Seagate Develops 69 TB HDD: A New Recording Density Record

Seagate has set a new laboratory record by achieving a density of 6.9 TB per single magnetic platter. This breakthrough paves the way for mass production of hard drives with capacities ranging from 55 to 69 TB in a standard form factor.

Technological Breakthrough

The new development more than doubles the capabilities of today's mass-produced platters (3 TB). The success was made possible by HAMR (Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording) technology combined with the Mozaic 3+ platform. Thanks to localized surface heating and reduced magnetic grain size, engineers were able to dramatically increase data density without enlarging the physical size of the drive.

Development Stage Until 2030

The 6.9 TB platters are still in the development stage and are not expected to appear in commercial products within the next five years; their introduction is planned for 2030. Until then, the company will focus on developing 4 TB, 5 TB, and 6 TB platters.

Seagate also forecasts the production of 7–15 TB platters starting from 2031.

Market Relevance

Increasing storage capacity is a critical requirement for the rapid growth of AI and data centers. HDDs remain the only viable solution for mass data storage due to their reliability and low cost per terabyte compared to SSDs. Although the AI boom is putting pressure on prices in the server segment, the consumer market currently remains stable.