WD's new HDD tech promises 'flash-like' performance and just maybe a way out of the dreaded memory supply crisis

Fair to say we're all desperate for a way out of the AI-driven memory and storage supply crisis, right? Well, how about a new class of old-school magnetic hard drives optimised for AI and with "flash-like" performance that might take the pressure off NAND memory and SSDs?

That's exactly what storage specialist WD has announced. In a blog post, WD has detailed a pair of new HDD technologies.

"Two breakthrough technologies can help solve the problem: High bandwidth drive technology (HBDT) enables multiple tracks to be read/written simultaneously, while dual pivot technology adds a second actuator to increase both capacity and performance," the blog says.

WD claims this results in, "4x throughput gains without sacrificing economics. Combining HBDT (2-track) and dual pivot can boost throughput from 300 MB/s to 1.2 GB/s—a 4x increase. A future design that scales to 8-track HBDT could deliver flash-like performance at HDD total cost of ownership (TCO)."

A boost from 300 MB/s to 1,200 MB/s is certainly a huge leap. Indeed, WD says that this approach could scale out to yet faster drives.

"Combining additional tracks goes even further—eight-track HBDT plus dual pivot could have a theoretical maximum throughput near 4.8 GB/s, a performance level that would expand the list of applications able to leverage mechanical spinning HDDs."

But there are implications that this type of performance may only pertain to very large sequential data transfers. "WD’s engineering approach prioritizes throughput per terabyte (MB/s/TB)—ideal for AI training, object storage, data lakes, and video streaming at exabyte scale," the company says.

In other words, not the little itty bitty random access performance that arguably makes more difference to day-to-day PC performance than peak sequential performance. Of course, that probably doesn't matter. WD's announcement makes it clear enough where these drives are intended to end up. And it's not inside our PCs.

However, if WD's new HDD tech is indeed fast enough to replace SSDs in some enterprise and AI installations, then that means a bit less demand for SSDs and the flash memory chips they depend on. Which has to be a god thing for PC SSD pricing.

Anywho, WD doesn't detail exactly when HDDs with these new technologies will become available. But, frankly, they can't come soon enough.

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