HGST's 10TB drive uses custom software to access shingled platters
 

HGST first revealed its 10TB cold storage drive back in September. The 3.5" mechanical unit combines helium-filled internals with Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) to hit a new capacity milestone, and it's finally ready for prime time. Customers will start getting production drives in a couple of weeks. The Ultrastar Archive Ha10 won't be available through conventional channels, so don't expect it to hit online retailers. HGST's host-managed SMR implementation requires substantial customization on the software side.

SMR crams more data onto the platters by overlapping the individual tracks like rows of shingles on a roof. This layering is typically managed by the drive, without host-level intervention. That approach ...

http://techreport.com/news/28426/hgs...ngled-platters