With the Launch of WD Ultrastar 18TB (WUH721818ALE6Lz) - now Ultrastar has the biggest hard drive available in the market right now. Along with 18TB, WD has also launched the 16TB variant, both using the same platform Ultrastar DC HC550.
Along with the launch of the WD Ultrastar drives, come the launch of the WD Gold drives. Under the hood, both 18TB ultrastar and 18TB Gold ( or any other Ultrastar and Gold drives) are the same , and the only difference is in branding.
New 18TB Ultrastar uses Energy Assisted Magnetic Recording to achieve the increased areas density. Specification wise its 7200 RPM 3.5" SATA Drives with a 7200 RPM 3.5" SAS drive option. Its a Helium Sealed drive like the rest of the 10TB + Ultrastar drives and can be ordered with a Self Encrypting option also.
Being an Enterprise drive, it comes with 2.5M hours MTBF and a 5 years limited warranty and an annual workload of 550TB .
We have the very first shipment of 18TB drives in transit and will be available for ordering by 10th July.
