Western Digital MAMR tech will allow 40+TB HDDs to be created

MAMR is one of two energy-assisted technologies that Western Digital has been developing for years. The company recently innovated a breakthrough in material and process that provides the required reliable and predictable performance, as well as the manufacturability to accelerate areal density and cost improvements to an estimated average of 15 percent per year. Developments in the other energy-assisted technology, specifically, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), present new material science and reliability challenges that are not a factor in MAMR. Only MAMR demonstrates the reliability and cost profile that meets the demands of data center operators.

At the heart of the company’s innovation breakthrough is the “spin torque oscillator” used to generate a microwave field that increases the ability to record data at ultra-high density without sacrificing reliability. Western Digital’s innovative MAMR technology is expected to offer over 4 terabits-per-square-inch over time. With sustained improvements in recording density, MAMR promises to enable hard drives with 40TB of capacity and beyond by 2025, and continued expansion beyond that timeframe.

  

  

Today consumers can by Western Digital with capacities of up to 12TB at online retailers, making Western Digital’s 40+TB claims for 2025 seem very ambitious. This would represent a storage density increase of over 3x over the next 8 years, which is a much faster rate of improvement than what we have seen in recent years (especially before Helium-filled drives became a thing). 

 

You can join the discussion on Western Digital’s new MAMR storage technology on the OC3D Forums. 

 

MAMR is one of two energy-assisted technologies that Western Digital has been developing for years. The company recently innovated a breakthrough in material and process that provides the required reliable and predictable performance, as well as the manufacturability to accelerate areal density and cost improvements to an estimated average of 15 percent per year. Developments in the other energy-assisted technology, specifically, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), present new material science and reliability challenges that are not a factor in MAMR. Only MAMR demonstrates the reliability and cost profile that meets the demands of data center operators.

At the heart of the company’s innovation breakthrough is the “spin torque oscillator” used to generate a microwave field that increases the ability to record data at ultra-high density without sacrificing reliability. Western Digital’s innovative MAMR technology is expected to offer over 4 terabits-per-square-inch over time. With sustained improvements in recording density, MAMR promises to enable hard drives with 40TB of capacity and beyond by 2025, and continued expansion beyond that timeframe.

  

  

Today consumers can by Western Digital with capacities of up to 12TB at online retailers, making Western Digital’s 40+TB claims for 2025 seem very ambitious. This would represent a storage density increase of over 3x over the next 8 years, which is a much faster rate of improvement than what we have seen in recent years (especially before Helium-filled drives became a thing). 

 

You can join the discussion on Western Digital’s new MAMR storage technology on the OC3D Forums.