Gather around, data hoarders. Western Digital appears to be gearing its Gold-tiered 18 TB HDD for release in the states, as listings (via Tom’s Hardware) have begun popping up at select shops overseas. One UK-based retailer, SPAN, has the monstrous drive available for purchase at £520.00, which translates to about $650 ($0.036 per GB).
That’s not a bargain price by any means, but it seems to fall in line with some of the biggest drives that are available on the market today, such as Seagate’s 16 TB Exos X16 ($556, $0.035 per GB, according to PCPartPicker). While the WD Gold 18 TB’s full specifications haven’t been listed by Western Digital yet, it’ll probably utilize conventional magnetic recording technology like the rest of its siblings.
The Gold line is a good pick for users who want great performance and top-tier dependability, but one drawback is greater noise, which, obviously, is normal for an enterprise product. Stick with Red if you want a quieter HDD.