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Toshiba reveals 30TB disk drive to arrive from 2024

(2022/02/09)


Toshiba plans to use its proprietary recording technologies, [1]FC-MAMR , [2]MAS-MAMR , and disk stacking tech to lift nearline HDD capacities to 30TB from the end of its 2023 fiscal year.

Toshiba's fiscal 2023 ends on 31 March 2024.

The details were revealed in a Toshiba chart presented to analysts over two investor relations days this week in Tokyo ahead of Toshiba reporting its Q3 results for fiscal 2021 (ended 31 December '21) on February 14.

[3]

Click to enlarge

Analysts were shown Toshiba's HDD capacity roadmap, pictured above.

It is currently shipping [4]9-platter 18TB drives and, with chemical firm Showa Denko, which has an HDD division, has demonstrated [5]30+TB MAS-MAMR HDD technology.

[6]

The slide revealed a 20TB drive in fy2021 – the current financial year, which ends on 31 March 2022 – and Toshiba has not yet announced such a product. We would envisage a 10-platter construction at the current (ie: 18TB 9-platter HDD) 2TB/platter level.

[7]

[8]

A 26TB drive is envisaged some time in fiscal 2022, so any time from April onwards.

The Reg thinks a 10 x 3TB or 11 x 2.7TB platter construction would be needed to reach the 30TB mark. Such a drive would place Toshiba ahead of both Seagate and Western Digital in capacity terms.

[9]Seagate, WD mull 10-platter HDDs as pitstop before HAMR, MAMR time

[10]MAMR Mia! Western Digital's 18TB and 20TB microwave-energy hard drives out soon

[11]2021 in storage: We waited for a flash price revolution that never came. But about creativity? We can't complain

[12]Back up for a minute – Backblaze HD reliability stats show oldies can be goodies

Toshiba could intend to use [13]shingling (overlapping wider write tracks to increase narrow read track density) but made no mention of this – we have asked the company for more details.

The chart also shows Toshiba introducing HAMR (Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording) drives in its fiscal 2025, alongside MAS MAMR - both at the 35TB level. They are scheduled to expand beyond the 40TB level in Toshiba's fiscal 2026.

[14]

Toshiba's fiscal year runs from April 1 of a calendar year to March 31 of the next calendar year. Therefore, from "Fy 2023" indicates from April 1, 2024, 14 months ahead, with Toshiba's Fy 2023 ending March 31, 2024. This is rather sooner than expected, to say the least. The chart in the slide above positions the 30TB drive midway between Toshiba's Fy 2023 and '24, so it could envisage shipping times later in the year.

We have asked Toshiba to clarify when its 30TB drive will appear. ®

Get our [15]Tech Resources



[1] https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/03/15/toshibas-disk-drive-fc-mamr-explainer/

[2] https://blocksandfiles.com/2022/01/10/toshiba-trio-sings-mamr-mia-here-we-go-again/

[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/02/09/tosh_roadmap_slide.jpg

[4] https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/09/17/toshiba-extends-18tb-technology-to-nas-and-workstation-disk-drives/

[5] https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/12/10/show-us-what-you-got-show-denko-opens-toshiba-door-to-30tb-drives/

[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YgRHmiCpfzDI5TQPMJiuCgAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgRHmiCpfzDI5TQPMJiuCgAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YgRHmiCpfzDI5TQPMJiuCgAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/07/wd_and_seagate_mull_10platter_hdds_stopgap_or_bff/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/09/04/wd_mamr_drives/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/30/storage_2021_news_analysis/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/01/backblaze_hd_reliability_stats_show/

[13] https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/05/10/toshiba-upgrades-shingled-surveillance-disk-drive/

[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgRHmiCpfzDI5TQPMJiuCgAAAAI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



30Tb? 40Tb? 50Tb+?

ShadowSystems

*Throws my wallet like a derranged monkey flinging pawfulls of poop*

Shut up & take my money! GimmieGimmieGimmieGIMMIE! =-D

Mmmmmm... porrrrrn.

I uh, I um, I mean music! Lots of music! I could store all my MUSIC on such a drive. No porn at all, nope a nope a nope a nope!

No porn to see here, please move along. =-)p

Re: 30Tb? 40Tb? 50Tb+?

Anonymous Coward

By my rough calculations, you'd be able to store 462.9 days worth of DVD quality video on a 30TB drive, though perhaps it'll compress a bit better if there is a preponderance of one particular colour...

Re: 30Tb? 40Tb? 50Tb+?

Bitsminer

But you still have to face:

size(all your porn) > size(all your available disks)

also known as:

There are two kinds of disk drives in the world: new ones, and full ones.

Anonymous Coward

min($/size) > max(size) always

nintendoeats

I agree. For me, 8 TB has been the price/size sweet spot for way too long.

Anonymous Coward

How do we back this data up?

Julian Bradfield

Same way as always - to another of the same, or to tape.

Anonymous Coward

I'm talking about end users. I don't have 11 hours to backup to tape or the money for tapes and drives. I can't keep backing up to another due to the cost involved in replacing the drives every 2+ years or buying two that could fail at the same time.

This stuff used to be easy I could write to CD/DVD/Blu-Ray or even before that a zip drive. What do I have now? That's the point I was making as I know it's technically possible.

Luckily I can still back up all my important stuff to my 1tb raid nas and Blu-Ray if required but that about in the future?

Stuart Halliday

You obviously buy 2...

captain veg

That's a copy. A backup is something different.

-A.

Jim Willsher

Never in a million years would I trust that much data to mechanical hard drive. Impressive feat, but no thank you.

druck

As much as I want to agree with you, I suspect someone has said that about every increase in drive capacity since the 10MB Winchester drive.

JimboSmith

I remember an article from the distant past in the mainstream press where they called a 500MB hard drive a company had installed “bloody big.”.

I also remember when we got a 1TB storage array at work. It was the size of 19” rack cabinet and weighed a massive amount. We were using it for one project and worried we wouldn’t fill it, at first. Then we worried that it wasn’t large enough.

RobThBay

I remember hearing comments like that.... now I feel old. :)

Graham Cobb

I don't trust any of my data to a hard drive (or an SSD). That is why I have backups, of different types, on different media with different speed/space/delay tradeoffs.

I don't trust my data to devices at all - I trust it to probability. The likelihood of all my backups failing at once is 0.

trust it to probability

Woodnag

"The likelihood of all my backups failing at once is 0."

Nope.

Close to 0, sure, but not 0.

bazza

I'm constantly amazed that tape is still around, still competitive for backup, still amazingly capcious. I keep wondering about getting a drive, just for the hell of it.

Can't touch this?

Klimt's Beast Would

What does the competition say or are they not in the Premier League?

So which Twoshiba will end up manufacturing this?

HildyJ

And do I trust them long term with my music, definitely not porn, videos?

https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/toshiba_revised_split_strategy/

far too big

captain veg

I have no (presently) conceivable use for a 30TB drive, but it might be useful as a backup to the (circa-) 1TB SSD.

There was a time when a 120GB SSD was enough. It's gone. 512GB is looking dicey for anyone ripping (or downloading) media. So a 30GB SSD would be nice. Until then, spinning rust will have to do.

-A.

Microsoft should abandon the funny looking Windows logo and just hoist the
Jolly Roger.

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