Expect a huge leap in hard drive storage capacity by 2028, as suggested by a report from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
The International Roadmap for Devices and Systems Mass Data Storage report by the IEEE forecasts that by 2028, we shall see hard drives with a whopping 60TB of storage capacity. That’s double the current 30TB max capacity available.
According to the report, the expanded capacity will be made possible by innovations in recording that include energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) technologies such as Seagate’s Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR). This technology is expected to dramatically improve areal densities on spinning disks.
Experts say that the aerial density should be more than 2x from around 2TB per square inch in 2025 to over 4TB per square inch by 2028 to make 60TB HDDs possible.
By 2037, experts forecast that the technology will reach 10TB per square inch to make 100TB HDDs possible. But, Seagate predicts that they can achieve that feat as early as 2030.
Albeit, achieving such innovations won’t be an easy feat. The report says that “critical advances are required” from the disk media to the read-write heads to make it possible. That includes new magnetic and non-magnetic films, thinner dielectric coatings for the heads, and better disk overcoats.
They also forecast that 7200RPM will be in for a long time, so improvements will have to be made in other areas of the drive.
The report also said that HDD sales across the globe will surge in the coming years, instead of sustaining its current decline.