The debut HAMR HDDs from Seagate offer a capacity of 32TB, with potential for future advancements reaching 50TB or more. 

Seagate has begun distributing its innovative heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) hard disk drives (HDDs). These HAMR HDDs utilize a specific laser and platters made of a stable magnetic material to enable enhanced data storage on a compact surface, surpassing the capabilities of current perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) HDDs. Each HAMR HDD will consist of ten platters and twenty read heads, with varying capacities per platter. Initial models feature a capacity of 3.2TB per platter, while Seagate has successfully engineered platters with capacities of 3.6TB, 4TB, and 5TB in laboratory conditions.

Seagate's CFO, Gianluca Romano, anticipates broad accessibility of these HAMR HDDs by year-end, with the first batch of capacities exceeding 30TB shipping early next year. However, Seagate's introduction of HAMR technology does not imply an immediate discontinuation of PMR and shingled magnetic recording (SMR) disks, as the company plans to continue engineering further iterations of both technologies.

Seagate Introduces HAMR Hard Disk Drives with 32TB Capacity