WD Reports Breakthrough for Ultra-High Capacity Hard Drives

With an aim to meet the future demands of Big Data with proven data centre-level reliability, Western Digital on Monday announced a breakthrough innovation for delivering ultra-high capacity hard disk drives (HDDs).

The technology, titled "microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) HDD" was demonstrated in Bengaluru during the "Innovating to Fuel the Next Decade of Big Data" event here in presence of Professor Jimmy Zhu from Carnegie Mellon University, the inventor of MAMR technology.

Western Digital plans to begin shipping ultra-high capacity MAMR HDDs in 2019 for use in data centres. As the volume, velocity, variety, value and longevity of both Big Data and Fast Data grow, a new generation of storage technologies are needed.

"Our ground-breaking advancement in MAMR technology will enable Western Digital to address the future of high capacity storage by redefining the density potential of HDDs and introduce a new class of highly reliable, 'ultra-high capacity' drives," said Mike Cordano, President and Chief Operating Officer at Western Digital. 

Five years ago, the company introduced HelioSeal, helium-filled drive technology. "Since then, we have shipped more than 20 million helium drives. That type of leadership and innovation continues today and we aim to leverage it well into the future," he added.

MAMR is one of two energy-assisted technologies that Western Digital has been developing for years. Developments in the other energy-assisted technology, specifically, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), present new material science and reliability challenges that are not a factor in MAMR.

Only MAMR demonstrates the reliability and cost profile that meets the demands of data centre operators.