Western Digital is set to begin sampling its 28TB nearline hard drive (HDD) designed for hyperscale datacenters in the coming weeks, the company revealed at its earnings call. The HDD will employ the company's energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording (ePMR) and UltraSMR (shingled magnetic recording) technologies to deliver the unprecedented capacity.
"We are about to begin product sampling of our 28 TB UltraSMR drive," said David Goeckeler, chief executive of Western Digital, at the conference call with analysts and investors (via SeekingAlpha). "This cutting-edge product is built upon the success of our ePMR and UltraSMR technologies with features and reliability trusted by our customers worldwide. We are staging this product for quick qualification and ramp as demand improves."
An intriguing aspect of Western Digital's 28TB HDD is that it relies on the company's 2nd generation ePMR technology with refined write heads to enable higher areal density and thinner tracks. As Western Digital's UltraSMR technology boosts areal density of a conventional magnetic recording (CMR) media by about 20%, the company needs a 24TB HDD to build a 28TB UltraSMR drive. The company's roadmaps indicate that the company planned to begin using its ePMR 2 technology starting at 24TB CMR HDDs, so this is likely to be the case here.
