Many would say that the storage capacities of modern-day HDDs are already impressive, with some models going up to 32 TB, but data hoarders can expect even higher capacities in the years ahead, according to a new report from the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) that suggests 50 TB HDDs should be available in just a few short years—by 2026–2027. The IEEE shared the projection as part of a recent roadmap relating to the development of storage technology, one that includes other future developments, including higher capacity NAND flash with higher layer counts and more bits per cell. A roadmap for HDDs that extend to 2037 (up to 100 TB) can be found below.
Seagate Technology began shipping 30+TB HAMR HDDs for data center evaluation and qualification starting in 2022 and is shipping these products in volume in the second half of 2024.3 Toshiba also announced that it will ship 30+TB HAMR and microwave-assisted magnetic recording HDDs by 2025.5 By 2026–2027, 50+TB HDDs will be possible using EAMR.