HGST Ultrastar He8 HDDs Announced

HGST has announced the Ultrastar He8, their second-generation helium-filled HDDs available in capacities of 8TB and 6TB. We reviewed the first-generation He6 earlier this year. The Ultrastar He8 advances the TCO value for cloud data centers, enterprises, OEMs and system integrators and enables more efficient data center designs and operations by reducing the physical and carbon footprint of the overall storage systems.

HGST has announced the Ultrastar He8, their second-generation helium-filled HDDs available in capacities of 8TB and 6TB. We reviewed the first-generation He6 earlier this year. The Ultrastar He8 advances the TCO value for cloud data centers, enterprises, OEMs and system integrators and enables more efficient data center designs and operations by reducing the physical and carbon footprint of the overall storage systems.

The He8 addresses the biggest challenges of data centers due to its sealed, helium-filled build to enable lower power consumption and higher density storage systems all the while requiring less rack space. Additionally, the helium-sealed hard drives need less cooling and can be used more reliably in wider operating environments including ambient data centers. The Ultrastar He8 is based on mainstream perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology and can be deployed into any application or environment without performance suffering or issues with device compatibility.

Ultrastar He8 also offers security and encryption options to protect data from unwanted use through Instant Secure Erase (ISE), which expedite drive redeployment and retirement; and Encryption, which protects data with hardware-based encryption, including a Trusted Computing Group (TCG) option with FIPS 140-2 certification, Level 2. The Ultrastar He8 also offers a 2M-hour MTBF rating and a 5-year limited warranty.

Specifications (Model #: HUH7280xxALN60y, HUH7280xxALE60y)

• Interface: SATA 6Gb/s
• Capacity (GB) at 512 bytes/sector: 8TB / 6TB
• Format: Sector size (bytes):
  • 4Kn: 4096
  • 512e: 512
• Max. areal density (Gbits/sq. in): 664 (8TB)
• Data buffer (MB): 128
• Rotational speed (RPM): 7200
• Latency average (ms): 4.16
• Interface transfer rate (MB/s, max): 600
• Sustained transfer rate:
  • (MiB/s, typical) 195 (8TB)
  • (MB/s, typical) 205 (8TB)
• Seek time (read/write, ms, typical): 8.5 / 9.0
• Reliability
  • Error rate (non-recoverable, bits read): 1 in 1015
  • Load/Unload cycles (at 40° C): 600,000
  • Availability (hrs/day x days/wk):24×7
  • MTBF2 (M hours): 2.0
• Warranty: 5 years
• Acoustics:
  • Idle (Bels, typical): 2.0 / 3.6
• Power:
  • Requirements: +5 VDC, +12VDC
  • Operating: 7.4W
  • Idle8 (W): 5.1W
  • Power consumption efficiency at Idle
    • (Watts/TB): 0.64 (8TB)
    • (Watts/GB):0.00064 (8TB)
• Physical size:
  • z-height (mm, max): 26.1
  • Dimensions (width x depth, mm): 101.6 (+/-0.25) x 147
  • Weight (g, max): 650

Specifications (Model #: HUH7280xxAL420y, HUH7280xxAL520y)

• Interface: SATA 12Gb/s
• Capacity (GB) at 512 bytes/sector: 8TB / 6TB
• Format: Sector size (bytes):
  • 4Kn: 4096, 4112, 4160, 4224
  • 512e: 512, 520, 528
• Max. areal density (Gbits/sq. in): 664 (8TB)
• Data buffer (MB): 128
• Rotational speed (RPM): 7200
• Latency average (ms): 4.16
• Interface transfer rate (MB/s, max): 1200
• Sustained transfer rate:
  • (MiB/s, typical) 195 (8TB)
  • (MB/s, typical) 205 (8TB)
• Seek time (read/write, ms, typical): 8.5 / 9.0
• Reliability
  • Error rate (non-recoverable, bits read): 1 in 1015
  • Load/Unload cycles (at 40° C): 600,000
  • Availability (hrs/day x days/wk):24×7
  • MTBF2 (M hours): 2.0
• Warranty: 5 years
• Acoustics:
  • Idle (Bels, typical): 2.0 / 3.6
• Power:
  • Requirements: +5 VDC, +12VDC
  • Operating: 9.1W
  • Idle8 (W): 5.7W
  • Power consumption efficiency at Idle
    • (Watts/TB): 0.71 (8TB)
    • (Watts/GB):0.00071 (8TB)
• Physical size:
  • z-height (mm, max): 26.1
  • Dimensions (width x depth, mm): 101.6 (+/-0.25) x 147
  • Weight (g, max): 650

Availability

The Ultrastar He8 comes in capacities of 8TB and 6TB. The drives are currently being qualified by leading companies, OEMs, and cloud customers.

HGST Enterprise HDDs

Update: Our review of the Ultrastar He8

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