Toshiba Unveils World's First FC-MAMR HDD: 18 TB, Helium Filled
Toshiba this week announced the industry's first hard drive featuring flux-control microwave-assisted magnetic recording (FC-MAMR) technology. The new MG09-series HDDs are designed primarily for nearline and enterprise applications, they offer an 18 TB capacity along with an ultra-low idle power consumption.
The Toshiba MG09-series 3.5-inch 18 TB HDD are based on the company's 3rd generation nine-platter helium sealed platform that features 18 heads with a microwave-emitting component which changes magnetic coercivity of the platters before writing data. The HD disks are made by Showa Denko K.K. (SDK), a long-time partner of Toshiba. Each aluminum platter is about 0.635 mm thick, it features an areal density of around 1.5 Tb/inch2 and can store up to 2 TB of data. The MG09 family also includes a 16 TB model which presumably features a lower number of platters (based on the same performance rating).
Previously:
Toshiba Will Adopt Western Digital's Microwave-Assisted Magnetic Recording Approach for Hard Drives
Toshiba Roadmap Includes Both MAMR and HAMR Hard Drives, as Well as TDMR and Shingles
Western Digital Releases New 18TB, 20TB EAMR Drives
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Monday February 22 2021, @12:49AM (2 children)
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/helium-filled-hard-drive-failure-rates/ [backblaze.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Monday February 22 2021, @05:51AM
That's fairly interesting. Thanks for the article takyon.
TLDR; These manufacturers found a way to seal up the helium. Some of the drives have a helium sensor in them, and in all but just a couple of drives, out of thousands, the helium hasn't leaked. The drives themselves seem to have a failure rate the same as any other drive, but these folks expect these helium filled drives to last much longer which *should* drive down the failure rates.
So to answer my own questions. The helium leaking isn't an issue. So far it seems the helium will last longer than the mechanical parts of the drive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 23 2021, @01:12AM
The article tells exactly NOTHING about the LONG-TERM perspectives of the drives not losing their helium. Spinning rust at home is for long-term storage, not short-term cost-effectiveness.