Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Seagate Releases 6TB Hard Drive Sans Helium

Posted by Unknown on from the platters-like-to-breathe dept.

Lucas123 (935744) writes "Seagate has released what it said is the industry's fastest hard drive with up to a 6TB capacity, matching one released by WD last year. WD's 6TB Ultrastar He6 was hermetically sealed with helium inside, something the company said was critical to reducing friction for additional platters, while also increasing power savings and reliability. Seagate, however, said it doesn't yet need to rely on Helium to achieve the 50% increase in capacity over its last 4TB drive. The company used the same perpendicular magnetic recording technology that it has on previous models, but it was able to increase areal density from 831 bits per square inch to 1,000. The new drive also comes in 2TB, 4TB and 5TB capacities and with either 12Gbps SAS or 6Gbps SATA connectivity. The six-platter, enterprise-class drive is rated to sustain about 550TB of writes per year — 10X that of a typical desktop drive."

7 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. ~1000 *Bits* per square inch? by PaulBu · · Score: 5, Informative

    I thought that in 21st century we are talking about Gbits/inch^2, not just bits...

    Paul B.

    1. Re:~1000 *Bits* per square inch? by cheater512 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Its just sad that in the 21st century we are still using Gbits/inch^2 and not Gbits/cm^2.

    2. Re:~1000 *Bits* per square inch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Its just sad that in the 21st century we are still using Gbits/inch^2 and not Gbits/cm^2.

      Why is that sad? An inch is 2.54 cm, so a square inch is 2.54*2.54=6.45 cm^2. If we switched from inches to cm, instead of 6 TB, this disk would not even hold 1 TB.

    3. Re:~1000 *Bits* per square inch? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Imperial or metric bits?

  2. Helium leak? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally a way to detect if your drive is about to crash: you start to sound like a munchkin.

    <highvoice>Oh oh, I better make a backup fast!</highvoice>

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  3. Re:Why not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    actually, the drives aren't usually sealed. there's a porous frit plug that allows the pressure inside and outside to be equalized, and which has pores small enough not to let water vapor in.

    Designing a hermetic container that lasts for years is non-trivial, particularly one to hold Helium, which has very, very small atoms that can go through the interstices in the metal. By comparison, pulling a vacuum would be easier, but disk drives need something to fly the heads on. He is nice because it is also very low viscosity

  4. Re:Why not? by Kaenneth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fun Fact, retail helium for recreational used is often salvaged from used 'pure' helium from MRI machines and such.

    So children's party balloons are filled with medical waste, yay!