Yes! You can finally buy 26TB hard drives, two years after launch, but only in packs of 20 for $9100, and you’ll probably need a data center to run them
In May 2022, Western Digital unveiled its 22TB CMR and 26TB UltraSMR hard drives, the latter of which achieved its high capacity by using large block encoding and an advanced error correction algorithm to increase track-per-inch (TPI) density . .
The 26TB Ultrastar DC HC670 UltraSMR HDD is a 3.5-inch hard drive with a SATA or SAS interface with a transfer speed of up to 261 MB/s. It runs at 7200 RPM using SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology and includes a 512 MB cache for improved performance. Built with Western Digital’s EAMR, TSA and HelioSeal technologies, it is optimized for sequential write applications and is ideal for data center use.
We initially reported that the 26TB drive would ship to select customers in the summer, but in October 2022 it became clear why customers wouldn’t be able to purchase the 26TB drive anytime soon.
Packs of 20
When we spoke to Western Digital, the company explained that these were host-managed drives that “require host software and stack modification with sequential data streams and error handling for random writes.” As a result, WD said it would only offer them to strategic hyperscale and OEM customers. Fast forward to now, and the disc is finally available for purchase for everyone – with a few caveats.
In short, telecommunications sells the 26TB 512 7200RPM SATA ULTRA 512E SE P3 DC HC (as it is called on the site), but does not have it in stock. Instead, they are ordered directly from the manufacturer if necessary, meaning there is a 15 business day wait between the site ordering the product and it being ready to ship. No returns or exchanges are offered either.
You should also order a pack of 20, which will set you back $9,142.68, with free ground shipping in the US. Even though you can now buy the HC670 UltraSMR HDD, it’s still a host-managed drive and the same limitations that kept most people from getting their hands on it remain. But if you have access to a data center and $10,000 to spare, you can deploy this high-capacity storage solution in just over two weeks.