Western Digital introduces colossal ePMR HDDs to fulfill surging nearline demand in tech realm.

Western Digital is revolutionizing the storage industry with its latest HDD technology, including the world's highest capacity UltraSMR HDD and a 26TB ePMR CMR HDD, designed for hyperscalers, CSPs, and enterprises, showcasing their commitment to delivering innovative, high-capacity, and reliable storage solutions for data centers and the AI Data Cycle.

Revolutionary HDD technology with world's highest capacity UltraSMR HDD at 32TB
Proven energy-assisted PMR recording technology for reliability and efficiency
Designed for hyperscalers, CSPs, and enterprises with data-intensive workloads

Western Digital, a leading provider of storage solutions, is revolutionizing the industry with its latest HDD technology. The company has announced the shipment of the world’s highest capacity UltraSMR HDD, boasting an impressive 32TB. This HDD utilizes the reliable energy-assisted PMR recording technology, making it ideal for hyperscalers, CSPs, and enterprises. Additionally, Western Digital is also shipping a 26TB ePMR CMR HDD, perfect for those seeking a drop-in ready solution for data-intensive workloads.

These new drives showcase Western Digital’s commitment to delivering HDD technology that surpasses expectations in terms of capacity, reliability, and innovation. With their 11-disk design and proven technology, these drives are designed to optimize storage efficiency and lower TCO for data centers.

The AI Data Cycle has emerged as a significant growth driver for the storage industry, and Western Digital’s HDDs play a crucial role in this ecosystem. As AI systems generate vast amounts of data, HDDs handle both the input and output sides of the AI Data Cycle, ensuring efficient storage and retrieval of data with the lowest TCO.

The 32TB UltraSMR drives and 26TB CMR drives from Western Digital incorporate multiple technological innovations to maximize storage efficiency in data centers. These drives feature ePMR, OptiNAND, ArmorCache, and a triple-stage actuator, along with the world’s first commercially available 11-disk platform. These design enhancements enable Western Digital to deliver superior storage capacity while maintaining reliability and performance.

The Ultrastar DC HC690 SMR HDD with up to 32TB capacity is now shipping, providing cost-effective deep content storage at scale. With impressive sequential performance and low power consumption, these drives are ideal for warm and cold tiers of data.

The Ultrastar DC HC590 CMR HDD with 26TB capacity is also now available, offering a reliable and field-proven technology foundation. These drives deliver unbeaten CMR capacity, seamless qualification, easy integration, and rapid adoption, all while maintaining superior dependability and reliability.

Western Digital’s Ultrastar Data60 and Data102 hybrid storage platforms are being qualified and integrated with the new Ultrastar HDDs. These high-density, scalable storage solutions are perfect for modern data centers, private clouds, and big data analytics. With flexible configurations and impressive raw capacity, these platforms ensure reduced vibration, optimized cooling, and enhanced performance and reliability.

For system integrators and resellers, Western Digital offers the 26TB WD Gold SATA HDDs. These drives incorporate the latest innovations from the Ultrastar HDD technology platform, providing a no-compromise storage solution for heavy workloads in enterprise and commercial environments. With a five-year limited warranty and high storage performance, reliability, and durability, these drives are perfect for small and medium businesses and design professionals.

John Chen, Vice President at TRENDFOCUS, highlights the critical role of HDDs in delivering high capacity, performance, and low power, making them indispensable for enterprises. Western Digital’s new 11-disk platform positions the company to continue driving key HDD use cases and optimizing success in today’s data-intensive landscape.

Ravi Pendekanti, SVP of Product Management, HDD Business Unit at Western Digital, emphasizes the efficiency and TCO benefits of their CMR and UltraSMR technology. With the industry’s highest ePMR capacities available, Western Digital ensures that customers have the storage efficiency, scalability, reliability, and unmatched value they need to stay ahead.

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Background Information

About Western Digital: Western Digital, established in 1970, is a prominent data storage solutions provider known for its wide range of hard drives and solid-state drives. Catering to various applications, from personal computers to enterprise storage systems, Western Digital emphasizes data management and security. With a reputation for reliability and innovative solutions, the company has been pivotal in shaping the storage industry. Their products are trusted by individuals, businesses, and data centers worldwide

Technology Explained

HDD: A Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a classic data storage device that utilizes spinning disks, or platters, coated with a magnetic material to store and retrieve data. An actuator arm with read/write heads accesses data by moving over the spinning platters. HDDs offer large storage capacities at a comparatively lower cost per gigabyte, making them suitable for applications where massive data storage is required, such as servers and desktop computers. However, HDDs are slower in terms of read and write speeds compared to SSDs due to the mechanical nature of their operation. They are more susceptible to physical shocks and are less energy-efficient due to the need to constantly spin the platters.