Hard disk drive capacity continues to increase at breakneck speed

Earlier this week, Hitachi GST (soon to be part of Western Digital) announced they would soon ship a 1 TB single-platter hard disk drive. But archrival Seagate rained on their parade financing immediate shipment of their own 4 TB unit. With the industry consolidating rapidly, it’s good to see healthy competition among the two remaining hard disk drive giants.

Seagate’s 4 TB GoFlex Desk

The 4 TB GoFlex Desk sets a new capacity record for hard disk drives

I’ve been quite impressed by Seagate’s GoFlex family of hard disk drives, and have bought quite a few for my own personal use. I love being able to mix and match interfaces based on immediate needs: I snap on a FireWire dock for bulk transfers from my Mac, then hand off the drive with a USB dock for maximum compatibility.

Seagate has been quite aggressive in pricing their GoFlex drives as well. I recently picked up a pair of 3 TB GoFlex Desk drives at Best Buy for under $140 each. The idea that I could buy 6 TB of capacity for under $300 is really mind blowing!

Now Seagate has announced immediate shipment of the highest capacity drive yet. The 4 TB GoFlex Desk drive will be available for a suggested retail price of $249.99, and will likely drop quickly below.

Hitachi GST’s 1 TB Deskstar 7K1000.D

Hitachi GST's Deskstar 7K1000 line packs 1 TB on a single platter

A few days before this, Hitachi GST announced that they would soon ship a single platter 1 TB hard disk drive, the Deskstar 7K1000.D. This marks the first time any hard disk drive company has been able to squeeze a terabyte onto a single 3.5 inch platter, and suggests that Hitachi may soon introduce a 4 TB four platter hard disk drive of their own.

Increasing areal density is a constant trend in the storage industry, but it is important since performance and thermal efficiency are driven by it. A four platter 4 TB hard disk drive will have somewhat faster sequential access performance than a less dense drive and will run cooler as well.

Stephen’s Stance

This is really an amazing capacity point, but Seagate’s method and timing is a little suspect. The company reached the 4 TB mark by packing five 800 GB hard disk platters into a single drive. Considering how hot my GoFlex Desk drives run, I’m somewhat concerned by this. Clearly, Seagate took a shortcut so they could jump ahead of Western Digital/Hitachi GST in claiming to be the first to ship a 4 TB hard disk drive, but it’s likely that a family of 1 TB per platter Seagate drives will be released shortly as well. So goes the march of progress!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Seagate Jumps Hitachi’s Density Record With 4 TB Hard Disk Announcement
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Seagate's massive 1000 GB laptop drive is almost here, packing almost 800 Gb per square inch!

Seagate is one of the world’s most-successful hard disk drive companies, consistently ranked first in overall sales for a decade. The company is respected for their high-end products, but is aggressively moving into the world of smaller hard disks for laptops and portable storage as well. The company’s mainstream “Momentus” portable hard disk family has kept pace with the industry, but Seagate will soon break away with a major jump in areal density. Using public information, and the first product in this line, we will consider what Seagate’s eighth-generation Momentus family will look like.

Looking Back (5400.6 and 5400.7)

The sixth- and seventh-generation Momentus families were solid performers, selling fairly well especially in Seagate’s own line of FreeAgent portable USB hard disks. The company has always named its Momentus families using the speed and generation. Thus, the sixth generation of 5400 rpm drives was 5400.6 and the seventh generation was 5400.7.

The successful sixth-generation product reached 250 GB per 2.5″ platter, or an areal density of 394 gigabits per square inch. The “small form factor” drives in this family included a variety of riffs on the same theme of 125 GB per “surface” or head. Therefore, we had a 500 GB 2-platter drive, a 250 GB single-platter drive, as well as 320 GB and a 160 GB offerings.

The current Momentus products belong to the seventh generation, though Seagate appears to be de-emphasizing the “5400.7″ name. Although the name is mentioned on the web site, Seagate appears to want the entire Momentus line to appear more coherent and less generational. The product manual is pretty hard to locate, too.

The drives themselves feature 507 gigabit per square inch for nearly 320 GB per platter. This yields the 640 GB, 500 GB, and 400 GB 2-platter offerings as well as the single platter drives with 320 GB, 250 GB, and 160 GB.

One major differentiator for the 5400.7 family was the introduction of 4K “Advanced Format” offerings. These use larger sectors for increased efficiency, larger capacity, and better data protection but could be incompatible with certain older computers and operating systems. All hard disk drive manufacturers, including Seagate, have committed to using Advanced Format for new drive models introduced after the first of January, 2011. Although offered as part of the Momentus 5400.7 family, the Advanced Format drives were apparently only sold preformatted and in portable drives that would not likely be used incorrectly.

The areal density of the Momentus 5400.7 line was impressive, but 640 GB was just not much of a step up from the 500 GB capacity point of the previous family. So it received relatively little attention.

Introducing the Terabyte Laptop Drive

Seagate needs to move forward with a major new capacity point, and they appear to be doing exactly that. As noted last week, the Seagate GoFlex family now includes a slim 1 TB portable drive. This unit includes the next-generation hard disk technology, and we expect an impressive new family of products to appear shortly. We aren’t sure if the “5400.8″ name will be applied, but these new Momentus models will push capacity all the way to 1.5 TB (with 3 platters), and the increased areal density will push the cost per GB to a new low.

After being briefed for my previous writeup on Seagate’s GoFlex 1 TB, the company offered to send me a drive for evaluation. I accepted, and was eager to connect it to my test rig and take a look. Although the drive information is obscured by USB and FireWire connections, eSATA reveals that it has a very Momentus-looking name: ST91000420AS. This name includes a new family identifier (the “4″ in “420″) and confirms it as a 2-platter unit (the “2″ in that number), as if the thinness of the FreeAgent wasn’t enough proof. The company confirmed that the new 1.5 TB GoFlex portable drive contains a 3-platter variant of this same family.

A little deductive reasoning suggests that this new Momentus family will include, in addition to the known 1.5 TB and 1 TB models, offerings sized at 750 GB, 500 GB, and 250 GB. We may also see a 1.2 TB model, though the value of that capacity point is questionable. Given the naming for the 1 TB model, we have suggested names (in italics) for the rest of the family.

It is likely that every model will feature 4 K “Advanced Format” sectors internally. Since Seagate has developed their own “SmartAlign” in-drive sector size compensation technology (more on that another day), it will not be necessary to call out the difference anymore.

Given that the 5400.6 had 394 Gb/in and 250 GB platters and the 5400.7 has 507 Gb/in and 320 GB platters, this new family likely has about 790 Gb/in for its 500 GB platters. This is a very impressive number, easily besting rivals Western Digital and Hitachi GST.

Stephen’s Stance

This new product family will really shake up the portable storage market. It will single-handedly alter both the high- and low-capacity limits found in everything from laptops to portable drives. And other drive vendors will have to scramble to reach the nearly-800 Gb/in technology Seagate is using.

Seagate already had the most-desirable laptop disk, the killer 500 GB hybrid Momentus XT. Now they will be introducing another lust-worthy drive, the 1 TB Momentus 5400.8. With 2 platters, 9 mm thinness, and low power usage, I expect this to quickly become the top capacity offering for laptop makers. And the fact that each platter side has 250 GB means that the 160 GB capacity point will vanish in favor of 250 GB as the minimum configuration.

And one final note: Applying this technology to a 3.5 inch form factor gives us over 1 TB per platter in a drive like Seagate’s 5900 rpm Barracuda LP series. Since those cases already hold 4 platters, we could see a new line of Barracuda LP drives with 4 TB of capacity very soon!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | Forecasting Seagate’s Next-Generation Momentus 5400.8 Family
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Everything, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Seagate is first to deliver 500 GB 2.5" platters in their new GoFlex 1 TB drive

Storage capacity continues to move forward on both 3.5″ and 2.5″ hard disk drives. On the small form factor side, Western Digital was first with a 250 GB platter, then Seagate shot back with a 320 GB platter, then it was Hitachi at 375 GB. So it was only a matter of time until the magical half-terabyte mark would be reached, yielding 1 TB in a 2-platter drive. Now Seagate has done it, shipping a 2-platter 9.5 mm hard disk drive in their latest GoFlex portable case.

Two Platters is Magic

I already have a 1 TB 2.5″ hard disk drive from Seagate, and Western Digital was first to that party. But the makers pulled shenanigans to reach this capacity point, thickening the case to 12.5 mm or even 15 mm to accommodate three platters (or more!). This slight increase in thickness (or “z-height” in drive lingo) wouldn’t matter except for one important fact: 2.5″ hard disk drives are often used in laptops.

Portable computers prioritize compactness and power performance above all else. So two-platter 9.5 mm hard disk drives have become must-have, balancing capacity, performance, and cool running. Many laptops don’t have physical space for a 12.5 mm internal drive, let alone a 15 mm whopper like my Seagate.

So, although it’s nice to see capacity points like 1.5 TB reached in a 2.5″ small form factor hard disk drive, it’s not really relevant in the portable computer space. There, we have to wait for 2-platter drives like this new Seagate. Note that the company also introduced a mammoth 1.5 TB drive using three of these same 500 GB platters.

Note that increased areal density from 500 GB platters will bring increased performance as well. Throughput to this new drive should improve by about 30% for sequential operations, though this will be masked by the USB interface. I expect the eSATA version of this drive to fly, perhaps topping out over 110 MB/s even on a 5400 rpm spindle. USB 3.0 performance should be in this same vicinity, while USB 2.0 will strangle the drive, limiting it to about 30 MB/s.

External Only (For Now)

But we’ll have to wait a bit longer. Seagate’s first customer for the 2-platter 1 TB drive is (surprise) Seagate itself. For now, the only way to get this new drive is to buy their GoFlex 1 TB external portable drive, available now from major retailers as well as Seagate itself. We expect a new rev of the Momentum drive family shortly, followed by wider availability of the device outside a GoFlex enclosure.

You might want also to read Lemons Into Lemonade: Seagate Repackages SATA As GoFlex

Note that Seagate sells a few different drives in this space, and not all are created equal:

• The older STAA1000100 is a 3-platter drive in a 22 mm case. It’s cheap at under $120.
• This new drive is the STAA1000103, which comes in a 14.5 mm case. It’s pricier at over $179
• There’s also the new STAA1500100, which is a 3-platter 1.5 TB model in the thicker 22 mm case. It’s most expensive at $229, but just look at the size of it!

Both drives look similar, but it’s easy to tell them apart in person: The 22 mm case is noticeably thicker.

Note to Mac users: This drive is compatible with Mac OS X thanks to the bundled NTFS drivers and USB 2.0 compatibility, and you can always reformat it as HFS+. Seagate sells a FireWire 800 dock and cable for the GoFlex line as well. You might even be crazy like me and have eSATA on your iMac or MacBook. However, there is as of now no USB 3.0 support in Mac OS X. So most users will be stuck in the slow lane. Thanks, Apple!

Stephen’s Stance

Seagate’s new thin GoFlex 1 TB drive is impressive technologically, though I can’t imagine the average consumer would be willing to spend over $50 more to shave off 8 mm of thickness from a portable drive. The increased performance and reduced power consumption would be invisible to many of these buyers as well. Laptop users looking to expand internal storage should wait for a bare drive to be released.

But this new density achievement is important for the hard disk drive industry in general and Seagate in particular. It marks a new generation of storage devices, and the technology will certainly find its way into other products. A 1 TB Momentus XT hybrid drive would be especially tempting! I applaud Seagate for being the first to cross this line, and look forward to a hands-on test as soon as I can manage it.

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© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | Seagate Breaks the Areal Density Limit With 1 TB 2 Platter 2.5″ Drive
This post was categorized as Apple, Enterprise storage, Everything, Personal, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Not For Laptops

As we’ve discussed before, modern laptops require thin 9.5 mm drives, which usually translates into two-platter units. This new WD Scorpio Blue is a three-platter, 12.5 mm design. So although this drive will certainly see lots of use in the hot mobile external drive market, we will not likely start seeing 1 TB laptops quite yet.

Note that Seagate rolled out a 640 GB FreeAgent Go USB drive last month. Although the company still hasn’t officially revealed the drive mechanism inside this mobile drive, we have surmised that it uses the 9.5 mm laptop-friendly two-platter design with 333 GB per platter. The new WD unit uses the same platter size and density, taking more wind out of Western Digital’s sails.

Shaking Up External Storage

But since both the initial WD and Seagate drives are aimed at the portable USB unit market rather than landing inside laptops, WD’s announcement of both 1 TB and 750 GB sizes should give it a nice differentiator on the shelves of retail stores.

Seagate has relied on 9.5 mm drives for quite a while, so it is unlikely to be able to match WD’s capacity for quite some time. We expect Hitachi GST and Samsung to quickly match WD’s capacity point with 3-platter 12.5 mm units, as they have done in the past, enabling OEMs like Iomega and LaCie to meet WD’s challenge. It remains to be seen if Seagate and Toshiba will ship 3-platter drive units to compete or wait until they can reach 1 TB with two-platter drives.

Enterprise Implications?

All of this talk of increased capacity inevitably leads to the question of whether these units will find their way into data centers and enterprise storage systems. At this point, Western Digital has not been very successful in the enterprise space, so this particular drive is unlikely to play there, either. But a potential 1 TB Hitachi GST response could indeed be used in enterprise storage.

More interesting is the impact that these 333 GB platters will have. Even if 1 TB drives don’t arrive in enterprise storage units today, this new areal density mark is likely to trickle up to this market. With HP announcing that they would shift to the 2.5 inch form factor for all of their enterprise storage products over the next few years, derivative high-capacity drives from other manufacturers could be the first real entry in the enterprise space.

Conclusion

So although this announcement will not shake the laptop or enterprise markets, it does promise to inject new energy into the portable external drive segment, likely reducing prices for existing products as well. After all, with a 1 TB drive sitting on the shelf, who would want to buy a 250 GB drive even at half the price?

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | WD’s 1 TB Laptop Drive? Not Quite!
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

• First up is Seagate, with their next-generation 3.5″ “7200.12″ drive family. Boasting 500 GB per platter, the drives are initially offered in 500 GB, 750 GB, and 1 TB versions, but we expect a 1.5 TB three-platter and perhaps a 2.0 TB 4-platter version to arrive shortly. Seagate claims a new areal density achievement with 329 Gb per square inch. Rumors are that Seagate is winding down development of 3.5″-platter disk drives, however, in favor of the 2.5″ form factor. 
• Western Digital is also shipping a new two-platter 500 GB Scorpio Blue mobile drive in volume. Unlike competing products from Samsung and Hitachi, WD was able to achieve the 500 GB mark in the WD5000BEVT with only two platters, comfortably fitting into the common 9.5 mm laptop drive cavity.

So why is a 2-platter design important? Simply put, fewer platters equals less power and heat, and more density equals more performance. But there’s more to it than power and heat: As Tom’s Hardware points out, greater platter density moves the sweet spot of the market to a new capacity threshold. Since manufacturers prefer to offer inexpensive single-platter drives in their mainstream products, these products point to a new 250 GB and 500 GB standard for inexpensive laptops and desktops, respectively. Further, expect to see 250 GB portable and 500 GB desktop external drives drop to new rock-bottom prices.

All of the major drive manufacturers are moving forward, of course. Hitachi GST has already announced 375 Gb per inch technology, and Western Digital is expected to launch a 2 TB 3.5″ drive unit soon. The 250 GB/500 GB 2.5″/3.5″ per-platter threshold should last through the year in shipping products, but expect announcements of 320 GB/750 GB or higher through 2009.

Maybe I’ll swap out my MacBook Pro’s 320 GB internal drive for a new 500 GB unit once these hit the stores! And today’s imminent announcement of a 1 TB 2-drive Mac Mini suggests that Apple will be offering 500 GB 2.5″ disk drives in their products starting now.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | I’ll Have Two Platters of Sheer Storage Madness, Please!
This post was categorized as Apple, Enterprise storage, Terabyte home. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.