Pushing Boundaries: Seagate’s Exos X24 with a Whopping 24TB Capacity

Seagate Technology has unveiled its latest offering, the Exos X24, further fortifying its position in the world of enterprise-level data storage solutions. The new HDD comes with an impressive 24TB storage capacity, representing a significant leap from its predecessors, including 20TB, 16TB, and 12TB versions.

Key Features of the Exos X24:

Helium Sealed-Drive Design: Ensures optimal performance and reliability.
PowerChoice™ and PowerBalance™: Technologies that enhance power efficiency.
Advanced Security: Features like Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE) and RSA 3072 Firmware Verification.
High Performance: With 7200RPM spindle speed and a sustained transfer rate of 285/272 MB/s, MiB/s.
Environmental Robustness: Can operate between 10°C – 60°C and has advanced shock and vibration resistance.
What’s particularly noteworthy is that while Seagate continues to push the boundaries with capacity, they haven’t compromised on the reliability and performance metrics familiar to its users.

Looking Forward: The HAMR Era
Seagate doesn’t stop with the Exos X24. The company has already given us a sneak peek into its upcoming endeavors by announcing the production of 30TB+ HDDs set to incorporate Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology. Slated for an early 2024 release, these drives promise even greater storage capacities and efficiencies. HAMR technology, a topic recently discussed on the StorageReview Podcast, is keenly anticipated in the industry and promises to revolutionize storage mechanisms.

Market Implications & Perspective
Given the burgeoning demand for advanced, high-capacity data storage solutions, particularly in industries like cloud computing, big data, and enterprise-level data centers, the Exos X24 is well-positioned. It addresses immediate market needs, providing an efficient option for organizations aiming to upgrade their storage capabilities in the interim before the more advanced HAMR drives arrive.

 

Best-Fit Applications for Exos X24 24TB Drive:

Application
Scalable hyperscale applications/cloud data centers
Massive scale-out data centers
Big data applications
High-capacity density RAID storage
Mainstream enterprise external storage arrays
Distributed file systems, including Hadoop and Ceph
Enterprise backup and restore—D2D, virtual tape
Centralized surveillance

Key Features of the Exos X24 24TB Drive:

Feature SATA 6Gb/s SAS 12Gb/s
Capacity 24TB 24TB
Helium Sealed-Drive Design Yes Yes
Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) Yes Yes
Super Parity Yes Yes
PowerChoice™ Idle Power Technology Yes Yes
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF, hours) 2500000hr 2500000hr
Spindle Speed (RPM) 7200RPM 7200RPM
Max. Sustained Transfer Rate OD (MB/s,MiB/s) 285/272 285/272
Temperature, Operating (°C) 10°C – 60°C 10°C – 60°C
Height (mm/in, max) 26.1mm/1.028in 26.1mm/1.028in
Width (mm/in, max) 101.85mm/4.010in 101.85mm/4.010in
Depth (mm/in, max) 147mm/5.787in 147mm/5.787in

What are the improvements?

Primary Improvement:

Capacity: The most evident improvement is the storage capacity. The new 24TB drive offers a 20% increase in storage capacity over the 20TB model, a 50% increase over the 16TB model, and a 100% increase over the 12TB model.
The capacity increase allows users to store more data in the same physical space, leading to:

Higher Rack Space Efficiency: Storing more data per drive means fewer drives are needed to achieve the same total storage, leading to savings in terms of both physical space and potentially power consumption.

Cost Efficiency: While the individual drive might be more expensive, the cost per terabyte (cost/ TB) can be lower, leading to potential savings for large-scale deployments.

 

Comparison Table: Exos X24 Drives

Specification 24TB 20TB 16TB 12TB
Capacity 24TB 20TB 16TB 12TB
Helium Sealed-Drive Design Yes Yes Yes Yes
Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Super Parity Yes Yes Yes Yes
PowerChoice™ Idle Power Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF, hours) 2500000hr 2500000hr 2500000hr 2500000hr
Spindle Speed (RPM) 7200RPM 7200RPM 7200RPM 7200RPM
Max. Sustained Transfer Rate OD (MB/s,MiB/s) 285/272 285/272 285/272 285/272
Temperature, Operating (°C) 10°C – 60°C 10°C – 60°C 10°C – 60°C 10°C – 60°C
Height (mm/in, max) 26.1mm/1.028in 26.1mm/1.028in 26.1mm/1.028in 26.1mm/1.028in
Width (mm/in, max) 101.85mm/4.010in 101.85mm/4.010in 101.85mm/4.010in 101.85mm/4.010in
Depth (mm/in, max) 147mm/5.787in 147mm/5.787in 147mm/5.787in 147mm/5.787in
Weight (gm/lb) 685g/1.51lb 685g/1.51lb 685g/1.51lb 685g/1.51lb

 

Who will benefit from this new drive?

1. Cloud Service Providers
In an age dominated by cloud computing, service providers offering IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS are in a perpetual hunt for storage solutions that can cater to their vast and growing clientele. The Exos X24, with its enormous capacity, provides a significant boost to cloud infrastructures, ensuring users have ample space to store and retrieve their data efficiently.

2. Data Centers
Any enterprise-level data center, especially those leaning into scalable hyperscale applications or broad scale-out data center designs, will find these drives indispensable. Their high-capacity nature ensures data centers can store more while occupying less physical space.

3. Big Data Analysts
In an era where data is the new gold, organizations and researchers handling vast data sets for analytics purposes need robust storage solutions. The Exos X24’s high performance and capacity cater precisely to this requirement, ensuring seamless data processing and storage.

4. RAID Storage Configurations
High-capacity drives like the Exos X24 are a boon for RAID configurations. With multiple drives synergizing to offer redundancy, increased performance, or both, the Exos X24 becomes an attractive proposition for those looking to optimize their RAID arrays.

 

Availability

Seagate has already initiated shipping qualification drives to a select group of customers, with mass production expected to commence in December. As for the pricing, details are yet to be released, but with the announcement of the forthcoming HAMR drives, the dynamics of HDD pricing are set to become even more interesting.

For organizations and data centers contemplating their next storage upgrade, the Exos X24 serves as a compelling option, bridging the gap before the next wave of advanced storage technologies hit the market.

Stay tuned to NAS Compares for more in-depth reviews, comparisons, and the latest news in the storage universe.

Standard Model – Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE) 24TB: ST24000NM002H
SED Model 24TB: ST24000NM001H
Standard Model – Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE)  ST24000NM007H
SED Model2 ST24000NM005H
SED-FIPS2 ST24000NM006H



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