It is learned that the company WD intends to use the helium gas to improve the performance of your hard drive. So, next year, a division HGST (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) will feature a 3.5-inch hard drives for use in data centers, the interior of which is filled with helium, not air.
The density of helium is seven times less than the density of air. As a result of completion of the internal space of helium was able to reduce the friction in the drive. This, in turn, led to a decline in energy storage by 23%. A reduction in energy consumption along with the decrease of friction and causes a decrease in heat storage. According to vice president of product marketing at HGST Brendan Collins, hard disk drives with the helium in the process heat for 4-5 degrees Celsius lower than conventional hard drives. In addition, these hard drives have a sealed enclosure that prevents ingress of moisture or other contaminants. This increases the reliability of the drives. In addition, the hard drive can operate in adverse conditions without negative consequences.
The challenge of reducing energy consumption and heat dissipation is extremely important for large data centers, which employ a large number of hard drives. These centers need large amounts of energy as well as bulky and expensive cooling systems require maintenance. Thus, the new hard disks WD HDD filled with helium, will reduce the cost of maintaining data centers.
Further notes that the use of helium instead of air in the hard drive can increase the maximum number of platters from 5 to 7. Thus, even without an increase in recording density on platters total storage capacity will increase by 40%. At the same time, the technology allows a greater density of information storage. Consequently, the overall increase in hard drive capacity will be even more significant.
It is also reported that the use of helium in the hard drive is the basis for two new technologies: Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) and Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR). These technologies will allow you to create even more storage capacity, but they still need to be improved. It is expected that the use of technology and HAMR SMR in mass products will begin after approximately 2 years. So, let’s wait for WD HDD with helium.
