After more than 20 years of development, Seagate appears poised to release its first hard drive utilizing heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology. A recently discovered product page, highlighted by Tom’s Hardware, showcases the Exos M hard drive, which boasts up to 32TB of storage capacity powered by Seagate’s Mozaic 3 Plus HAMR platform.
Seagate’s Mozaic 3 Plus technology enables higher storage capacities by shrinking data bits and positioning them closer together on each disk. To write data, the drive employs a laser diode attached to its recording heads, which briefly heats small sections of the disk. According to Seagate, this process happens incredibly quickly—each bit heats and cools in a nanosecond—ensuring that the HAMR laser does not affect the drive’s overall temperature, stability, or reliability.
The Exos M hard drive achieves a platter density of 3TB per disk, making it particularly valuable for enterprise applications such as supporting AI systems. While the exact release date remains unclear, the product page features a “Stay Informed” link, signaling that a launch could be imminent.
Earlier this month, Seagate revealed in a filing that it had “successfully completed qualification testing” for its HAMR drives with several customers in the mass-capacity market, including a major cloud service provider. Seagate announced plans to begin shipping HAMR-based hard drives to this unnamed cloud provider within the “coming weeks,” suggesting the technology is close to reaching end-users.
As noted by Tom’s Guide, the Exos M hard drive represents a significant milestone for Seagate’s HAMR technology, which has long been anticipated as a breakthrough in the hard drive industry. The company has stated that its new drives are particularly suited for high-performance tasks, making them an attractive option for businesses requiring massive storage solutions.
Seagate is not alone in pushing the boundaries of hard drive capacity. In October, Western Digital unveiled a 32TB hard drive utilizing energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording (ePMR), a competing technology aimed at enhancing storage densities. Similarly, Toshiba recently demonstrated high-capacity hard drives incorporating both HAMR and microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR), further intensifying competition in the market.
While Seagate’s product page offers a glimpse into the capabilities of its HAMR technology, the company has yet to release specific details about pricing or availability for the Exos M drives. Requests for additional information sent by The Verge have not been immediately answered, leaving potential customers eager for updates as Seagate inches closer to bringing this next-generation technology to market.
The upcoming launch of HAMR-based drives could signify a major shift in the data storage landscape. By offering increased capacity without compromising performance or reliability, HAMR technology addresses the growing demand for scalable solutions in sectors such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.
As storage needs continue to grow, advancements like HAMR will be critical in enabling organizations to efficiently manage and analyze vast amounts of data. With competing technologies such as ePMR and MAMR also making strides, the race to dominate the high-capacity storage market is heating up, promising even greater innovations in the near future.