According to TomsHardware, Western Digital recently announced a new mechanical hard drive roadmap, announcing that products based on ePMR (energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording) will be expanded to 60TB, and HAMR technology will be introduced to ensure a stable supply of large-capacity mechanical hard drives. This means that in the next few years, ePMR hard drives will coexist with HAMR hard drives.
Western Digital plans to release a 40TB (UltraSMR) mechanical hard drive in the second half of this year, which will use shingled magnetic recording technology (SMR) and is currently being certified by two ultra-large-scale customers. Products incorporating HAMR technology will arrive in 2027 and are still being certified, and the capacity is not yet clear. By 2029, Western Digital plans to provide 100TB mechanical hard drives. According to Western Digital's previously announced plans, there will be 36TB CMR, 40TB SMR and 44TB UltraSMR products.
Western Digital did not reveal much information about the next HAMR hard drive. It only knows that it will be combined with the next generation ePMR product in the initial stage, and then the HAMR solution will take over fully. Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology, one of two technologies driving the next generation of large-capacity data recording, improves magnetic recording capabilities by locally heating disks with near-field light. Among them, Seagate is the first hard drive manufacturer to adopt HAMR technology. It began shipping related products as early as December 2020 and is advancing the development of second-generation HAMR technology.
In fact, Western Digital has been paying attention to HAMR technology for a long time, and invested in its development probably in 2017. However, in 2019, it chose to postpone the introduction of the technology and continue to focus on ePMR products. It is hoped that HAMR technology can bring enough potential before choosing to join. Judging from the current situation, 2027 will be the beginning of the next phase of the surge in capacity of mechanical hard drives.
