Seagate's HAMR Update: 32 TB in Early 2024, 40+ TB Two Years Later

by Anton Shilov on November 8, 2023 11:00 AM EST

• Posted in
• Storage
• Seagate
• HDDs
• Helium HDD
• HAMR
• HDD

Hidden heavy successful Seagate's financial study released precocious past month was a little roadmap update for nan company's heat-assisted magnetic signaling (HAMR) technology. As noted successful nan latest update, Seagate is now readying to statesman wide accumulation of its 32 TB HAMR successful early 2024, which is simply a flimsy hold from what nan institution announced early this year. Meanwhile, nan institution expects to commencement accumulation of 40+ TB HDDs successful astir 2 years' time.

"Qualification and gross ramp plans for our 30-plus terabyte products stay afloat connected way pinch high-volume ramp starting early successful almanac 2024," said Dave Mosley, main executive of Seagate, during convention telephone pinch financial analysts and investors. " These drives present capacity starting astatine 30 terabytes and connection customers nan aforesaid elasticity to adopt either CMR aliases SMR configurations to further boost aerial density into nan mid-30TB range."

As noted backmost successful October, Seagate's Exos X24 bid of HDDs will thief group nan shape for HAMR-based difficult drives, arsenic nan second will support utilizing nan aforesaid 10-platter platform – albeit pinch caller platters arsenic good arsenic constitute heads pinch lasers to power nan media surface. Those Exos drives will usage 10 2.4 TB perpendicular magnetic signaling disks and will statesman shipments successful nan first half of almanac 2024. Around nan aforesaid clip — successful early almanac 2024 — Seagate plans to commencement measurement ramp of 32 TB HAMR HDDs.

Even pinch nan measurement ramp and enviable capacity, Seagate is only expecting to waste a humble number of HAMR HDDs successful nan first quarters of their availability. The institution believes that it tin move astir 1 cardinal units successful nan first half of 2024, though nan patient does not disclose whether nan number is constricted by its expertise to nutrient nan drives, aliases by request from customers who request to suffice specified products earlier deploying them successful their datacenters.

"We will commencement our HAMR gross reasonably powerfully successful nan first six months of nan almanac 2024," said Gianluca Romano, main financial serviceman of Seagate. "We deliberation we person astir a cardinal portion arsenic opportunity to beryllium sold."

Another absorbing disclosure recovered successful nan archive is that Seagate intends to commencement producing HAMR-based HDDs featuring 4+TB platters wrong nan adjacent 2 years, which would person them arriving sometime successful precocious 2025 aliases early 2026. This is somewhat is down nan company's optimistic schedule revealed a fewer years back, which anticipated 50+TB HDDs successful almanac 2026. Though it's arguably a much realistic schedule that's successful statement pinch nan improvement cadence frankincense far, particularly fixed really improvement and deployment of difficult thrust proceeds these days.

Another noteworthy point is that Seagate's little roadmap update does not mention HDDs pinch much than 10 platters. Meaning that nan institution seems to beryllium done adding platters to summation further capacity, astatine slightest for now. Perhaps, nan institution believes that accrued areal density that is enabled by HAMR will alteration it to connection competitory capacities and it does not request to propulsion successful immoderate further disks. Or possibly installing complete 10 HAMR platters is risky from yields constituent of position arsenic of now, truthful nan institution prefers not to mention specified a technological option.

Source: Seagate (via StorageNewsletter)