September, 2017

Toshiba announces 14tb Helium-filled HDD "very soon"

Toshiba has plans to release a 14TB HDD "very soon". At Huawei Connect Conference in Shanghai, China, the company representatives indicated that 14TB helium-filled HDDs would hit the marketplace by the end of 2017. Currently, Toshiba's largest disk drive, the MN series NAS drive, which was announced in April this year, holds 8TB, spins at 7, 200rp, and uses a 6Gbit/s SATA interface.

The largest capacity HDD currently available is 12TB - both Seagate and Western Digital's HGST division offer 12TB models aimed at the enterprise market. These are single drive solutions and they are also filled with helium. If Toshiba meets its goal of releasing a 14TB HDD by the end of the year, it will take hold of the capacity crown.

There is little further information about the upcoming drive, such as platter count or interface type but it is expected to be SATA.

Seagate is also working on a 14TB model that they are likely to launch within the first half of next year. Besides, Seagate is planning to release a 16TB HDD sometime in 2018, and a whopping 20TB HDD by 2020, the company announced back in January.

Japanese company Hoya Corp. believes that, as companies such as Seagate, WD, and Toshiba push towards HDDs with capacities of 20TB, glass substrates will be critical to their success. Using glass for the platter substrate provides increased rigidity, lightweight, and less expansion due to heat - compared to the choice of aluminum. Thus glass platters can deliver a denser platter structure and lower energy use. Another significant advantage of glass substrates is its good fit for heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) tech, which is expected to become the mainstream in the future.

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