In August 2022, we introduced WD to launch 22 TB traditional magnetic recording (CMR) data center hard drives, such as Ultrastar DC HC570, purple professional WD Purple Pro series, red professional WD Red Pro series, gold standard WD The Gold series also provides 22 TB models, and in May of the same year, WD released another 26 TB super shingled magnetic recording (UltraSMR) hard drive, called Ultrastar DC HC670, at that time they said that they had Specific ultra-large customers are beginning to provide samples, and shipments to specific users will begin in the summer.
In the follow-up, we also track the status of Ultrastar DC HC670 from time to time, and want to know when it will be officially launched.
In September 2022, WD released the UltraSMR technical briefing document, talking about SMR hard drives can provide 11% additional storage space (2 TB more per hard drive) compared with CMR hard drives, UltraSMR compared with the same generation hard drive products , which can provide an additional 18% storage space (4 TB more per hard drive), which combines a variety of magnetic recording subsystem technologies, advanced large block encoding technology, and can use more bits when recording data At the same time, the format has also joined the OptiNAND technology that the company has emphasized since its 20 TB hard drive products, as well as special firmware and algorithms.
One month later, they continued to publish the white paper on SMR hard disk technology, reviewing the development process of SMR and the relationship with Zoned Storage devices, and concluded with Ultrastar DC HC670; in November, WD released Ultrastar DC HC670 In December, the OEM specification documents of the SATA and SAS models of this product will be released. The appearance of these signs may mean that the official launch time should not be long.
According to the above document, the Ultrastar DC HC670 adopts a 10-disc design, combining a variety of technologies, such as: energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR), three-axis drive arm (TSA) second generation, HelioSeal, and OptiNAND—— Equipped with exclusive firmware, it can use hard disk system-level hardware enhancement, UltraSMR – built-in large block encoding and advanced error correction algorithm, and can increase the number of tracks per inch of the disc to obtain greater storage capacity .
Based on these technologies, WD’s 26 TB hard drive can support a maximum storage capacity of 2.6 TB per disc, with an increase in space of 18%, which is beneficial to cloud service providers.
In terms of overall specifications, compared with the previously released 9-disc 20 TB SMR hard drive Ultrastar DC HC650, the newly launched 10-disc 28 TB SMR hard drive Ultrastar DC HC670 has a higher storage data density (per Storage capacity per square inch is 1,322 Gb vs. 1,160 Gb), sustained transfer rate (261 MB/s vs. 250 MB/s), and power consumption (10.1 W vs. 8.4 W), the rest of the items are almost the same, like It has a buffer memory of 512 MB, a rotational speed of 7200 rpm, an average access latency of 4.16 milliseconds, and a workload of 550 TB per year, with a mean time between failures of 2.5 million hours and a 5-year limited warranty.
Product Information
WD Ultrastar DC HC670
●Original: WD
●Suggested price: not provided by the manufacturer
●Appearance size: 3.5 inches
●Mechanical design: helium package
●Capacity: 26TB
●Transmission specifications: 6Gb SATA, 12Gb SAS
●Disk formats supported: 4Kn, 512e
●Buffer memory: 512 MB
●Rotation speed: 7200 rpm
●Maximum sustained transfer rate: 261 MB/s
●Average latency: 4.16 milliseconds
●Workload durability: 550TB per year
●Mean time between failures (MTBF): 2.5 million hours
Power Consumption: 10.1W for operation
●Weight: 670g
●Warranty: 5 years limited
[Note: Specifications and prices are provided by the manufacturer, subject to change from time to time, please contact the manufacturer for correct information]