Western Digital prepares to verify and deliver 28TB hard drives

CTOnews.com August 2, Western Digital (Western Digital) released its fiscal fourth quarter results earlier this week and revealed that it is about to test the 28TB hard drive developed for the data center (DPC).

Western Digital said it will make full use of energy-saving vertical magnetic recording (ePMR) and the latest version of "tiling" magnetic recording (UltraSMR) technology to further improve the storage capacity of the hardware.

David Goeckeler, CEO of Western Digital, said in an interview with analysts and investors that CTOnews.com translated as follows:

Our 28TB UltraSMR hardware is about to be qualified. This state-of-the-art product builds on the success of ePMR and UltraSMR technology and provides the performance and reliability trusted by customers around the world.

After completing the certification and expansion, we will deliver this hard drive product to our customers.

Western Digital's 28TB hard drive is based on second-generation ePMR technology and improves the recording head to allow higher recording density and thinner tracks.

Compared with traditional magnetic recording (CMR) technology, UltraSMR technology increases the storage density by 20%, so the company needs to implement 28TB's UltraSMR hard disk based on 24TB hard disk.

Western Digital's HAMR-based hard drives are at least 1.5 years away, and the company plans to use a combination of second-generation ePMR and UltraSMR technology to deliver higher-capacity products to the market in the coming quarters.