10TB helium drives

[MrPstv]

https://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/enterprise-hard-drives/enterprise-sata-drives/ultrastar-archive-ha10

[localzuk]

That's good. Means the 8TB ones should drop in price a little soon then too! Shame, buying 6TB ones now for our backup box.

[Arthur]

That's good.

Except this 10TB HDD won't be available through the usual retail channels and it's a host-managed SMR drive which means your operating system won't be able to write any data to the HDD without the appropriate software support being in place first.

 

HGST's 10TB drive uses custom software to access shingled platters

 

The Ultrastar Archive Ha10 won't be available through conventional channels, so don't expect it to hit online retailers. HGST's host-managed SMR implementation requires substantial customization on the software side.

 

SMR crams more data onto the platters by overlapping the individual tracks like rows of shingles on a roof. This layering is typically managed by the drive, without host-level intervention. That approach is great for compatibility, but according to HGST, it can result in inconsistent performance and dramatic slowdowns over time. The firm claims its host-managed solution can smooth out those wrinkles with custom software.

 

The simplest path to SMR support involves "large modifications" to the storage driver and block layer. SMR hooks can also be integrated into the file system and applications. That's all possible in Linux now with an open-source SDK available on Github. HGST also expects some native driver and file system support for host-managed SMR by late 2016, but only for server platforms. Archival drives aren't meant for consumers.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Arthur