Seagate quietly launched joint world’s largest HDD with a 32TB capacity, but it uses a controversial technology

• ST32000NM003K is part of the Exos M range and uses SMR which is more complex to run and manage
• Reveal comes weeks after Western Digital launched its own 32TB HDD
• And almost a year after Seagate debuted its next-largest drive, a 30TB model

Seagate has launched its largest-ever hard drive, a 32TB model in the Exos M series, just weeks after Western Digital unveiled its own 32TB HDD.

The new Exos M is available in two capacities, a 30TB, model ST30000NM004K, which uses Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR), and a 32TB, model ST32000NM003K, which uses Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR). The latter’s overlapped write tracks are the reason for the increased capacity and WD’s drive employs the same recording technology.

This release comes nearly a year after Seagate introduced its previous largest drive, a 30TB model in the Exos range.

Stop, HAMR time!

The drives, which feature a SATA III interface with data transfer rates of up to 6 Gbps, are built on Seagate’s slightly controversial Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) platform combined with Mozaic 3+ technology.

This combo allows the drive to deliver 3TB per platter, maximizing storage density while maintaining the industry-standard 3.5-inch form factor for seamless integration into existing server setups.

Seagate says the new drive offers three times the power efficiency per terabyte compared to typical models, reducing operational costs and supporting the company’s sustainability goals. The Exos M series is also constructed using more renewable energy and recycled materials than any previous Seagate product.

The drive blends what the company calls proven components from previous generations with next-generation enhancements. Approximately 90% of the components are carried over from earlier models.

There has long been skepticism surrounding HAMR technology, which Seagate took over a decade to perfect, with concerns about its readiness, quality, reliability, and compatibility.

However, Seagate insists that these concerns are unfounded. The rated mean time between failures (MTBF) for Seagate Mozaic 3+ hard drives and Exos enterprise hard drives is reported to be 2.5 million hours.

While development experienced numerous delays, Seagate states it has now passed qualification testing for its HAMR-based Mozaic drives and remains on track to ramp up production in 2025.

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Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.