| 18TB CMR HDD in the first half of 2020,
Announcement of plans to launch 20TB SMR HDD

WD has unveiled 18- and 20-terabyte capacity HDDs for data centers.

Western Digital (WD) unveiled new enterprise-class HDDs, the '18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDD' and '20TB Ultrastar DC HC650 SMR HDD', on the 10th to meet the TCO improvement requirements of data center customers.

The two new HDDs are based on a nine-disk platform featuring energy-assisted recording technology, delivering high capacity at high areal density.

“As data continues to pour into data centers, there is a growing need for meaningful capacity increases that ultimately improve TCO,” said John Chen, vice president of TrendFocus. “WD supports the complex workloads driving the next-generation hyperscale era by offering a variety of capacity options, including 10TB, 14TB, and 18TB, based on our Six, Eight, and NineDisk platforms.”

WD plans to sample the 18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDD and the 20TB Ultrastar DC HC650 SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) HDD by the end of the year, with mass production expected in the first half of 2020. WD also expects that by 2023, more than half of its HDD shipments will be SMR-based.

“Building on our expertise in energy-assisted recording and mechanical design, WD is able to introduce a new, scalable HDD platform to our customers,” said Christopher Bergey, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s Data Center Devices business.

WD's 10TB Ultrastar DC HC330 and 14TB Ultrastar DC HC530 are available now. The 20TB Ultrastar DC HC650 SMR HDD and the 16TB and 18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDDs are sampling to qualified customers by the end of the year and, subject to approval, are scheduled for release in the first half of 2020.