Toshiba has verified 12-platter disk drive technology, enabling a 20 percent increase in capacity over its 10-platter microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) technology.
The company currently ships conventionally-recorded MG11 disk drives with up to 24 TB capacity from their 10 aluminum platters, and up to 28 TB capacity MA11 shingled drives, those with partially overlapping write tracks, also with 10 platters. MAMR uses microwaves to enhance the effectiveness of the write signal applied to the perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) recording medium on the platter surface. Adding two extra platters inside the standard 3.5-inch enclosure requires thinner platters and four more read-write heads, one for each extra surface. Toshiba is the first disk drive manufacturer in the industry to do this.
Raghu Gururangan, VP for Engineering & Product Marketing at Toshiba America Electronic Components, stated: “Toshiba’s 12-disk HDD platform delivers the scalability and reliability needed to support the exponential growth in AI-driven data center storage, enabling exabyte-class capacity with proven recording technologies.”
The “proven recording technologies” point is a nod to Seagate’s HAMR technology, which has been in development for decades and has reportedly faced verification challenges with hyperscaler customers. However, these challenges are disappearing.
Seagate’s heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology enables it to reach 30 conventionally recorded TB with its 10-platter Exos 30 and 36 TB with its shingled Exos M. We are expecting Seagate to announce a 40 TB Exos M drive by the end of the year, using a fourth generation of its HAMR tech – Mozaic 4+.
Seagate has a higher density per platter – 3 TB conventional and 3.6 TB shingled – than Toshiba’s 2.4 TB conventional and 2.8 TB shingled capacities. By moving to 12-platter tech, using thinner, glass platters, Toshiba could increase its capacity to 28.8 TB conventional and 33.6 TB shingled, closer to but still not matching Seagate.
Toshiba says it aims to introduce 40 TB-class drives to the market in 2027. That implies it will use a more advanced version of MAMR to get to the 3.3 TB/platter level or above. But it will be 18 months or so behind Seagate.
Western Digital uses similar ePMR (enhanced PMR) technology to Toshiba, and 11 platters to get to 26 TB with its conventionally recorded Ultrastar DC HC590 and 32 TB with its shingled HC690 drives, 4 TB more than Toshiba’s MA11.
Toshiba is also investigating the use of 12-disk stacking technology with next-generation HAMR. That would give it the areal density increase needed to catch up with Seagate. Western Digital is also intending to adopt HAMR technology at some point in the future.
Were Seagate to adopt 11 or 12-platter technology, its capacity advantage over competitors would increase markedly.
Toshiba’s 12-disk stacking technology will be featured at the IDEMA Symposium on October 17 in Kawasaki, Japan.
