5 Latest Hard Disk Drive Technologies

Many people consider the hard disk drive the old media of storage, but the latest HDD technology has made significant changes in its storage capacity and speeds. Undoubtedly the cloud storage and solid-state drives have made headlines in the past few years. However, HDD is set to return. The new technologies like EAMR, MAMR, HAMR have given a new competitive edge to the HDD by increasing their capacities. Some of the modern HDD that are beating SDD are Western Digital Red Pro, Seagate BarraCuda Pro, Toshiba Performance X300, Seagate BarraCuda Pro, Seagate Ironwolf Pro hard drive, etc.

 In this article, we will discuss the latest technologies that are used in manufacturing hard disk drives. Before proceeding, let us have a glimpse of HDD.

What Is Hard Disk Drive?

It is a non-volatile memory device that is commonly used as the main storage in computers. HDD is a data storage device that uses a spinning platter and a stylus to read and write the data. The disc is coated with a thin layer of magnetic material, and the head continuously moves over the disc to write binary bits with the help of a magnetic field. 

• PMR

PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording) is also called CMR(conventional magnetic recording). These hard disks hit the market in 2005. The hard disks that deployed PMR technology, the magnetic tracks are written perpendicular without overlapping. In simple words, PMR technology vertically aligned the data bits on the disk. This invention has substantially reduced the size of the writing head.

• SMR 

SMR stands for Single Shield Magnetic Recording, which was introduced in 2013. This technology has increased the capacity of hard disk drives by 25% in comparison to its predecessor (non-shield storage). In such hard disks, data is written to adjacent tracks that overlap each other. The overlapping track structure increases the density of the disk. 

• HAMR -:

It's defined as heat-assisted magnetic recording and uses temporary heating to increase the data storage capacity of the disk. The heating process makes the disk more sensitive to magnetic recording and allows to write more data in a smaller region of the disk. Seagate Technologies has launched its first HAMR based hard disk drive in 2019. Not just that, Seagate has promised that it will ship 20 TB HAMR HDD in December 2020 and 40 TB hard drives by 2023.

• MAMR -:

It stands for microwave-assisted magnetic recording. The MAMR based hard disk drives come with modified heads, which carry a small spin oscillator. This oscillator is capable of generating microwave frequencies between 20 to 40 GHz. The high-frequency microwaves reduce the resistance of recording media that make it easy to write bits on the spinning disk. It has replaced the HAMR (heat-assisted magnetic recording) and eliminated the heating process. MAMR makes use of Lasers, and its functionality resembles PMR technology. 

• EAMR

EAMR stands for energy-assisted magnetic recording. Western Digital has introduced this technology to increase the aerial density of the HDD. In EAMR based hard disks, the additional electric current is applied to the main pole of the head during the writing operation. This aids in creating an extra magnetic field around the disk, which eventually increases the storage capacity of the disk.

Advantages Of HDD 

• Hard disk drives are cost-effective and cheaper than solid-state drives. This is because the manufacturing cost of HDD is lower than the SDD.

• There is a wide range of storage capacity options in HDD. Not just that, nowadays, you can easily get the 15 TB hard drives from the market.

• The lifespan of HDD is higher than the SSD as its function does not depend on flash memory. 

• As stated earlier, HDD is a non-volatile memory, so there is no risk of data loss on power cut.

The Bottom Line -:

HAMR, MAMR, and EAMR are the future of hard disk drives. These not technology not only increase the aerial density of the HDDs but also speed up their functionality.