Western Digital’s Bold Move to 100TB: A Look at Storage’s Future

Western Digital has announced imminent plans to expand its hard drive portfolio. For instance, a drive with UltraSMR boasting a 40TB capacity is set to be released in the second half of this year, with a counterpart featuring HAMR technology following next year. By 2029, the company aims to introduce hard drives with HAMR technology reaching a 100TB capacity, more than doubling – in fact, virtually tripling – the current figure.

Western Digital plans to enhance its perpendicular magnetic recording technology, ePMR, to a level capable of producing drives with up to 60TB. Returning to the current year, the 40TB drive will be WD’s flagship, meaning more capacious HDDs shouldn’t be expected until 2027. This model will leverage ePMR technology with shingled track layout (SMR) and UltraSMR improvements.

Recent industry insights reveal that as competitors like Seagate also reach for similar technological advancements, the race to higher capacity storage becomes fierce. Seagate has announced its own goals for HAMR technology, targeting significant milestones, hinting at a broader market transformation.

Such innovations are pivotal for cloud storage providers and data centers where vast storage and energy efficiency are critical. Devices using HAMR technology not only promise greater capacity but also enhanced data densities at lower costs in the long term.