Storage requirements are becoming increasingly demanding due to increased data usage and video security surveillance driven by remote work. Western Digital has strengthened its portfolio with the launch of new, high-capacity terabyte-class HDDs.

Western Digital announced on the 26th that it will begin shipping new 22TB HDDs in its portfolio: WD Gold for data center customers, WD Red Pro for NAS, and WD Purple Pro for smart video and security surveillance.

The three new products, which were unveiled at the 'What's Next Western Digital' event in May, provide an areal density of 2.2TB per platter based on industry-first technologies such as OptiNAND, ePMR (Energy-enhanced PMR), TSA (Triple-Stage Actuator), and HelioSeal. Western Digital is extending its HDD innovation and technology leadership across its broad portfolio, enabling customers to purchase three new 22TB CMR HDDs.

Today's data is growing in every aspect, from volume and size to format and resolution, as well as use cases, applications, and value. Western Digital announced plans to offer a robust lineup of HDDs featuring high capacity, high performance, and reliability to individuals and businesses seeking efficient and effective data storage solutions in this zettabyte era.

WD Gold HDDs for Data Center Storage Systems

Cloud and enterprise data center designers want to maximize the efficiency of their IT infrastructure investments. Western Digital explained that switching to high-capacity CMR HDDs can provide benefits to users, as △economics, △capacity, △density, △power usage, and △sustainability of storing a single bit are all key factors in reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO).

Western Digital's new 22TB WD Gold HDD with OptinAND technology allows users to increase storage in the same space or reduce the number of racks, contributing to reducing equipment installation costs such as racks, networks, power, cooling, and cables, as well as total cost of ownership.

Additionally, Western Digital's OptinAND-based ArmorCache technology allows you to simultaneously utilize the performance of write cache enabled mode and the data protection of write cache disabled mode.

Available in capacities from 1TB to 22TB, WD Gold HDDs boast up to 2.5 million hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) and low power draw with HelioSeal technology, along with vibration mitigation technology, making them ideal for demanding storage environments.

■WD Red Pro HDD specialized for major NAS systems with up to 24 bays

Working from home has accelerated the rapid growth of data volumes, but this rapidly growing volume is causing challenges for many home and small office (SOHO) workers and small and medium-sized businesses.

The 22TB WD Red Pro HDD with OptinAND technology is described as a suitable solution for those who require large-capacity storage or have reached the maximum capacity of their existing NAS system.

Built for NAS systems with up to 24 bays, WD Red Pro HDDs are optimized for multi-user environments and 24/7/365 workloads. Designed to handle demanding workloads, WD Red Pro HDDs are specialized for storing, protecting, archiving, and sharing large amounts of data with multiple users, supporting data-intensive applications such as file synchronization, sharing, backup and archiving, multimedia storage, and private cloud storage.

WD Purple Pro HDD for AI-enabled smart video recorders, appliances, and servers

As smart video surveillance expands, its storage requirements are becoming increasingly demanding. Today's high-resolution cameras capture massive amounts of video, images, and streaming metadata, and AI and video analytics are placing even greater demands on the volume, quality, and retention of video data.

Additionally, developing AI algorithms using deep learning solutions requires more video than ever before. Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) customers require dedicated storage to efficiently manage this exponential data growth at scale.

The 22TB WD Purple Pro HDD with OptinAND technology is a dedicated enterprise-class drive that provides large capacity and supports video analytics servers and AI and deep learning systems. WD Purple Pro HDDs feature Western Digital's exclusive AllFrame AI technology, which reduces frame loss while supporting 32 AI streams for deep learning analytics, and are optimized for the latest smart cameras transmitting multiple streams, with up to 64 single-stream HD cameras.

It also supports high reliability with an MTBF of up to 2.5 million hours, optimized for advanced smart video solutions that operate continuously 24/7.

Meanwhile, Western Digital's leading Ultrastar 22TB CMR HDDs and 26TB UltraSMR HDDs have been shipping to select hyperscale cloud customers since June.

“Western Digital hard drives play a critical role in storing, protecting, capturing and analyzing the data that shapes today’s digital lives, from the cloud to the edge,” said Ravi Pendecanti, senior vice president of product management and marketing for Western Digital’s HDD business. “Through our technology leadership and industry-leading HDD portfolio, we continue to deliver value to our customers today and in the future.”