Seagate creates 10TB hard drive for cloud datacentres

Seagate has unveiled a new high-capacity enterprise hard disk drive (HDD) aimed specifically at addressing the needs of cloud service providers.

The 10TB Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD, to give it its full name, incorporates seven platters and 14 heads and seals in helium, which, Seagate claimed, creates a turbulence-free, quiet environment. The company said this design reduces both friction and resitance on the platters, which, it claimed, allows it to deliver the lowest power-to-terabyte ratio in the industry, as well as offering the lowest weight specifications.

The drive also offers easy system integration by using the standard 3.5in CMR design, while still providing 25 per cent higher density than competitors, said Seagate.

The device is already in use by the likes of Huawei and Alibaba.

"Cloud-based data centre storage needs are expanding faster than many current infrastructures can sustain, rendering the capacity demands of users a herculean task for cloud managers," said Mark Re, SVP and CTO at Seagate. "Our new helium-based enterprise drive is designed precisely to help data-centric organisations worldwide solve the needs of their growing stprage business."

Fan Ruiqi, president of storage products at Huawei added: "With the amount of data today growing at an increasingly rapid rate, we are always on the lookout for storage solutions that offer better performance with lower overhead. The new Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD from Seagate helps us meet these demands by offering capacity with improvements in power and weight allowing us to drastically reduce our costs."

The Seagate 10TB Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD is available in both 6Gb/s SATA and 12Gb/s SAS interfaces and is shipping to customers worldwide immediately.