WD 28TB Ultrastar DC HC680

https://www.techradar.com/pro/western-digital-finally-unveils-28tb-hdd-as-race-for-30tb-reaches-boiling-point-but-the-ultrastar-dc-hc680-remains-a-data-center-hdd-that-no-consumers-will-be-able-to-use

Came across this article on TechRadar and it caught my attention. Especially the following, “The ten-disk hard drive, which is based on shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology”.

My understanding is that SMR drives are not all that good for RAID setups. So I’m curious as to why this type of drive would be a good candidate for data centers. Thoughts?

4 comments

They're HM-SMR (Host Managed-SMR) that requires specialized hardware and software. Which is why the article clearly states they're not for home users.

Read this and link about why Dropbox and other cloud providers are using them and HM-SMR is the future for larger hard drives.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/184vwtd/complete\_list\_of\_smr\_drives\_as\_of\_112623/
- HM-SMR (Host Managed-SMR) that requires specialized hardware and software
  
  So the history made full circle right to ST interface times.
  
  Will wait until they invent IDE concept again.
Can’t wait for those week long parity checks lol still pretty neat.
Your understanding is incorrect. Only DMSMR drives are not very good because the disk is managing zones like a black box. HMSMR are great because user have full control on how to write data, thus eliminating all the shortcomings.