Toshiba introduced hard drives with CMR recording capacity up to 24 TB and with SMR up to 28 TB

Toshiba introduced the Mx11 family of high-capacity hard drives, which have a hermetic chamber filled with helium. It includes the MG11 series models with conventional magnetic recording (CMR) technology up to 24 TB, as well as the MA11 series models with a capacity up to 28 TB using tile magnetic recording (SMR) technology.

Image source: Toshiba

Both HDD series use a common architecture and a standard 3.5-inch form factor, consist of 10 recording platters, have a spindle speed of 7200 rpm and use microwave-assisted recording (Flux Control Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording, FC-MAMR). Designed for higher levels of performance and reliability, the Mx11 Series HDDs feature a 1GB buffer, support up to 550TB of workload per year, a claimed MTTF/MTBF of 2.5 million hours, and a low AFR (Annual Failure Rate) of 0.35%.

The MG11 series of hard drives enables cloud, data center and enterprise storage customers to quickly scale storage density within their existing infrastructure. The older model in the series offers a capacity of 24 TB, is equipped with a 1 GB buffer and has a maximum constant data transfer rate that is approximately 9% higher than its predecessor – up to 309 MB/s. MG11 series drives will be available with SATA III (6 Gb/s) or SAS 12 Gb/s interfaces. In addition to the 24 TB model, the MG11 series also includes 22, 20, 18, 16 and 14 TB models with optional support for SIE (Sanitize Instant Erase) and Self-Encrypting Device (SED) encryption for enhanced security.

The MA11 series HDD density reaches 2.8 TB per platter using tile magnetic recording (SMR) technology. The series includes models with a capacity of 28 and 27 TB, equipped with a SATA III interface (6 Gbit/s) and optionally offering support for SED encryption.

Samples of Toshiba’s MG11 series hard drives will begin shipping to interested customers this month, while samples of the MA11 series will begin shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.