Western Digital Adds 10TB To Its Ultrastar DC HC300 Family

Recently, Western Digital Corp. (WDC) announced that it was expanding its Ultrastar DC HC300 line with the addition of a 10TB model, Ultrastar DC HC330. While WD did have a 10TB DC HDD, the previous version as air filled while the Ultrastar DC HC330 is Helium filled meaning fewer disks and heads, while hitting the same capacity. WD goes on to state that the new HC330 comes with nearly a 40% performance boost on low queue random depth writes.

Recently, Western Digital Corp. (WDC) announced that it was expanding its Ultrastar DC HC300 line with the addition of a 10TB model, Ultrastar DC HC330. While WD did have a 10TB DC HDD, the previous version as air filled while the Ultrastar DC HC330 is Helium filled meaning fewer disks and heads, while hitting the same capacity. WD goes on to state that the new HC330 comes with nearly a 40% performance boost on low queue random depth writes.

The previous 10TB WD hard drive has proven itself over time. The air-filled drive leveraged 6 disks and CMR technology in a 3.5-inch form factor. The HC330 takes the same form factor, lowers the number of disks needed, and boost the performance leading to a better TCO. The new drive takes the tried and tested hardware and firmware the rest of the Ultrastar DC HC300 family uses with a new second-generation, dual-stage micro actuator to enhance head positioning accuracy for better drive performance. According to WD, the drive is ideal for traditional storage arrays, rack-mounted storage enclosures and server based distributed storage systems.

Ultrastar DC HC330 key specifications:

• Capacity: 10TB
• Interface: SATA 6Gb/s, SAS 12Gb/s
• Form factor: 3.5”
• Performance
  • Data buffer: 256MB
  • Rotational speed: 7,200RPM
  • Average latency: 4.16ms
  • Sustained transfer rate: Up to 273MB/s
• Reliability
  • Error Rate (non-recoverable bits read): 1 in 10^15
  • MTBF: 2M hours
  • AFR: 0.44%
  • Limited warranty: 5-year

The new drive also comes with several key security features geared toward protecting enterprise data. Both the increase in attacks and the increasing government regulations around the globe are increasing the need for data protection and security. Both the SAS and SATA version of the Ultrastar DC HC330 offer hardware-based encryption options and include both Sanitize Crypto Scramble / Erase functionality and TCG encryption (Trusted Computing Group, Enterprise SSC). For those that leverage SAS interface versions, it will also come with a FIPS 140-2 level 2 verification. The drives also leverage the Dual Safe RSA-signed firmware that keeps a backup copy of the firmware preventing accidental loss of data during a power outage during a firmware update. RSA-signed firmware also prevents attacks through rogue firmware. 

Availability

The Ultrastar DC HC330 is expected to ship in September.

Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC300 Family

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