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Podcast: Areal density, AI design and the 50TB hard drive

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Podcast: Areal density, AI design and the 50TB hard drive

In this podcast, Antony Adshead is joined by Jason Feist, senior vice-president for marketing in products and markets at Seagate, to discuss how spinning disk technology can reach capacities of 40TB and 50TB.

They explore technologies such as heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) that increase areal density and allow for more data to be stored on disk platters. Feist also shares insights on the future of hard disk drives (HDDs) and the specific use cases they are suited for.

So, we’ve reached the low to mid-20s in terabyte (TB) terms in hard disk drives. How are HDD makers going to push capacity beyond what we’ve got today?

Feist highlights the ongoing innovations in the hard drive industry, driven by advancements in mechanical engineering, magnetic recording, and process control. Areal density remains a key focus for increasing storage capacity in hard drives.

Given those innovations and abilities to research in new ways, what capacities can we expect in the next five years and what innovations in particular are going to drive those?

Feist discusses the recent developments in hard drive capacities, with the industry moving towards 4TB and 5TB per disk. He emphasizes the role of heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) in driving increased capacity, with the potential for 40TB and 50TB hard drives in the near future.

How long should we expect spinning disk hard drives to be around for and what workloads are going to be most appropriate for them in the coming five to 10 years? What’s the limitation on capacity expansion?

Feist emphasizes the continued relevance of hard drives in various industries, driven by the increasing demand for data storage in cloud computing, AI, and other emerging technologies. He predicts that hard drives will remain a key storage solution for many years to come, supporting diverse use cases and ecosystem development.

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Benefits of Hard Drives for Data Storage

Ad spending, social media companies, and the growth of video all rely on the capabilities that hard drives provide. Hard drives offer very large capacity, sustained data rate transfers, efficient sustainable storage architectures, and scalable architectures that allow for global presence.

With the rise of video applications, there are new use cases for prosumers and content creators. These individuals are leveraging generative AI tools to create text-to-video content at a faster pace, resulting in larger and richer content.

Hard drives have long been the backbone of data storage needs at exabyte scale, and they continue to play a crucial role in storing vast amounts of data efficiently.

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