Just like RAM and RRAM manufacturers, hard disk makers are hellbent on providing faster, larger, stronger storage media for consumers’ endless data storage need. As a result, Seagate has announced its (and the world’s first) 8TB consumer drive.
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Yep, 8TB — 16 times what the world was introduced to in 2005. It’s a lot of space, and would take a few months of downloading to fill its boots. Seven years prior, the world’s first 1TB hard drive was launched by Hitachi. IDC’s research manager for HDDs, John Rydning, uttered a few words to PCWorld back then, that seems hilariously old fashioned now:
For consumers, we still think the big hard drives are mainly for niche applications. […] There’s going to be a certain minority of PC users and video recorder enthusiasts who will want to have the highest capacity available. And in those markets, a high-capacity drive is valued. However, the vast majority of PC users are still serviced by a one-platter, 160GB hard drive.
Nowadays, 1TB is the venerable upper standard when it comes to desktops and laptops. As far as Seagate’s 8TB is concerned though, the drive will probably not be part of the standard consumer’s plans for now. Hitachi is targeting “cloud builders to look for innovative ways to build cost-effective, high capacity storage for both private and cloud-based data centers” as the world gravitates towards mobile.
The drive will only ship in the latter quarter of the year, but it’s far from the end of Seagate’s plans. Drives of up to 60TB are theoretically possible and while not many will find valid usage for 8TB drives yet, the world of storage seems to be growing exponentially.
