November 4, 2013 – HGST, a Western Digital company (NASDAQ: WDC), today announced that it is shipping the helum-filled 6TB Ultrastar He6 hard disk drive (HDD).
HGST says that the first Hermetically Sealed, Helium HDD Platform will Provide Path for Higher Capacity Storage, While Significantly Lowering Power and Cooling, and Improving Storage Density.
Many Cloud and research companies such as HP, Netflix, Huawei Unified Storage, CERN, Green Revolution Cooling and Code42 are closely working with HGST for using this technology.
“As a leader in Big Data solutions, HP is constantly working to improve storage densities. Partnering with HGST on their Ultrastar He6 drive allows HP to continue that leadership; delivering cost effective solutions to keep up with today’s growing storage demands,” said Jimmy Daley, director of Smart Storage, HP.
“The Netflix Open Connect delivery platform is a highly optimized video content delivery network. We serve billions of hours of streaming video per quarter to over 40 million subscribers,” said David Fullagar, director of Content Delivery Architecture, Netflix. “As part of our efforts to optimize the delivery ecosystem for Netflix and our Internet Service Provider partners, we strive to build better and better streaming appliances. The high storage density and lower power usage of the Ultrastar He6 hard drives allow us to continue with that goal, and create a great customer experience.”
This new drive is the first one to use helium rather than air as the medium in which the platters spindle.
This new hard disk drive offers a 50 per cent capacity increase with a 23 per cent reduction in power consumption which translates in a drop of nearly half in the power consumption per unit storage.
Without changing the height, the new 6TB Ultrastar He6 enterprise-class hard drive crams seven disk platters into what was a five disk-platter, 4TB Ultrastar drive.
The hermetic sealing process makes the drives cost-effective to manufacture in high-volume. The reason the drive is filled with helium rather than being left unsealed allowing air inside is to reduce turbulence caused by spinning discs. HGST says that since helium has 1/7 the density of air, replacing the air inside the HDD with helium reduces turbulence, reduces power consumption, and reduces the overall temperature within the drive.
