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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14869/western-digital-announces-18-tb-eamr-hard-drive [anandtech.com]

Marking an important step in the development of next-generation hard drive technology, Western Digital has formally announced the company’s first hard drives based on energy-assisted magnetic recording. Starting things off with capacities of 16 TB and 18 TB, the Ultrastar DC HC550 HDDs are designed to offer consistent performance at the highest (non-SMR) capacities yet. And, with commercial sales expected to start in 2020, WD is now in a position to become the first vendor in the industry to ship a next-generation EAMR hard drive.

The Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 [westerndigital.com] 3.5-inch hard drive relies on the company’s 6th Generation helium-filled HelioSeal platform with two key improvements: the platform features nine platters (both for 16 TB and 18 TB versions), and they using what WD is calling an energy-assisted magnetic recording technology (EAMR). The latter has enabled Western Digital to build 2 TB platters without using shingled magnetic recording (SMR).

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