The world’s first hard drive developed in 1956 was capable of storing a capacity of 5 MB (megabytes). Nowadays, the capacity is barely enough to hold a photo taken with a smartphone, but at the time it was a large-capacity storage device that was close to breakthrough. Also, to make 5MB capacity, it was large because 50 thin metal platters that actually store the data had to be stacked. And now, more than half a century later, we’re storing more than 1TB (terabyte) of capacity on a single platter, which is much smaller and thinner than it was back then.
However, at this point, 1TB capacity can no longer be considered a large capacity. As the capacity of the programs we use, multimedia files such as photos, music, videos and document files, is rapidly increasing, not only businesses but also families are using storage devices ranging from several TB to tens of TB. As the capacity of data to be stored increases, so does the demand for large-capacity hard drives to store data more efficiently.
The company that is currently one step ahead in this mass storage device competition is Seagate. Seagate heralded the era of 30TB hard drives earlier this year by introducing Mozaic 3+, a next-generation storage platform capable of recording a large capacity of 3TB per platter.
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Concerns about improving the efficiency of data storage devices
Nowadays, the trend in the general user storage device market has long shifted towards SSDs. NAND flash memory-based SSDs are more expensive than hard drives in capacity, but are dozens of times faster in data transfer speed, so they are essential for high-performance computers. In particular, because SSDs are memory semiconductors, they have the advantage of being smaller and lighter than hard drives, making them essential in laptops where weight is important.
However, SSDs still have the disadvantage of being expensive. Currently, SSDs with a capacity of 1TB are priced between 100,000 won and half that, depending on performance and manufacturer. At this price you can buy a hard drive with a capacity of 3~4TB. Individual users using relatively small capacity can choose an SSD with great performance even considering the price difference, but businesses that need to manage large amounts of data are bound to have difficulty making a choice.
Plus, if you use most of your data only for storage, there’s no reason to insist on a high-performance SSD. Additionally, hard drives are more stable in terms of long-term data retention. As SSDs become the primary storage devices, the hard drive market is in decline, but that’s why the demand for large-capacity hard drives remains stable.
However, even though hard drives provide good data retention and are extremely cost effective per storage capacity, there are still many factors to consider, such as installation space, cost and power consumption, when building large capacity storage space. In addition, large-capacity hard drives have advantages in terms of cost per storage capacity, as well as savings in installation space and power consumption, so research and development of large-capacity hard drive technology is continuously being conducted in the industry. .
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Seagate Mozaic 3+, created with HAMR technology
While the shape of hard drives has remained largely unchanged for decades, the technology inside them has constantly evolved. Hard drives work by storing data on thin circular metal plates called platters or by reading stored data and transferring it to faster storage. In other words, if the data density of the platter can be increased, it becomes possible to store more data on the same type of hard drive.
Hard drives use magnetic fields to store data, and in the past, the Longitudinal Magnetic Recording (LMR) method was used to record data horizontally. However, with the advent of the PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording) method, which increases integration by storing data vertically in the 2000s, most hard drives have adopted the PMR method. Recently, one method the industry is paying attention to is to further increase integration using Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology.
If you increase the platter density too much to increase the storage capacity per unit area, magnetic interference may occur between closely related data, compromising the stability of the data. To avoid this, a magnetically stable material can be used as the platter material. The problem is that it is difficult to store data on platters made of magnetically stable materials. HAMR technology is the solution to this problem.
MAMR technology allows you to record data by instantly heating a magnetically stable platter to room temperature. Although the concept of this technology had already appeared in the 1950s, Seagate took the lead in research to apply it to hard drives in the late 1990s. After more than 20 years of research and development, Seagate has managed to complete Mozaic 3+, a new hard drive platform that uses MAMR technology.
The most notable feature of the Seagate Mozaic 3+ platform, released earlier this year, is that it can increase data storage capacity from the mid-2TB per platter in the existing PMR method to over 3TB. The Seagate Mozaic 3+ platform consists of ▲platter composed of magnetically stable superlattice platinum alloy backings ▲plasmonic writer capable of recording data more precisely ▲seventh generation spintronic reader capable of quickly reading accurate data from high-speed traces density ▲ It consists of a sophisticated 12nm processor integrated controller developed in-house.
Seagate is already set to release a large-capacity hard drive of 30TB or more using the Mozaic 3+ platform. According to Seagate, replacing existing data center hard drives with the Mozaic 3+ platform is expected to increase storage capacity per unit area and reduce power consumption by 40 percent relative to storage capacity.
Seagate Mozaic 3+ setup diagram[출처: 씨게이트 제공]
Fast-growing national data center market
Digital transformation has accelerated around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to an explosion of data. And now, as the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and services becomes more active, it is once again driving the data explosion.
Market research firm IDC has predicted that the amount of new data created between 2024 and 2025 will reach 30ZB (zettabytes, 1 billion times TB), but the storage capacity created during the same period is only 2ZB. The storage space is inadequate for the data generated. In this market situation, Seagate’s Mozaic 3+ platform may be the answer to support companies’ data management and use. Seagate plans to continue improving the Mozaic 3+ platform and gradually increase the amount of data per platter from 4TB to 5TB.
Meanwhile, the domestic data market is also growing rapidly. Naver, Korea’s leading IT company, completed a new large data center in Sejong City last year, and Kakao also built its first data center last year, and the number of large data centers is increasing. According to the Korea Data Center Association, 13 new data centers will be completed this year, and another 4 are expected to be completed next year. The construction of large data centers is set to lead to the revitalization of related markets.
For Seagate, which is actively pursuing its own domestic storage market, the domestic data market is an attractive target. To this end, Seagate is expanding its market by establishing a close cooperation system with domestic server and data solutions companies. In particular, we are actively targeting the backup and disaster recovery (DR) market to prepare for ransomware attacks, which represent the biggest headache for businesses today. Since last year, we have been conducting national sales with Thepoom, which provides backup services for small and medium-sized businesses, and this year we are again targeting the national large-capacity storage market with Stonefly, a security storage company.
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Seagate is preparing for the more distant future
Seagate expects the Mozaic 3+ platform to play an important role in meeting the needs of the data market. The current data market requires huge data storage for AI learning and service development, and in the content field, ultra-high resolution video of 8K beyond 4K is emerging, saturating data centers. In a situation where data companies have no choice but to opt for greater capacity and affordability, Seagate Mozaic 3+ can deliver optimal results.
First, Seagate plans to continue enhancing its existing product line based on the Mozaic 3+ platform to more efficiently address a variety of applications ranging from multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments to high-capacity storage requirements and average.
Meanwhile, Seagate’s challenges don’t end there. Seagate has been researching HAMR technology for over 20 years to complement the Mozaic 3+ platform. Strengthening technological competitiveness based on proactive investments with an eye to the future has made Seagate a strong player in the storage market for a long time. Looking ahead, Seagate plans to continue investing in research and development to maintain its leadership in the next digital era.
Seagate predicts that the ability to securely store and use greater amounts of data will drive innovation in the future. This means that the evolution of storage can provide powerful leverage not only to data management capabilities but also to the overall digital environment of the future. Mozaic 3+ will serve as the foundation for Seagate to lead the future digital era.
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