Volume Shipments of WD 24TB CMR 3.5-Inch HDDs and Industry Adoption of SMR Strengthen as 28TB SMR 3.5-Inch HDD Ramps

As new applications, use cases and connected devices multiply, Western Digital Corp.’s enterprise-class HDDs remain critical for helping data center customers design more cost-efficient, scalable and sustainable infrastructure.

When combined with the emergence of generative AI and the multitude of innovative applications it is enabling, the demand for high-capacity, low-power and reliable storage is poised to surge.

The company leverages numerous technology innovations – ePMR, OptiNAND, UltraSMR and more – to deliver predictable capacity growth in scalable, highly reliable products. The firm is shipping its 10-disk 24TB ⁽¹⁾ CMR HDD family for hyperscale, cloud and enterprise data center customers. Sampling since August, the 28TB SMR HDD is also ramping, adding to the company’s SMR leadership position and momentum as its 26TB SMR HDD exabyte shipments reached nearly half of its data center EBs shipped in 1FQ24.

“With these new offerings, Western Digital is once again proving that hard drives are not just keeping pace, they are forging a path forward, ensuring that data-intensive applications of today and tomorrow have a strong foundation to build on,” said Ed Burns, research director, HDD and storage technologies, IDC. “We are seeing strong momentum for Western Digital’s SMR HDDs and believe that SMR adoption will continue to grow as their new 28TB SMR HDD offers the next compelling TCO value proposition that cloud customers cannot ignore.”

This new-gen of drives is built on a proven platform with technology innovations specifically designed for data center customers who are consistently looking for the highest capacity storage to help them achieve the lowest possible TCO. These high-capacity HDDs are also a significant step forward in meeting the company’s sustainability targets and toward helping data center customers meet theirs. Specifically, these 28TB and 24TB HDDs are built with 40% (by weight) recycled content, and are 10%+ ⁽²⁾ more energy efficient per terabyte, contributing to customers’ data center infrastructure power efficiency goals at scale.

“New and existing endpoints from industries, connected devices, digital platforms, AI innovations, autonomous machines and more create a staggering amount of data each day. This relentless creation of data ultimately finds its way to the cloud, which is underpinned by our continued advancements in HDDs,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, EVP and GM, HDD business unit, Western Digital. “As a strategic partner to cloud and data center customers around the world, we are extending the value of our proven HDD platform and technology innovations to deliver the highest capacity HDD storage and TCO value that our customers demand.”

28TB Ultrastar DC HC680 SMR HDD

The company is driving the next big shift in cloud data center with SMR HDDs. At 28TB, the Ultrastar DC HC680 SMR HDD provides the utmost in storage density for hyperscale, cloud and enterprise customers. Designed for sequential write workloads where storage density, watt/TB and $/TB are critical parameters, it targets environments such as bulk storage, online backup and archive, video surveillance, cloud storage, storage for regulatory compliance, big data storage, and other applications where data may be infrequently accessed. For the growing list of customers who have optimized their stacks to take advantage of the benefits of SMR, these drives enable continued time-to-market advantage of integrating the highest capacity HDDs on the market and scaling their product offerings in a lower-power footprint.

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24TB Ultrastar DC HC580 CMR HDD

Continuing to deliver innovation at scale, the Ultrastar DC HC580 24TB CMR HDD with improved OptiNAND technology is the next leap in data density, allowing data center customers to maximize their storage within the same footprint, and in power-constrained environments. For better storage density, the HC580 can enable up to 612TB ⁽¹⁾ of raw storage per rack unit in a 4U 102-drive bay solution. These drives are also more power efficient, providing 12% less watt/TB ⁽²⁾ compared to the company’s previous 22TB version.

Ultrastar DC HC680 and HC580 HDDs are currently being qualified by select hyperscalers, CSPs and OEM customers, and are available for large enterprise customers looking for the highest capacity with lower power per terabyte for designing more efficient storage systems and data centers.

Ultrastar DC HC680 and HC580 SAS HDD versions will be available in 1CQ24 (3FQ24).

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Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 hybrid storage platforms

The Ultrastar drives are also being qualified and integrated into the company’s Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 JBOD hybrid storage platforms, which are key building blocks for designing next-gen disaggregated storage and SDS infrastructure. Each storage platform comes with IsoVibe and ArcticFlow technologies for improved performance and reliability.

Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 platforms with the new HDDs will be available beginning next month.

WD Gold 24TB ⁽¹⁾ CMR HDDs

The firm is also shipping its 24TB WD Gold CMR SATA HDD into the channel. These drives are designed for SIs and resellers serving enterprises and SMBs who need more reliable storage for big data and enterprise storage workloads compared to traditional client HDDs. Leveraging innovations from the Ultrastar technology platform, the WD Gold 24TB HDD provides up to 2.5 million hours MTBF (projected ⁽³⁾), features vibration protection technology, is designed to handle workloads up to 550TB/year ⁽⁴⁾ and comes with a 5-year limited warranty.

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⁽¹⁾ 1GBGB is equal to 1 billion bytes and 1TB is equal to one trillion bytes. Actual user capacity may be less due to operating environment.
⁽²⁾ The 28TB Ultrastar DC HC680 SMR HDD offers 10% less watt/TB at idle and for a random read 4KB QD=8 workload compared to the company’s previous generation 26TB SMR HDD. The 24TB Ultrastar DC HC580 and WD Gold CMR HDDs provide 12% less watt/TB at idle and for random 50/50 read/write, 4KB QD=4 workloads compared to the company’s previous generation 22TB HDDs.
⁽³⁾ Final MTBF and AFR specs will be based on a sample population and are estimated by statistical measurements and acceleration algorithms under typical operating conditions, typical workload and 40°C device-reported temperature. Derating of MTBF and AFR will occur above these parameters, up to 550TB/year and 60°C (device reported temperature). MTBF and AFR ratings do not predict an individual drive’s reliability and do not constitute a warranty.
⁽⁴⁾ Workload Rate is defined as the amount of user data transferred to or from the hard drive. Workload Rate is annualized (TB transferred X (8760 / recorded power-on hours)). Workload Rate will vary depending on your hardware and software components and configurations.