Seagate is launching new 30TB hard drives built with Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR). The Exos M and IronWolf Pro drives use Mozaic3+ technology and are designed to meet the growing demand for storage in AI environments.
The rise of AI is shifting storage needs. Melyssa Banda of Seagate notes that a significant portion of the world’s data is currently concentrated in just ten countries. Data control legislation and edge AI workloads are driving demand for local storage. “Our 30TB drives are designed to support these rapidly growing trends,” says Banda.
Mozaic technology reaches milestone
Seagate has now shipped more than one million Mozaic hard drives, a milestone the company considers significant. The new drives utilize HAMR technology, which employs a laser to heat small areas on the magnetic disk, allowing for the accurate writing of data. This allows more data to be stored on the same surface area.
The 30TB versions of the Exos M and IronWolf Pro are now available worldwide through partners. With 30TB of capacity, these drives offer a significant leap forward from traditional PMR technology, which typically reaches a maximum of around 24TB.
NAS systems as intelligent data hubs
The IronWolf Pro 30TB is being introduced to the market at an interesting time for NAS systems. Systems from QNAP and UGREEN utilize these drives for AI applications, including video analysis and machine learning. This development demonstrates how traditional NAS systems are evolving into intelligent data hubs for edge computing.
The market for high-capacity storage is experiencing rapid growth. Analysts expect the NAS market to grow by more than 17 percent per year until 2034. This is driven by digital transformation and the increasing demand for AI and big data analytics.