Browse through Seagate�s repertoire of enterprise hard drives and you�ll see some of the best HDDs you can buy, but one that�s absent from its listings and nearly impossible to get ahold of is the Exos X26z.� This 3.5-inch...
Browse through Seagate�s repertoire of enterprise hard drives and you�ll see some of the best HDDs you can buy, but one that�s absent from its listings and nearly impossible to get ahold of is the Exos X26z.�
This 3.5-inch 25TB enterprise hard drive is unlike any other, in that it�s a host-managed shingled magnetic recording (HM-SMR) unit, and doesn�t work on either Windows or MacOS � the two most popular desktop operating systems. Instead, you�ll need a Linux distro to successfully integrate into your IT infrastructure.
It�s also unobtainable through regular channels and is created exclusively for Seagate�s largest enterprise customer. Indeed, these drives are really only useful for the largest hyperscalers in that they can increase the capacity per slot by 25% versus conventional hard drives. This is according to Storage Review, which was able to obtain one of these mercurial units through eBay.
How does Seagate�s biggest hard drive perform?
Storage Review tested Seagate�s 25TB hard drive, the largest currently obtainable, in several benchmarks against the firm�s 20TB IonWolf Pro device.
The X26z HDD managed to hit speeds that were close to The IonWolf Pro on Sequential 128K Read and Sequential 128 Write tests � 274MB/s and 270MB/s respectively, versus 278MB/s and 286MB/s.�
On Random 4K Read the X26z hit 2,121 IOPS, versus 233 IOPS in the IronWolf Pro. But on Random 4K Writes, the Exos hard drive sadly failed after 2 IOPS, while the IronWolf Pro hit 313 IOPS. Nonetheless, figures for 4K reads are impressive.�
But these hard drives, despite being an impressive option for data center customers, are almost not worth pursuing if you don�t have immediate access given that a new technology � heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) � is just around the corner. �
Both Seagate and Western Digital are working on building HDDs that exceed 30TB, using this technology, which are expected to launch during 2024. Built for enterprises, they�ll be able to top the biggest hard drives on the market today � and are only the beginning, with work going into building hard drives that can eventually reach 100TB.
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