--- description: Brian invited Seagate's Colin Presly to the podcast this week to discuss research and developments in hard drives. Colin has been with Seagate for 20... title: "Podcast #124: The Path to 50TB HDDs with Frickin Lasers" image: https://www.storagereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-Yelllow-and-Blue-Modern-Geometric-How-To-Design-Youtube-Thumbnail-1000-x-1000-px.png --- [![Storage Review]()](https://storagereview.com/) --- [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/@storagereview) [X (Twitter)](https://twitter.twitter.com/storagereview) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storagereview-com) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/storagereview?sub_confirmation=1) [Email](mailto:info@storagereview.com) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StorageReview/) [Discord](https://discord.gg/TwMHb4azdC) [RSS Feed](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/@storagereview) [X (Twitter)](https://twitter.com/storagereview) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storagereview-com) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/storagereview?sub_confirmation=1) [Email](mailto:info@storagereview.com) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StorageReview/) [Discord](https://discord.gg/TwMHb4azdC) [RSS Feed](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview) [![StorageReview.com](https://www.storagereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Storage-Review-2x.png)](https://www.storagereview.com) ≡ Menu - [Home](https://www.storagereview.com/) - [Storage Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/review) - [End User Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/consumer) - [Enterprise Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/enterprise) - [Ubiquiti Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/best/ubiquiti-reviews) - [SR Merch](https://store.storagereview.com) - [Leaderboards](https://www.storagereview.com/best) - [Best Storage Arrays](https://www.storagereview.com/best/storage-arrays) - [Best Enterprise SSDs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/enterprise-ssds) - [Best Servers](https://www.storagereview.com/best/servers) - [Best Enterprise GPUs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/enterprise-gpus) - [Best Desktops for Local AI](https://www.storagereview.com/best/desktops-local-ai) - [Best Laptops for Local AI](https://www.storagereview.com/best/laptops-local-ai) - [Best Local LLM Tools](https://www.storagereview.com/best/local-llm-tools) - [Agentic AI Hardware](https://www.storagereview.com/best/agentic-ai-hardware) - [Best SSDs & Hard Drives](https://www.storagereview.com/best_drives) - [Best Portable SSDs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/portable-ssds) - [Best Business Laptops](https://www.storagereview.com/best/business-laptops) - [Best Mobile Workstations](https://www.storagereview.com/best/mobile-workstations) - [Best Desktop Workstations](https://www.storagereview.com/best/desktop-workstations) - [Best Mini PCs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/mini-pcs) - [Best Laptop Battery Life](https://www.storagereview.com/best/laptop-battery-life) - [Storage Reference Guide](https://www.storagereview.com/storage-reference-guide) - [About SR](https://www.storagereview.com/about-storagereview) - [StorageReview.com Sweepstakes Rules and Regulations](https://www.storagereview.com/storagereview-com-sweepstakes-rules-and-regulations) Search [Home](https://www.storagereview.com/) » [Podcast](https://www.storagereview.com/podcast) » Podcast #124: The Path to 50TB HDDs with Frickin Lasers # Podcast #124: The Path to 50TB HDDs with Frickin Lasers by Harold Fritts on October 18, 2023 [Enterprise](https://www.storagereview.com/enterprise) Brian invited Seagate’s Colin Presly to the podcast this week to discuss research and developments in hard drives. Colin has been with Seagate for 20 years and is currently the Senior Director in the Office of the CTO. Originally from the UK, Colin moved to Minnesota over 20 years ago. The headline? HAMR is sampling with customers and 50TB HDDs are possible. ![Seagate HAMR](https://www.storagereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/storagereview-seagate-HAMR-1024x569.png) Having grown up in the UK, Colin is a big sports enthusiast supporting teams like Liverpool Football Club (good pick), Formula 1, Rugby, and cricket. He is still a fan and continues to follow his teams from Shakopee, MN. From a technology perspective, Colin considers himself to be an experienced engineering leader and technologist with over 20 years of broad technical and managerial experience in the disc drive industry. He has a proven track record managing diverse cross-functional teams, developing precision capital equipment, and productizing enterprise-quality disc drives. After a few minutes of talking sports, Brian and Colin got serious about the real topic of this podcast: hard drives. The great thing about Colin is his enthusiasm for sport and technology. This is a great discussion between two people who have been in the storage industry for a long time and still have the passion to get excited about what’s around the corner. Hear what is around the corner in hard drive development. Streamed live with [StorageReview Discord](http://discord.gg/storagereview) members. Full video on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/RqDxYlewWLQ?si=fJQgbl0Yeextzf88) You should give this podcast a view in its entirety, but if you are stretched for time, the timestamp is below. 00:00 – Introduction - Let’s talk sports - Football (real football). - Formula 1 - Rugby - Cricket 05:00 – Let’s talk spinning disks - Hard drive technology - Open them up and see what actually goes into the hard drive - Cloud is a hard drive - Progressive increments in capacity - What goes into the technology - Hard drive inflection point for growth - What are the limitations 10:00 – Hard drive direction - Platters, heads, size, area - Structure - Preventing flipping bits - Scale with larger platters - Is 3.5 inches the right size going forward - Hard to justify changing the HDD’s physical size - Changing the size of the HDD is not the best approach 15:00 – Comparing Flash - New ways to consume storage - Hyperscalers - Challenging in all sectors - OCP - We need the standards - NVMe for hard drives? - Watch this space – an exploration activity 20:00 – The appeal of one interface - Convincing the market - Hyperscalers have a major influence - SMR - Writing wider tracks - Challenges on Read - PMR and CMR - Restrictions - Want to get to the next BIG step - ISOMER - HAMR- Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording 25:00 – Intent to launch larger hard drive - Game changer - Increased drive capacity - Shifts in data center technology take time - A customer has nothing to change - Plasmonic effect - Heat in the media allows for changing media type 30:00 – Executing heating of an area - Heat is localized – nanometers - Heat makes the bit flip - Seagate has put years of effort into the project - Miniaturization journey 35:00 – Challenges in thermal and magnetic stability - Directing heat to the interface - Surviving that amount of heat - Experiments to get where they are today - HAMR is the next leap in technology - Is HAMR a play for small drives - Power consumption 40:00 – Replacing  older 4TB drives with 20TB drives – energy savings - Big demand for that 2TB increment can save operation costs - Positive environmental impact - The demand will drive development 45:00 – GenAI driving storage capacity - Density is critical - Legal reasons to increase density - Political trends - Video - Keeping the data long-term 50:00 – Referencing CORVAULT 106 Drive System - Multi-actuator - Colin ran the program - Splits in two inside the drive - Creates a parallel operation - Performance per TB 55:00 – Wrap-up [Seagate HAMR](https://www.seagate.com/innovation/hamr/) Subscribe to our podcast: - [iTunes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/storagereview.com-storage/id1060681115#) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0 "Opens in a new window") - [Google Play](https://play.google.com/music/listen?gclid=CJGn-bXhu8wCFRFVfgod2KoAcA&gclsrc=ds&u=0#/ps/Izxy4obb6t52eqwngpenhxvex7i "Opens in a new window")   **Engage with StorageReview** [Newsletter](https://www.storagereview.com/storage_newsletter) |  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/StorageReview "Opens in a new window") | Podcast  [iTunes](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/storagereview-com-storage-reviews/id1060681115 "Opens in a new window")/ [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0 "Opens in a new window") |  [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/ "Opens in a new window") |  [Twitter](https://twitter.com/storagereview "Opens in a new window") |  [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview? "Opens in a new window") |  [RSS Feed](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) ♫ [pod124.mp3](https://www.storagereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/pod124.mp3 "Opens in a new window") ![]() ### Harold Fritts I have been in the tech industry since IBM created Selectric. My background, though, is writing. So I decided to get out of the pre-sales biz and return to my roots, doing a bit of writing but still being involved in technology. 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