Toshiba will release a helium-filled 14TB HDD this year

Toshiba plans to announce a hard drive with a storage capacity of 14TB in the near future, employees have said. It would be the first helium-filled hard disk from the Japanese manufacturer.

Toshiba has not yet officially announced the HDD, but company employees have announced the arrival to The Register during the Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai. The introduction would follow ‘very soon’, and in any case still this year. The company does not yet provide specifications for the 14TB HDD.

Competitor WD announced 12TB and 14TB HDDs at the end of last year and Seagate also indicated that it would come on the market with hard drives of 12TB, 14TB and even 16TB. The high storage capacities are possible due to the use of helium. This has a lower density than air and thus ensures less friction, allowing manufacturers to put more platters in the discs.

Toshiba does not have a helium disk in its range so far. The company’s highest-capacity drives are those in the MN, N300, and X300 series, which have a capacity of 8TB.