At MWC 2024, Dr. Huawei’s Peter Zhou a number of new data storage products, including the company’s next-gen 10 Petabyte OceanStor Arctic magnetoelectric storage solution.
When we reported on it recently, the details were incredibly light. We knew it would be a magnetoelectric disk (MED). probably spins, and the first generation of the drive would be used primarily for archival storage. Huawei also claimed that it could reduce TCO by 20% compared to tape, and reduce energy consumption by 90% compared to hard drives.
Now, Blocks and files has revealed additional details about the MED drive, courtesy of a smartphone photo of a backup and archive slide presented by Huawei at another event.
Spun discs
The slide, created by Digital Storage and Applications Analyst Tom Coughlin, includes an archiving solutions section that reveals three visual elements for OceanStor Arctic: a rack, a 4 or 6RU chassis, and a drive.
Blocks and files notes that some of the text on the slide appears to be comparing “450 W/PB HDDs vs. 71 W/PB Magnetoelectric Drive” and writer Chris Mellor says: “We’ve been thinking about what the term magnetoelectric drive might mean. As far as the dictionary is concerned, the magnetoelectric effect refers to any link between the magnetic and electrical properties of a material. That could possibly describe hard drive technology, which uses electricity to change the polarity of a magnetic region on the surface of a drive. “
If so, the big question that remains unanswered so far is: how can the drive spin and still use 90% less power than hard drives? The likely answer is that the OceanStor Arctic will use spun drives that turn off or shut down to save energy and reduce wear and tear when not in use.
Mellor asked Huawei used OceanStor Arctic spun drives, but was told by a spokesperson that it was not very helpful: “It is my understanding that the product line may not be able to release more information about the product as it is not yet available on the overseas market. ”
OceanStor Arctic is expected to be available outside China in the second half of 2025.