HDD's with multiple actuators
As an owner of several HDD's of 14TB capacity, I would say you are correct.
It takes FOREVER for the drive to be scanned or loaded with data or that data being read.
It basically reads/writes at around ~115-120 MB/s average... that's almost 120.000 seconds for accessing the drive fully filled, or 33 hours of continuous data flux. Insane !
... however that doesn't mean that the drives with this new tech in the article will be equally slow. It's already possible to hit 300 MB/s with high-end speed-oriented HDDs, and with denser bit packing, they will most likely hit the 550 MB/s limit of SATA 3.
But, the "cheap" drives for consumers (like those in External boxes) will probably be as slow as today. I don't want to imagine the amount of patience needed to fill or read a 40TB drive with just 110 MB/s...
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But on the subject of "HDD's are dead", everyone saying that is so far away from reality, it's not even funny.
You use Youtube ? Well, you're watching a video stored on a HDD.
So look at somebody's funny pic on Facebook ? It comes from a HDD.
You read your G-mail ? It's read from a HDD.
Or maybe you read an article on guru3d.com?... I can bet that the major part of this site is still stored on HDDs.
Enough said...