Seagate Technology, a world leader in mass-data storage infrastructure solutions, launched the new Seagate SkyHawk AI 24 TB hard disk drive (HDD) for the video and imaging applications (VIA) market. Following the recent launch of the company's capacity-leading Seagate Exos X24 24 TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR)-based hard drive, the new SkyHawk AI 24 TB addresses the surging mass data needs of the edge security industry.

As a surge of AI-powered applications are implemented by organizations, performance and total cost of ownership (TCO) are increasingly contingent on the organization's ability to efficiently store and access massive sets of data. Seagate's SkyHawk AI 24 TB is an advanced video-optimized drive specifically designed for network video recorders (NVRs) enabled with AI for edge security applications and meets the challenge of today's advanced systems to analyze and record video footage while simultaneously supporting GPU analytics.

As new applications, use cases and connected devices multiply, Western Digital's enterprise-class hard disk drives (HDDs) remain critical for helping data center customers design more cost-efficient, scalable and sustainable infrastructure. When combined with the emergence of generative AI and the multitude of innovative applications it is enabling, the demand for high-capacity, low-power and reliable storage is poised to surge.

Western Digital leverages numerous technology innovations - ePMR, OptiNAND, UltraSMR and more - to deliver predictable capacity growth in scalable, highly reliable products. Western Digital is now shipping its new 10-disk 24 TB CMR HDD family for hyperscale, cloud and enterprise data center customers. Sampling since August, the new 28 TB SMR HDD is also ramping, adding to the company's SMR leadership position and momentum as its 26 TB SMR HDD exabyte shipments reached nearly half of its data center exabytes shipped in the first quarter fiscal year 2024.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) ("Western Digital" or "the Company") today announced its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan to separate its HDD and Flash businesses. Creating two independent, public companies with market-specific, strategic focus, the company's separation will better position each franchise to execute innovative technology and product development, capitalize on unique growth opportunities, extend respective leadership positions, and operate more efficiently with distinct capital structures. The transaction also provides strategic optionality for both businesses. The separation is intended to be structured in a tax-free manner and is targeted for the second half of calendar year 2024.

"Our HDD and Flash businesses are both well positioned to capitalize on the data storage industry's significant market dynamics, and as separate companies, each will have the strategic focus and resources to pursue opportunities in their respective markets. Importantly, separating these franchises will unlock significant value for Western Digital shareholders, allowing them to participate in the upside of two industry leaders with distinct growth and investment profiles," said David Goeckeler, CEO, Western Digital. "We have already laid important groundwork by building market-leading portfolios and enhancing the operational efficiency of each business, including the creation of separate Flash and HDD product business units and separating operational capabilites over the past several years. Additionally, we now have strong product, operational, and financial leadership in place to execute this plan successfully. Each business is in a solid position to succeed on its own, and the actions we are announcing today will further enable each company to drive long-term success in the years to come."

Ciphertex Data Security, a GSA contract holder (GS-35-487DA), introduces the new durable SecureNAS CX-160KSSD-X to contribute to the advancement of data security for our national defense. Ciphertex joins over 200 exhibitors in public IT and the federal cybersecurity community at DAFITC in Montgomery, Alabama, from August 28th to the 30th at Booth 506.

The SecureNAS CX-160KSSD-X storage unit is powered by an Intel Xeon D processor (4, 8, or 16 Core) and supports up to sixteen hot-swappable 2.5" SSDs and two internal 2.5" SSDs and can store up to 490 TB, while improving security and endurance. The system meets the maximum-security standards of the US government. The ultra-high-capacity SAS SSD offers faster read and write speeds that reach up to 400,000 IOPS and 50,000 IOPS. It can achieve up to 2,000 MB/s sequential write speed at 13.5 W power, making it four times more power efficient than 15K RPM HDDs while providing six times the performance.

Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) today reported fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 financial results. "Throughout the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year, Western Digital continued to optimize our operations and successfully execute our innovative product roadmap, priming ourselves for greater profitability when demand rebounds across hard drives and flash. As a result of these efforts, we delivered revenue above our expectation and delivered a range of industry-leading products to our customers," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO.

"We are encouraged by several indicators signaling improving Flash market dynamics. Our two largest end markets, Client and Consumer, are returning to growth, inventories are normalizing, content per unit is increasing and price declines have been moderating. Western Digital is well-positioned to capitalize on improving market conditions and capture long-term growth opportunities in data storage, spanning from client to edge to cloud," continued David Goeckeler.

Seagate has revealed that it has received revenue for Exos Corvault systems during a fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 conference call—the latest server range is equipped with heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) hard drives. We heard about evaluation samples being sent out to an important data center client around Spring time, but fresh corporate announcements have revealed that the first commercial HAMR-based systems have been picked up by paying customers. Gianluca Romano, the firm's chief financial officer stated: "Importantly, we shipped our first HAMR-based CORVAULT system for revenue as planned during the June quarter. We expect broader availability of these CORVAULT systems by the end of calendar 2023."

Seagate's chief executive, Dave Mosley, also revealed that higher capacity HAMR-based nearline hard drives have been sent out for testing in the field. He boasts that this was achieved during corporate cost cutting initiatives: "We reduced production output by approximately 25% compared with peak volume in order to drive better supply/demand dynamics and enhance profitability as the markets recover. And all of these accomplishments were made while delivering on our 30 TB+ HAMR product development and qualification milestones with volume ramp on track to begin in early calendar 2024...Initial customer qualifications are progressing well. We are on track to begin volume ramp in early calendar 2024. We are also preparing qualifications with a broader number of customers, including testing for lower capacity drives targeting VIA and enterprise OEM workloads." He also outlined plans to keep PMR and SMR hard drive technologies alive for another generation: "Development efforts on what may be our last PMR product are nearing completion and will extend drive capacities into the mid- to upper 20 TB range." Clients who are reluctant to jump onto HAMR could be offered some alternatives—24 TB+ models based on PMR+TDMR and SMR+TDMR configurations are roadmapped for release by the end of the year.

Jonsbo, a Chinese case manufacturer known for unique case designs, has introduced the new Jonsbo C6 and N2 cases to its offerings. The C6 is a compact and versatile Micro-ATX case designed to appeal to many users, including gamers. It offers ample space for up to three 120 mm fans, ensuring efficient air cooling within the case. The front of the C6 can accommodate two 140 mm fans, further enhancing airflow. To promote optimal ventilation, the front, side panels, and lid of the C6 are made of air-permeable mesh. Regarding hardware compatibility, the C6 can house graphics cards with a maximum length of 255 mm and CPU coolers with a height of up to 75 mm. Additionally, it provides the flexibility to install an HDD or two SSDs in the front without a 120 mm fan. The Jonsbo C6 is available in black and white color options, catering to different aesthetic preferences.

Synology is proud to announce the launch of its Plus Series SATA HDDs, specifically designed to meet the reliability, endurance, and performance requirements of 24/7 storage in Synology entry-level and mainstream systems. These hard drives have been rigorously tested and validated with Synology systems to ensure consistent performance in multi-user environments. The Plus Series joins the existing Enterprise Series lineup of hard drives, bringing the convenience of Synology hard disk drives to even more users.

"Designed with Synology systems in mind, these drives are perfect for users who need dependable storage with the added convenience of DSM firmware updates and a single window of support for all system issues," said Peggy Weng, Product Manager at Synology. Synology Plus Series HDDs offer a perfect balance of reliability and convenience for home and small office users, providing a dependable solution to meet their storage needs, whether for file sharing, data backup, or surveillance recording.

Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) today reported fiscal third quarter 2023 financial results. "Over the last several years, our team has focused on enhancing business agility and delivering a range of innovative, industry-leading products that address the increasing data storage demands of our customers," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "The groundwork we laid, combined with the actions we have taken since the beginning of this fiscal year to right-size and refocus our businesses, have enabled us to navigate a dynamic environment. I am pleased that we delivered non-GAAP gross margin at the higher end of our guidance range due to strong execution across both our HDD and Flash businesses."

Seagate is celebrating the debut shipment of very sophisticated storage solutions to a preferred client (dealing in the cloud data center sector). These 30+ terabyte hard drives are based on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology - the American data storage company is setting up its next generation Corvault range with the thermal magnetic recording methodology. The first shipment of HAMR-based drives is reported to consist of final qualification samples, but Seagate is anticipating that fully verified equipment - after trial customers give this new product lineup a thumbs-up - will be generating revenue in the coming weeks.

According to a transcript of a recent Seagate financial meeting conference call, CEO Dave Mosley mentioned a dip in business as well as a costly legal settlement, but expects company fortunes to rise due to client uptake of breakthrough storage technologies: "Beyond this cycle, we remain excited about the long-term opportunities presented by the secular growth of data and the relevance of mass capacity storage as new data-centric applications emerge and more workloads migrate to the cloud. We continue to make strong progress on our industry-leading technology road map, including launching HAMR-based products this quarter, which we believe put us in outstanding longer-term position."

Microsoft released a major update to DirectStorage, the API that promises to reduce game loading times. The new DirectStorage 1.2 adds the ability to speed up game loading for mechanical hard drives, a feature game developers requested from Microsoft. DirectStorage brings much of the storage sub-system secret sauce of consoles over to PC, and consoles have held on to mechanical HDDs as game storage devices longer than mainstream gaming PCs.

HDDs require buffered reads to compensate for the longer seek times, whereas DirectStorage traditionally accesses files in unbuffered mode, which disqualified HDDs for DirectStorage. With this update, HDDs can take advantage of DirectStorage, wherein game data stored on them is directly accessed by GPUs, and compressed game assets are decompressed on the fly through the compute-shader acceleration capabilities of modern GPUs.

At the NAB 2023 conference, Seagate Technology, a world leader in data storage infrastructure solutions, and QNAP Systems Inc., a leading network attached storage (NAS) vendor, announced their integrated portfolio of edge to cloud enterprise storage solutions. Developed to help small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) and content creators manage data from edge to cloud, the portfolio delivers a range of innovative enterprise-scale solutions that include Seagate's IronWolf Pro Hard Drives (HDD), QNAP's high-capacity NAS solutions with Exos E series JBOD systems and Seagate Lyve Cloud.

"Businesses that use data at the edge often rely on NAS devices to store their data. As that data capacity increases and requires optimal protection, businesses are faced with the challenge of backing up data off site," said BS Teh, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Seagate. "Seagate and QNAP have come together to address this challenge with an entire portfolio of secure mass capacity data solutions to help SMBs address pain points and address the rising costs of data storage and management."

Today, at the NAB 2023 conference, Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a world leader in data storage infrastructure solutions, introduced the new Seagate IronWolf Pro 22 TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR)-based hard disk drive (HDD). The company's highest capacity CMR HDD, the new drives deliver market-leading capacity, dependability, and powerful performance for multi-user workloads and enterprise RAID solutions

Optimised with Seagate's AgileArray technology, the new Seagate IronWolf Pro 22 TB HDD provides exceptional network-attached-storage (NAS), direct-attached-storage (DAS) performance and RAID reliability in multi-bay and multi-user environments. With user workload rates of 550 TB/year, the IronWolf Pro 22 TB HDD enables commercial and enterprise NAS users to seamlessly store, share, and collaborate on large amounts of data over a network. It also offers an SDR of up to 285 MB/s so users can seamlessly share files, back up, and tackle heavy workloads in multi-user NAS environments. With built-in rotational vibration (RV) sensors to provide RV mitigation, the HDD consistently delivers high performance and reliability in multi-bay systems.

COUGAR introduces the Cratus—a stunning, iconic mid-tower PC chassis where epic moments begin and legends are built. The Cratus's precision-tooled steel tube frame provides incredible strength and stability, challenging perceptions of a minimal bezel and exoskeleton. And with its four tempered glass panels (contoured for both aesthetic presentation and structural integrity), rig enthusiasts can turn the ample space within into a dioramic exhibit for their modding skills and creativity, or simply show off their build.

In an industry-first revolutionary innovation, COUGAR has applied the principles of heat convection to engineer optimal thermal performance: an angled interior layout directs a cyclical current of hot air rising and cool air falling to deliver maximum airflow. Plus, extensive support for a myriad of cooling solutions ensures that high-performance components are always protected from overheating.

Electronic Arts has updated the listings for PC system requirements for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and the gaming community has reacted to the refresh of the game's minimum installation storage requisite. It calls for a whopping 155 GB of disk space, for the base game alone, not including the expected routine of patches and extra story content (via DLC). The publisher suggests that an SSD is best used for an optimal in-game experience. The slightly older PC requirements specified a minimum of 150 GB for HDDs, and 130 GB for SSDs.

As it stands, the Respawn Entertainment developed action adventure game has one of the larger minimum storage requirements among modern titles - all the more surprising given that it will offer a relatively short and linear single player experience. Current installations of the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 will occupy 150 GB of disk space. Jedi: Fallen Order (2019), Survivor's preceding title in the series, demands a comparatively modest install base of 55 GB. It will be interesting to observe whether Jedi: Survivor will drive sales of larger storage solutions - in the recent past, gamers have scrambled to acquire higher capacity SSDs and HDDs in order to accommodate the ever-growing installations and content drops required to play the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare series.

[Editor's note: Our in-depth review of Antec Performance 1 FT Case is now live]

With outstanding cooling performance and lots of useful features, Antec Inc. presents the latest flagship of full towers, the new Performance 1 FT. Featuring an airflow-enhanced front panel design, magnetic front filter, and four pre-installed PWM fans, this new chassis provides efficient airflow and great cooling performance. The case is now commercially available from MSRP US$159.99.

The new Antec flagship supports the latest RTX 40 Series GPUs. Considering the increasing demands for CPU and GPU cooling, Antec designed the Performance 1 FT to enhance the air intake, improve the cable routing, and enable an easy installation with various options. The new temperature display function allows to keep control of the components. The display screen located on the case top allows users to check the temperature of the GPU and CPU at a glance. It addresses the need for temperature monitoring without purchasing expensive cooling kits.

Synology today announced the release of the 4-bay Synology DiskStation DS423+, the latest in its lineup of all-in-one storage solutions for home office and small business use. Powered by the versatile Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system, DS423+ offers comprehensive solutions to protect and manage business data, facilitate collaboration on documents, provide remote file access, and serve as the core of an IP camera-based surveillance system, all within a compact desktop format.

"The new DS423+ offers exceptional value to users with limited storage requirements," said Anya Lin, Product Manager at Synology. "It boasts 21% faster photo indexing over its predecessor, among other performance improvements, and continues to offer the comprehensive and robust features that our customers have come to rely on."

Pure Storage, a maker of various storage solutions and custom enterprise-grade SSDs, claims the company will produce SSDs with up to 300 TBs of capacity by 2026. In an interview with Pure Storage CTO Alex McMullan, Blocks & Files got exclusive information that the company targets SSD capacities of up to 300 TBs in 2026. Pure Storage creates proprietary Direct Flash Modules (DFM) SSDs which use 3D NAND chips controlled by a custom SSD controller, are used in the FlashArray systems, and run on a custom FlashBlade operating system. This level of customization allows Pure Storage to create SSD drives with remarkable capacities in the future as the 3D NAND technology advances.

In the coming years, 3D NAND flash manufacturers will switch from the current 200-layer chips to the 400/500-layer chips, driving storage density to new highs. As manufacturers update their technology, so does Pure with its DFM cards that use regular U.2 NVMe connectors in a custom ruler-style format made explicitly for Pure FlashArray systems. Compared to upcoming HDDs that Toshiba and Seagate will use, Pure Storage DFM SSDs will have much higher capacities and read/write speeds, especially as higher-density 3D NAND arrives. You can see the comparison of Pure's estimates for the future 300 TB SSDs with future HDD technology.

Synology today announced the addition of RackStation RS2423+ and RS2423RP+ to the versatile and cost-effective Plus series systems. The 2U 12-bay RS2423(RP)+ are ideal data management and backup solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as branch offices. "With strong performance out of the box and flexible configuration and expansion options, these servers are the perfect on-prem storage solution for growing businesses," said Peggy Weng, Product Manager at Synology.

Offering a performance increase over its predecessor with sequential read/write speeds of over 3,500/1,700 MB/s, the RS2423(RP)+ packs a punch. This device features built-in 10GbE connectivity along with 2 x 1GbE ports with support for additional 10/25GbE networking. The 12-bays of RS2423(RP)+ support up to 216 TB of total storage capacity and can be expanded to 24 bays with a RX1223RP Expansion Unit for up to 432 TB of storage.

Sabrent introduces our new USB Type-C Flat Docking Station (DS-UFNC) for normal use and cloning. The USB Type-C Flat Docking Station (DS-UFNC) is designed to make your life easier with a dual-drive, tool-free installation. It supports an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD and a 2.5"/3.5" SATA SSD/HDD in single- or dual-drive mode for data transfer and offline cloning with clear LED indicators. The M.2 drive is kept cool during operation to prevent throttling with an integrated M.2 heatsink and includes a thermal pad. No matter your storage, this docking station has you covered.

The included power adapter improves reliability during operation with 3.5" HDDs and high-power SSDs. Transfers are possible over a 10 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2) backward-compatible interface. Type-C/Type-A to Type-C USB cables are included to work with a wide range of devices, and the docking station is designed for Windows and macOS machines. SSDs are fully supported with TRIM and UASP for the best performance and reliability. Easy, convenient, and backed by Sabrent.

To help consumers preserve their ever-growing digital world, Western Digital's WD brand is expanding its trusted My Book Desktop Storage lineup. Built upon a legacy of technology innovation, the company has released its highest capacity consumer drive ever with the 22 TB My Book Desktop Hard Drive, giving people greater flexibility to store more of what they love.

"Consumers continue generating data at a rapid pace. In 2022 alone, the average household worldwide generated more than 20 TB of data and we expect this number to continue to rise as people continue to consume and create more data," said John Rydning, research vice president, Global DataSphere at International Data Corporation (IDC), a global market intelligence firm. "While many people rely on the cloud, we know consumers are looking for local storage at their fingertips to help them preserve and readily control their growing amount of personal and business data."

Toshiba may have spun off its flash memory business into Kioxia, but the company still makes mechanical hard-drives and derivative products such as portable HDDs. At the 2023 International CES, the company showed off its Canvio Gaming line of portable HDDs. These USB 3.1 portable hard drives come in capacities of up to 4 TB, and support both Xbox and PlayStation consoles, where they can be used to store entire libraries of games that can be made ready to play faster than fetching the game from the Internet.

The Canvio Advance series targets professionals on the move providing storage of up to 4 TB, with auto-backup both to itself and the cloud (though your PC), and data-encryption. The Canvio Ready and Canvio Flex target consumer use-cases. The latter in particular has a broad device compatibility spanning PCs, Macs, tablets, and handhelds, with USB-C and type-A interfaces. Lastly there's the N300 line of enterprise hard drives targeting NAS applications, which come in capacities of up to 18 TB, with up to 7,200 RPM spindle speed, and CMR recording (no SMR). These drives are designed for 24x7 operation, come with up to 1.2 million hours MTTF at 300 TB/year workload, and are backed by 5-year warranties.

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products for home, businesses and enterprises, announces the launch of the T9-450 and T12-450 high-speed network storage server featuring 10 GbE networking capabilities which are designed for professionals that require high-speed, large-capacity for applications like virtualization, databases, image and video content creation, and others.

TerraMaster T9-450 and T12-450 come in a compact design for its class making it ideal for small- and medium-sized businesses with limited space for professional data storage devices. The T9-450 and T12-450 are also designed for high-capacity storage configurations, supporting up to 20 TB HDD models and a total capacity of 180 TB and 240 TB, respectively. Its compact design and high capacity support makes the TerraMaster 450 Series ideal for creative professionals and growing businesses.

Client SSDs constituted a major driver of demand bit growth in the NAND Flash market for the past two years as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were spurring procurement activities related to working and studying from home. TrendForce currently projects that the attach rate of client SSDs among notebook computers will reach 92% in 2022 and around 96% in 2023. However, the demand surge related to the pandemic is subsiding, and the recent headwinds in the global economy have caused a demand freeze in the wider consumer electronics market. Hence, among the major application segments of the NAND Flash market, client SSDs are going to experience the most significant demand slowdown. This, in turn, will constrain demand bit growth as well. TrendForce projects that for the period from 2022 to 2025, the YoY growth rate of NAND Flash demand bits will remain below 30%.

The average NAND Flash content of client SSDs has already surpassed 500 GB this year. Quotes for 512 GB SSDs have fallen sharply and come to a level that is roughly comparable to the quotes that were given for 256 GB SSDs half-a-year ago. In fact, quotes for 512 GB SSDs are also near the level for HDDs with the same capacity. On the other hand, upgrading to 1 TB or higher for notebook SSDs could be challenging for PC OEMs mainly because the licensing fee for the Windows OS has a positive correlation with device specifications. Therefore, an increase in SSD capacity will raise the cost of a whole notebook computer. With PC OEMs being less keen on adopting SSDs that are 1 TB or higher, growth in the average NAND Flash content of client SSDs will also be more limited in the future.

Here's one of the first pictures of a mechanical HDD with NVMe interface. Seagate is apparently in production of an Exos-series Enterprise HDD featuring U.2 NVMe interface where one would expect SAS 12 Gbps. We seriously doubt if the HDD is fast enough to take advantage of U.2 NVMe (at least 32 Gbps per direction), but the move to NVMe probably has to do with the decline of older interface standards such as SAS 12 Gbps and SATA 6 Gbps in the enterprise space for cold-storage, and that future generations of rackmount DAS and NAS enclosures could increasingly feature U.2 backplanes, phasing out SAS and SATA. This is like when optical drives switched over to SATA despite not needing the bandwidth SATA had to offer (optical discs barely move a few dozen MB/s, for which even ATA33 IDE was sufficient). We don't know how the Seagate Exos drive handles NVMe internally—whether there is a new native NVMe controller, or whether this is really just a SAS 12 Gbps drive with a PCIe-to-SAS bridge chip.