WD says mamr technology can make 40TB HDDs by 2025

Western Digital says it will release its first HDDs with microwave-assisted magnetic recording technology in 2019. The technique should enable a higher data density. By 2025, that should result in 40TB HDDs.

WD presented the mamr technology at its own event and, in its own words, demonstrated the first hdd that uses it. The technique was invented by Professor Jimmy Zhy of Carnegie Mellon University. He already published about this in 2007 and was present at the presentation of WD.

The manufacturer says it has been working on mamr technology for years and claims that a breakthrough has recently taken place in terms of reliability and performance. According to WD, continued development of the technology can improve data density by an average of 15 percent per year.

The mamr technology uses microwaves generated by a spin torque oscillator, which is located near the writing head. It generates an electromagnetic field that makes it possible to write data with a much higher density to a magnetic layer without compromising reliability.

Microwave-assisted magnetic recording is an alternative to heat-assisted magnetic recording, or hamr. This technology has also been worked on for years. Seagate put that technology forward in 2010 as the successor to pmr-hdds, but so far no hamr-hdds have appeared. According to WD, this is because of ‘challenges’ in the field of materials and reliability. This would not play a role with the mamr technique. WD states that the cost of mamr hdds is comparable to that of current pmr hdds.

In the announcement, WD says it expects to ship the first mamr HDDs in 2019. These would be HDDs with an ‘ultra high’ capacity for data centers. The manufacturer does not disclose the capacity. Traditional HDDs currently go up to 14TB.