WD Red 8TB ETA?

[daanodinot]

If the time between the 4TB and 6TB release is any indication, the 8TB release will be pretty soon, but has WD given comment about when the release will be? Even if it's in 2014 or 2015?

I'm considering upgrading my 4TB drives in my NAS to 6TB and using the existing 4TB as backup. But if the the 8TB release is soon upon us, I'd rather wait to avoid having to sell things with loss.

 

[4745454b]

Did some checking online as I wasn't sure what platter density was running these days. Consumer hdds are in a 3.5" form factor. These normally allow for 5 platters inside, though the odd 6 platter drive does come out such as the 6TB drive you mentioned. From doing reading online it looks like we are currently using 1TB per platter right now. This means you'd need to find a way to get 8 of them inside a 3.5" drive. Not happening. To get 8TBs and use 6 platters you'd need to get 1.33TBs onto each platter. To be honest I have no clue how possible this is right now. I know of several things that are supposed to allow this to happen such as HAMR, but I haven't heard anything about when that's supposed to come out. At least from a source I'd trust. Seagate somehow got to 6TB, and WD only did it by filling their drive with He. We'll hit 8TB at some point. But I'm guessing we are at least 2 years away, probably more.

 

[daanodinot]

According to this article the real challenge begins only at 10TB. 8TB is already shipping to specific customers and can make use of the conventional technology (PMR).

This means 8TB might actually be on the horizon for consumers, as I understand it...

 

[4745454b]

I doubt those drives have prices you want to pay. In addition SMR has speed draw backs. (the article you linked talked about how it isn't suited for desktop use, it's because it uses SMR.)

I guess the answer depends on how bad you need the storage. I'm running two 4TB drives myself. They were "expensive" when I bought them, not but horribly so. ($150+) I've seen the He filled drives going for a lot more then that, so for me the extra space wasn't worth it. If you need the space and costs be damned then go for it. Wait a bit and get them. But 8TB drives that are also "cheap" as I said are a few years off.

 

[daanodinot]

I'm sorry, I meant PMR (I updated my post) as the conventional technology. PMR is still used by 8TB, so might be suitable for desktop.

In any case, you're right that cheap 8TB drives might well be a few years off, although that still leaves me wondering why WD pulled it off so quickly with 6TB. 4TB and 6TB had only 10 months between them, and 6TB was released at almost the same pricepoint (relatively speaking) as 4TB

 

[daanodinot]

But 8TB drives that are also "cheap" as I said are a few years off.

http://www.seagate.com/products/enterprise-servers-storage/nearline-storage/archive-hdd/#features

Hehehe, I'm sure you meant cheap 8TB hard drives designed for NAS usage right?

But seriously, whoa, this is surprising. Especially the price is crazy. I've just bought the 6TB Red drives, so hopefully those 8TB Red drives are not released too soon.

 

[LeKing007]

I just bought two wd red 8tb desktop ; they are to be delivered first week of may .

 

[4745454b]

16mo away. My guess of ~2yrs wasn't that far off. LeKing, watch the dates when you post. We don't like it when you bump old threads like this.