Back in the day, the idea of a hard drive storing 1TB worth of data was enough to make eye pop out of heads. However 1TB these days has become the norm, and given how movies and games are starting to be offered at 4K resolution, 1TB is starting to feel a little restrictive, but not to worry because it looks like Western Digital has a 12TB hard drive for those who are interested.
The company has recently announced their latest helium-infused hard drive in the form of the HGST Ultrastar HE12. The ability to squeeze in 12TB of storage is thanks to the company’s latest iteration of HelioSeal, in which they were able to fit in an extra platter, bringing the total number of platters in the Ultrastar HE12 to 8.
According to the company, not only are they boasting that it can pack 12TB worth of storage, but it is also more efficient than its predecessors. It is said to consume 7.2W of energy while it is working, and 5.3W when idle. This is versus Western Digital’s 8TB model which consumes 9.1W when working, and 5.7W when idle.
That being said, it is pretty clear that these hard drives aren’t really intended for average users, but more for companies who have servers that need a lot of storage that is also reliable. Western Digital is claiming a MTBF rated at 2.5 million hours, so it should last you quite a while before it breaks down. No word on pricing but we can imagine that it will not come cheap.
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