The first 30 TB hard drives are now available
Seagate's Exos M and Ironwolf Pro are available in German stores with 30 TB each. Prices start at €590.
Seagate's Exos M and Ironwolf Pro side by side
The first hard drives with a capacity of 30 TB are now available from German retailers. Seagate offers them in two versions: the Exos M 30 TB (starting from 712 €) and the Ironwolf Pro 30 TB (starting from 729 €). Both versions use the same technology and are simply marketed differently.
The Exos M is primarily intended for servers and the Ironwolf Pro for network storage (NAS). However, both models can also be installed on desktop PCs. And once manufacturer certification has been obtained, there is no reason why a server version cannot be used in a NAS. The Ironwolf Pro only includes a three-year data recovery service, which is how Seagate justifies the slightly higher price. We recently tested both hard drives.
Price per TB remains reasonable
The price is particularly pleasing in the case of the Exos M 30 TB. Although it uses modern Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR), Seagate does not charge an exorbitant surcharge. The estimated price of 590 euros corresponds to just under 20 euros per TB of capacity. The Ironwolf Pro costs a good 21 euros per TB.
By way of comparison, the best price-performance ratio per TB is currently offered by hard drives with 16 to 24 TB. They cost between €13.43/TB (Seagate Barracuda 24 TB (starting from 552,25 €)) and €14.74/TB (Seagate Barracuda 16 TB (starting from 330,58 €)), excluding refurbished models. Toshiba and Western Digital charge slightly more.
Videos by heise
Mini laser enables higher storage density
With Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording, a mini laser in each head heats the disk surface to over 420 °C shortly before writing. This allows Seagate to magnetize smaller points with a more compact write head. This increases the data density, enabling 30 TB distributed across ten disks within a 3.5-inch enclosure. Seagate relies on conventional magnetic recording (CMR) without overlapping data tracks.
As an alternative to the 30 TB models, Seagate offers variants with 28 TB and the same HAMR technology. However, at least for now, these are not attractively priced compared to the 30 TB HDDs. The Exos M 28 TB (starting from 638,99 €) is currently still overpriced, and the Ironwolf Pro 28 TB (starting from 635,98 €) is hardly any cheaper than the 30 TB model.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
(mma)
