Data center decisions are driven by TCO. Higher capacity hard drives play a leading role in reducing TCO. An 18TB data center internal hard drive provides 29% more capacity in the same form factor as a 14TB HDD. Higher capacity HDDs enable data centers to lower CapEx by reducing supporting hardware and system level costs when compared to lower capacity drives. Helium-sealed, low power, high reliability drives reduce energy and maintenance costs, contributing to OpEx savings. For example, a data center using 18TB HDDs vs. 14TB HDDs can require 22% fewer racks while consuming 21% less power per TB at idle, resulting in significant overall TCO reduction for data center environments.

Ultrastar DC HC550 integrates a suite of technologies on a 9-disk platform to create a new class of HDDs. 18TB capacity is achieved by combining technologies that improve areal density working together with technologies that improve performance and reduce power consumption. ● The first internal hard drives in the industry to harness Energy-Assisted Magnetic Recording (EAMR) technology improves writability and therefore increases areal density. ● The industry's first Triple Stage Actuator (TSA) enhances head-positioning accuracy, delivering better performance and increased areal density. ● HelioSeal technology is the foundation for Western Digital's high capacity HDDs and this is the 6th generation of HelioSeal product. Western Digital has shipped >65 million HelioSeal products to date.