Why have different hard drive makers remained equals for so many years with regards to capacity? One comes out with the next highest capacity and the other follows shortly.
Probably also because the largest storage purchasers are going to be running the drives in large arrays, so that would require every drive to be the same size. Otherwise they're going to be paying extra for larger drives whose space they wouldn't be able to use. Everyone making drives that have the same capacity is good for the customer being able to mix brands, and also good for the seller since they won't be automatically disregarded due to being too small or have to drop prices if their drive is bigger.
That (2.5" sizes) is admittedly frustrating, but I think it reflects the market. - in-device drives (think laptops) tend to be maybe up to 2TB or to be SSDs - backup and large storage (media or whatever) tend to be 3.5" - portable moving data from here to there can either fit in 5TB (or a lot less!) or the user has moved on to SSD.
There's just not much of a market anymore for that form factor, as a spinning disk, in leading edge sizes.
The 2.5" in capacities higher than 2TB wouldn't fit in laptops anyways. These 4/5TB 2.5 drives are meant for mITX type desktops, and mini NAS, like synology DS419slim and DS620slim.
However, since we now have 18TB and 20TB 3.5" drives, I don't know if 5TB 2.5" offers a good alternative for NAS setups. Like, I can see this comparison being something like a 6x 5TB 2.5" drives in RAID5 vs. 2x 20TB 3.5" drives in RAID1 situation, and the only savings had is weight.
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GTRagnarok - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
Why have different hard drive makers remained equals for so many years with regards to capacity? One comes out with the next highest capacity and the other follows shortly.shabby - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
That's how collusion works...QChronoD - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
Probably also because the largest storage purchasers are going to be running the drives in large arrays, so that would require every drive to be the same size. Otherwise they're going to be paying extra for larger drives whose space they wouldn't be able to use. Everyone making drives that have the same capacity is good for the customer being able to mix brands, and also good for the seller since they won't be automatically disregarded due to being too small or have to drop prices if their drive is bigger.SigmundEXactos - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
Because 3rd party companies create the platters which allow higher densities. So it's not in full lockstep, but they're close.Samus - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
Because Showa Denkomeacupla - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
Probably because it's really hard to develop a new technology, and instantly hit the maximum theoretical density in a single generation.Also, that is not true in the 2.5" market.
WD doesn't offer anything over 2TB, Toshiba only offers up to 4TB, and Seagate offers up to 5TB.
name99 - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
That (2.5" sizes) is admittedly frustrating, but I think it reflects the market.- in-device drives (think laptops) tend to be maybe up to 2TB or to be SSDs
- backup and large storage (media or whatever) tend to be 3.5"
- portable moving data from here to there can either fit in 5TB (or a lot less!) or the user has moved on to SSD.
There's just not much of a market anymore for that form factor, as a spinning disk, in leading edge sizes.
meacupla - Thursday, December 2, 2021 - link
The 2.5" in capacities higher than 2TB wouldn't fit in laptops anyways.These 4/5TB 2.5 drives are meant for mITX type desktops, and mini NAS, like synology DS419slim and DS620slim.
However, since we now have 18TB and 20TB 3.5" drives, I don't know if 5TB 2.5" offers a good alternative for NAS setups.
Like, I can see this comparison being something like a 6x 5TB 2.5" drives in RAID5 vs. 2x 20TB 3.5" drives in RAID1 situation, and the only savings had is weight.
jeremyshaw - Saturday, December 4, 2021 - link
Aren't all of those high density 2.5" HDDs SMR, making them inadvisable for RAID setups?boozed - Friday, December 3, 2021 - link
Ahh great it's AT's next recommended consumer HDD!