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

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But it will probably just make hard drives more expensive, too!

A battery of WD hard drives.
(Image credit: WD)

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.

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)."

WD Black SN850X SSD on a gaming PC case.

If WD can flog some HDDs to the AI bros, maybe that will leave some SSDs spare for PCs. (Image credit: Western Digital)

"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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Jeremy Laird
Jeremy Laird
Hardware writer

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.

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