HGST Ships First Helium-filled Hard Drive, Weighs in at 6TB

Believe it or not: Helium-filled hard drives are here. If that technology sounds familiar, it might be because we talked a bit about it last fall, after HGST made its initial announcement. I admit that at that time, though, I didn’t expect to see shipping products a mere year later – yet, here they are.

The benefits of helium-filled drives over air-filled ones might be obvious: Helium is lighter than air, and inside of a hard drive, that means less drag and fewer restrictions in general. With last year’s announcement, HGST said it’d be able to fit 40% more storage in the same surface area. The result? A 6TB model, and other perks:

• Highest Capacity HDD on the Market; 6TB, Seven-disk Design, Providing the Best TCO
• Lowest Power Consumption with Best Watts-per-TB
  • 23 percent lower idle power per drive
  • 49 percent better watts-per-TB
• Best Density Footprint in a Standard 3.5-inch Form Factor
  • 50 percent higher capacity
• Lighter Weight than a Standard Five-disk 3.5-inch Drive
  • 50g lighter even with two more disks, offering 50 percent more capacity
  • 38 percent lower weight-per-TB

Despite shipping, HGST’s “He” drives appear to be without a price at the moment. At first, I had believed that they may only be available for enterprise use, but the availability of SATA drives contrasts with that. I’m sure that information will come forth soon, and until then, let’s just relish the fact that this tech exists, along with 6TB models.