Hitachi GST launches what it claims is the first 4TB enterprise-class HDD family-- the Ultrastar 7K4000, a transitional 3.5-inch series bridging between native 512 3TB and native 4TB products.
Using 512 byte emulation (512e), it has sectors laid out in 4K chunks to boost efficiency and capacity while still appearing as 512 byte at system level.
The company says the 4TB Ultrastar 7K4000 delivers 33% more capacity within a 3.5-inch footprint, with 24% lower watts/GB over the previous 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 HDD.
It carries a 6Gb/s SATA interface, together with Dual Stage Actuator (DSA) and Enchanced Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) for robust multi-drive environment performance. Reliability is also an important factor-- Ultrastar 7K4000 drives come a 2.0 million MTBF specification and a 5-year limited warranty.
Drives in 2, 3 and 4TB sizes are now shipping.