20TB+ HDDs and Beyond for Toshiba

This article was posted on a blog of Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation, written by John Kim who recently joined the company leaving Trendfocus where he was VP and analyst for 17 years.

Up and to the Right – 20/+TB and Beyond

Tracking the nearline HDD capacity curve is quite simple – it is up and to the right.

The first helium-based HDD at 6TB* was announced in late 2013, and since then, nearline HDD capacity has nearly tripled. Toshiba recently showcased a partial product roadmap in which the company outlined the timing of several future gen nearline HDDs to keep up with the storage demand of the cloud companies, and the curve is simply ‘up and to the right.’

* Source: Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation IR Strategy Presentation November 14, 2019
** 16TB Source: Source: Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation, as of January 8, 2019. 14TB Source: Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation, as of December 8, 2017 for 9 platter CMR enterprise HDD.

Toshiba was the first company to introduce a 14TB CMR HDD and a 9-disk design. It followed up with a 16TB design, matching the highest capacity, drives mass-produced in the industry.

Additionally, it is looking into adopting future technologies such as SMR (shingled magnetic recording), EAMR (energy assisted magnetic recording), and higher (10) disk design to increase storage capacity.

Just within 3 years, Toshiba has more than doubled its nearline market share and has grown to be a competitive player in the nearline market, and with the slate of future products on the immediate roadmap, this ‘up and to the right’ momentum should continue to 20TB+ and beyond.