Seagate has taken a new step toward interoperability. Mozaic drives based on HAMR and configured with SMR are the first SMR drives on Broadcom’s (HBA) approved vendor list. Microsoft Azure Storage has since qualified this combination.
A host bus adapter connects servers to storage. Through Broadcom’s HBA, a host system can connect to, address, and manage large numbers of hard drives. According to Seagate, the Mozaic drives are the first and only SMR drives that Broadcom has added to the approved vendor list for that adapter.
Microsoft is also involved. Azure Storage has qualified the Broadcom HBA with Seagate’s HAMR + SMR technology, meaning the configuration has already been tested at the hyperscale level. “Microsoft Azure’s joint validation and qualification of Seagate and Broadcom’s SMR configuration demonstrates how these technologies can work together across large data center deployments, enabling greater storage density at a similar cost and power envelope,” says Pablo Ziperovich, general manager of the Azure Memory and Storage Center of Excellence at Microsoft.
Two technologies in one drive
HAMR and SMR are two different technologies. With HAMR, a laser briefly heats a minuscule portion of the platter. This enables stable writing of more densely packed magnetic bits. SMR, on the other hand, lays out the data tracks so they overlap, like roof tiles. This provides additional usable capacity. However, SMR requires customized write patterns and is less suitable for random write workloads. Seagate therefore deliberately refers to capacity for “suitable workloads.”
Seagate has been working on Mozaic for several years. With Mozaic 3+ , the company achieved approximately 3 TB per platter, enabling Exos drives with a minimum capacity of 30 TB. Later, Seagate expanded the Exos M line to 36 TB. The company now supplies Mozaic 4+ drives with capacities up to 44 TB to two hyperscalers.
According to Seagate, the growth of AI and cloud workloads isn’t just about higher-capacity drives. Data centers must also efficiently connect, manage, and scale large fleets of hard drives. Broadcom agrees. “Expanding HBA support for Seagate SMR technology gives more customers a straightforward path to integrate and manage high-capacity hard drive fleets,” says Jas Tremblay, Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Solutions Group at Broadcom.