- WD 32TB Ultrastar marks a major milestone in mechanical storage capacity
- With speeds of 269 MB/s, the Ultrastar is designed for sustained data workloads
- Its Sanitize Erase feature ensures secure data destruction for high-security organizations
The world’s first 32TB hard drive appeared on sale, but in an unlikely market.
The high-capacity enterprise hard drive has surfaced on a Russian online server hardware store called ServerFlow.
Priced at 156,100 rubles (about $1,914), the WD Ultrastar DC HC690 is far from a typical consumer purchase, but its arrival marks a milestone in large-scale data storage.
Enterprise-grade storage design
The WD Ultrastar DC HC690 features a 3.5-inch form factor with a SATA 6Gb/s interface and a spindle speed of 7200 rpm.
It uses shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology to achieve its massive 32TB capacity, maintaining stable transfer rates of up to 269MB/s for read and write operations.
A 512MB cache helps handle large data streams, while an average access latency of 4.16ms indicates that this drive is designed for sustained workloads rather than fast random reads.
These specifications make it ideal for dense server environments, high-performance workstations, or in one of the best NAS drives for scalable data centers.
The Ultrastar DC HC690 includes a Sanitize Erase (SE) function, designed to securely erase data before the drive is reused or discarded.
This level of data protection is particularly critical for organizations handling sensitive information in regulated industries.
Western Digital markets its Ultrastar series as enterprise-class drives meant to prioritize reliability and endurance over cost, and it’s one of the best hard drive options available this year.
ServerFlow, the Russian vendor that listed this device, sells new and refurbished server components.
The drive comes with a one-year warranty, but customers can pay extra for extended protection.
This limited availability suggests that large-scale marketing outside of Russia has not yet begun.
This raises questions about Western Digital’s global distribution strategy and whether the current offering represents a localized test market or an unofficial resale.
As SSDs continue to dominate high-speed applications, high-capacity hard drives like this might find their best place in archiving and backup rather than everyday workstation use.
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