Bottom line: WD just lately introduced a slew of storage merchandise, and the Ultrastar-branded 26TB DC HC670 and 22TB DC HC570 take the lead in the case of HDD information storage and areal density. Closing in on the slower medium’s capability benefit, in the meantime, is the upcoming Ultrastar 15.36TB DC SN650 NVMe SSD. These drives are at present being examined with choose WD clients and can start delivery within the coming months.
WD has included a bunch of storage applied sciences in what it says are the world’s first 22TB CMR-based and 26TB SMR-based HDDs. The latter, denser mannequin is ready to retailer 2.6 terabytes of information per platter, whereas the previous CMR model can retailer 2.2 terabytes on every of its 10 stacked platters.
In addition to outright capability, these helium drives additionally make the most of WD’s ArmorCache know-how that goals to mix the efficiency advantages of write cache allow with the info safety of write cache disable state. They obtain this feat with OptiNAND know-how, seen beforehand in WD’s 20TB ePMR drive.
Faster and high-capacity UFS storage onboard the drive allows all information within the DRAM cache to be written on the non-volatile reminiscence in case of an influence outage, permitting for as much as 40 p.c sooner IOPS efficiency over non-OptiNAND drives with 256KB and bigger recordsdata, and a peak 80 p.c enchancment with 1MB switch sizes throughout random writes.
Moreover, ArmorCache is alleged to enhance total efficiency because the drive would not require time consuming information integrity checks upon reboot and might shortly resume regular write operations. WD says the tech may also assist firms lower down on UPS / battery prices as it’s meant to make sure that cache information is efficiently written within the occasion of an influence loss.
The third Ultrastar-branded drive is the TLC-based DC SN650, a capacious 15.36TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD for enterprise clients on the lookout for extra premium, low-latency storage with a lot sooner throughput than HDDs.
WD did not share efficiency numbers for the drives however famous that the SSD, at present being sampled, will likely be obtainable in Q2 2022 within the slimmer E1.L dimension for servers in addition to the common 2.5-inch type issue. The aforementioned HDDs are additionally being sampled with choose clients and anticipated to reach within the summers.
Meanwhile, smaller companies and residential NAS customers may even be capable to buy 22TB drives quickly with the launch of WD Purple Pro (video/surveillance), Red Pro (NAS) and Gold (enterprise-grade) HDDs.
Pricing for these CMR drives is but to be revealed, nonetheless, potential patrons can count on total value per gigabyte to proceed its downward development. Like WD’s just lately introduced gaming-focused Black SN850X and P40 SSDs, these drives will start delivery in the summertime.
