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Short answer: Seagate reported a heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) demonstration above 1 terabit per square inch on March 19, 2012. Its 60TB figure was a theoretical upper-end estimate for a future 3.5-inch drive—not a product announcement or delivery promise.
What Seagate announced in 2012
Seagate said its HAMR technology demonstration reached just over 1 trillion bits, or 1 terabit, per square inch. The company also reported a linear bit density of about 2 million bits per inch. These were results and figures in Seagate’s March 19, 2012 announcement, not current industry measurements.
At the time, Seagate described perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) as the prevailing hard-drive technology and HAMR as its next-generation approach. Increasing areal density means fitting more data bits into the same surface area by placing bits closer together and narrowing the data tracks. The challenge is keeping those closely packed bits magnetically stable so they do not disrupt one another and corrupt data. HAMR was intended to help address that challenge.
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Seagate compared its demonstration with a then-current areal-density ceiling of 620 gigabits per square inch, calling the result 55% higher. That percentage was Seagate’s comparison in 2012; it should not be read as a comparison with today’s drives. Seagate’s announcement also framed rising demand from social media, search, cloud computing and rich media as a reason for pursuing higher-capacity storage.
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What the 60TB figure meant
The 60TB number was the top end of a theoretical capacity range Seagate associated with future density improvements. The company estimated that a theoretical density limit of 5 to 10 terabits per square inch could correspond to 30TB–60TB for 3.5-inch drives and 10TB–20TB for 2.5-inch drives. Those figures were long-range estimates in 2012, not announced products, shipping capacities or a firm timetable.
Seagate’s nearer-term projection in the same announcement was more modest: first-generation HAMR drives at just over 1 terabit per square inch would likely exceed then-current capacities by more than twofold, reaching an estimated 6TB for 3.5-inch models and 2TB for 2.5-inch models. That, too, was a forecast made in 2012 rather than a guarantee of availability.
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- Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop. Reformatting may be required for Mac
- To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
- This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
- The available storage capacity may vary.
How the capacities compared
| Form factor | First-generation HAMR estimate | Theoretical long-range estimate | Status in Seagate’s March 19, 2012 announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5-inch | 6TB | 30TB–60TB | Projection; the 60TB upper bound was not a product announcement |
| 2.5-inch | 2TB | 10TB–20TB | Projection, not a shipping-product announcement |
All capacities in the table are estimates from Seagate’s 2012 announcement. The source does not establish a current model, a delivery schedule, or present-day availability for any of these projected capacities.
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Are 60TB hard drives on their way?
Seagate’s announcement supports a narrower answer: in 2012, the company presented 60TB as a theoretical future possibility for a 3.5-inch drive if areal density reached the upper end of its estimated range. It did not say a 60TB drive was ready to buy or specify when one would arrive. The announcement alone also cannot establish Seagate’s current maximum capacity, current product availability, or whether a current product uses the HAMR approach described there.
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