Helium hard drive capacity of 10 TB Ultrastar He10

Modern hard drives of large capacity are reminiscent of expensive mechanical watches from the best Swiss masters of the shop. Assembly and adjustment of such devices is an art, characterized by precision and meticulous setting. To release the hard drive 10 TB — not an easy task. But Seagate has done with it.

Congratulations to the company, the model ST10000NM0086 first "helium" hard drive Seagate. And immediately a volume of 10 TB! Tellingly, uses the classic drive technology, perpendicular magnetic stock of PMR, and therefore, in contrast to the shingled-recording SMR, Winchester has a high level of performance. Interesting fact: software development build "helium" hard drives were conducted since 2003, but apparently only after 13 years, the production of such solutions has become economically viable. Today is the release of fast mechanical drives are unthinkable without the use of the second element of the periodic system of chemical elements D. I. Mendeleev.

Characteristics, design features

What is the meaning of helium as an element of the design of modern hard disk? This inert gas is seven times less dense than air. Therefore, considerably decreases the friction force acting on the magnetic plates. In the "usual" hard disks penetrating into the air slightly lifts the read head over the pancakes, which increases vibration, reduces positioning accuracy and increases power consumption. Helium solves all these problems.
The design ST10000NM0086 used seven plates with a volume of 1.43 TB each. The density is high, especially for the PMR technology. We are already familiar with the hard drive ST8000AS0002 from the line Archive. It consists of six plates with a volume of 1.33 TB each, but there the technology of shingled-recording SMR.
The buffer memory ST10000NM0086 as much as 256 MB, but in the line of hard drives Enterprise Capacity 3.5 additional cache is used by the NOR Flash size is 2 MB. This memory is used in hard disks for the first time. It increases the speed of random write in systems with disabled caching in the cells of memory (this is done to increase reliability). According to Seagate, the performance improves by about 20%.
The helium line Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD includes only "screws" with a volume of 10 TB. Model ST10000NM0086 equipped with interface SATA 3.0. But there are hard drives with SAS. All drives integrated MEMS sensor. It monitors the temperature, pressure and humidity inside the enclosure. Drives Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD support the following technologies: compensation of external vibration and RAID Rebuild, accelerating the rebuild is due to the transfer of data directly from the subject to the replacement drive. PowerBalance option allows you to order Seagate client drives with less performance but more energy efficient. PowerChoice provides the function of manual control time-outs transition into the power saving mode.
Please note that helium 10-terabytes, which uses seven platters and 14 heads, weighs 130 grams less than a 6-terabyte hard drive classic build. Because ST10000NM0086 uses a special forged body.Companies use different methods of Assembly of such devices. If HGST is making a chassis for their hard drives, then Seagate them again, forges. This method of processing minimizes the number of pores within the metal. A cavity is a potential cracks resulting from thermal expansion and vibrations. Depressurization hard drive is its certain death. Cover during Assembly of the hard drive is welded to the base of the laser. External Board controllers is connected with the internal electronics with ceramic sleeve glued to the hull with epoxy. The HGST drives used to fill with glass. It's hard to say which way is more effective and reliable. But in any case, it is clear that the Assembly is helium hard drive is a very complex process.
By the way, the most hot item from the hard drive is just control logic. The body itself even after several hours of versatile load was very cold. But vibrates and makes noise ST10000NM0086 well.
Performance

Test stand:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K @4.5 GHz
CPU cooler: Corsair H75
Motherboard: MSI Z97 MPOWER
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3, 360 GB
RAM: DDR3-2133 2x 8 GB
Power supply: LEPA G1600, 1600 W
Peripherals: monitor LG 31MU97, ROCCAT ARVO, ROCCAT SAVU
Operating system: Windows 10 x64
For comparison, I chose a chassis 6-version of terabyte 3.5-inch hard drives.

Interface SATA 3.0 for a long time will be relevant for mechanical drives. The density of hard drives increases — now of 1.43 TB per plate, but the speed of the ceiling capacity of the port do not fit and close. It is a flagship SSD need PCI Express 3.0 and NVMe Protocol. Have ST10000NM0086 on the background of no less than fast hard drives from other manufacturers all in order with the access record. The subject stands on a par with HGST HUS726060ALE614. In response to the read operations meets the mechanics of the drive. But because we see almost identical results. For quick access to write operations at the disk meets technology in HGST media cache. Have ST10000NM0086 — buffer memory of 256 MB.
In linear operations ST10000NM0086 is extremely fast for a hard drive with a frequency of 7200 rpm by the Way, when you write the winchesters are a large amount smarter than many SSD TLC memory when those ends SLC cache.
In random read operations and write ST10000NM0086 similarly turns a little faster, but a 6-terabyte drives.
Mixed load — a severe test for any hard drive. Where the predominant reading, better looking model HGST. When "bias" towards record ST10000NM0086 coming forward. Overall, the drive looks good.
Finally, in everyday tasks, a simulation benchmark PCMark 7, ST10000NM0086 was faster than 6-Terabithia HGST, but slower ST6000NM0024. The difference, however, is minimal.
Competitor HGST HUH721010ALE604
As you know, the first 10-terabyte hard drive was released by HGST, which has long been owned by Western Digital. The drives have similar specifications and warranty, but Seagate is cheaper
To create a helium hard drive capacity of 10 TB is a very difficult task. But Seagate's engineers coped with it. It is clear that during the test you can't study the drive for reliability. In addition, the model ST10000NM0086 only recently went on sale. We can only judge about this option for the warranty obligations of the manufacturer. Seagate gives potential buyers all the same preferences as, for example, HGST for its line Ultrastar He10. It will be interesting over time to know the statistics of failures of helium 10-terabyte drives. I hope everything will be fine.
Model ST10000NM0086 is not only 10 TB under sealed cover. The disc on the background of analogues proved to be very productive decision. From domestic shortcomings, I note a high level of noise and vibration during operation.

The average price of Hard disk in Moscow from 25 to 832 27841