Western Digital unveiled an ambitiousroadmapfor advanced storage technologies at a recent investor day meeting.
By allowing data to be written in much smaller regions, HAMR significantly increases storage density.
The company is already testing HAMR drives with two major hyperscale customers.
By 2030, Western Digital aims to develop HDDs with capacities ranging from 80TB to 100TB using HAMR technology.
HDMR has the potential to achieve even higher areal densities, possibly exceeding 8 Tb/inch2.
This could enable 10-platter HDDs with capacities of 120TB or more.
HDMR technology involves physically patterning disks using lithography or etching equipment in cleanroom environments.
This process ensures uniform grain size and precise bit placement, resulting in more predictable magnetic properties.
The combination of physical isolation of bits with energy-assisted writing enables unprecedented storage densities.
However, HDMR is expected to be quite expensive due to its complex manufacturing requirements.
Western Digital is focusing on several key areas to support these.
