Western Digital has unveiled its all-new 22TB CMR and 26TB Ultrastar DC HC670 UltraSMR HDDs, the world’s first of this size, built for enterprise and cloud storage solutions.

While SSDs are fast and what most gamers and consumers use today, we don’t need 26TB of space. That said, the capacity limits of regular HDDs are still way above a traditional SSD, and Western Digital is taking things even further for those that need it.

The average consumer doesn’t need this type of storage, but cloud computing for big tech brands and enterprise solutions does. That’s precisely what this is for, and both new drives are the first of their kind.

According to Western Digital, these new ePMR drives use the latest WD OptiNAND technology to pack high storage levels into a platform with up to 10 disks. They’ll offer improved performance and reliability, along with considerable jumps in storage limits.

“As a longstanding partner of the industry’s leading cloud providers, we understand their unique requirements in building next-generation cloud infrastructure.” The company has invested in several HDD innovations we developed alongside our areal density technology.” Ashley Gorakhpurwalla of WD

Offering higher storage limits in smaller spaces could increase capacity and decrease costs for cloud storage servers, among other things. For example, WD’s new 26TB Ultrastar DC HC670 UltraSMR drive increases storage by 18% by utilizing 2.6TB per platter on the drive. As a result, server managers can fit more data in the cloud on each rack.

According to its press release, the Western Digital 22TB Ultrastar DC HC570 HDD will be available first. Then, volume orders of the 26TB option will start shipping to customers later this summer.

via TechRadar