Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) As Fast As Possible
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Description
Heat-assisted magnetic recording should dramatically increase hard drive capacities in the coming years. How does it work, and how much space can you expect? Freshbooks message: Head over to freshbooks.com and don’t forget to enter Tech Quickie in the “How Did You Hear About Us” section when signing up for your free trial. Learn more about HAMR technology: bit.ly Follow: twitter.com Join the community: linustechtips.com Thanks to Seagate for their help on this episode and for providing images and footage of HAMR in action.
Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) is presented as a technology that could dramatically increase hard drive capacities by overcoming the magnetic stability limits of ever-smaller grains. The video explains that data on a hard drive is stored in tiny magnetic grains, where each grain orientation represents a bit, and that shrinking grains leads to instability and random flips, constraining capacity. HAMR mitigates this by heating the recording area, increasing coercivity, and making it easier for the read/write head to correctly set grain magnetization during writing. The heating is achieved with a laser targetting a near-field transducer, which converts light into surface plasmons that heat a very small area of the disk to about 400 to 500 degrees Celsius, with cooling occurring rapidly after writing to avoid damage. The host notes that HAMR could yield up to 20 terabytes per drive around 2020 and potentially 30 to 40% year-over-year capacity growth, especially when combined with bit patterned media which places data on single grains. Although HAMR will not match SSDs in speed, the higher data density could provide a 10 to 15 percent performance improvement due to more data accessible per rotation. The episode mentions Seagate as a technical partner for information and footage, and the sponsor segment highlights FreshBooks for freelancers, while emphasizing that the video itself is not sponsored by Seagate despite their contribution to accuracy.
Topics · science and technology · data storage · hardware · technology trends
Questions answered
- What is HAMR and why is it important for hard drives?
- HAMR stands for heat assisted magnetic recording. It increases the stability of magnetic grains by heating a small area during writing, allowing smaller grains to remain reliable and thus increasing data density and overall drive capacity.
- How does the HAMR write process work at a high level?
- A laser heats a tiny area near the read/write head via a near-field transducer, creating surface plasmons that heat the disk to about 400 to 500 degrees Celsius. The heat helps the head set the grain magnetization correctly, after which the disk cools.
- What capacities are projected for HAMR drives?
- Projections suggested as of the video indicate around 20 terabytes per drive in the early 2020s, with the potential for substantial year over year growth when combined with bit patterned media.
- How does HAMR compare to SSDs in performance?
- HAMR drives are not expected to match SSDs in speed, but the higher data density can yield about a 10 to 15 percent performance increase due to more data being accessible per rotation.