What Is a Helium Hard Drive?

Helium hard disk: a major leap in hard disk technology

Helium hard disk (HDD) technology represents a significant advancement in hard disk drive (HDD) technology, bringing a welcome improvement in storage density and energy efficiency. The use of helium is the key to these advancements. Here are some key information you need to know.

The role of helium in hard disk

Hard disk stores data on a rotating magnetic disk called a disk. These discs are sealed in a housing with the necessary electronic components. Traditionally, this shell has always been filled with the ordinary air we breathe. However, as demand for larger storage space surged over the past few decades, hard drive manufacturers have begun to use helium instead of air, producing high-capacity hard drives that cannot be achieved with air.

Helium is one of the lightest elements known. It is much lighter than normal air and has a much smaller density. Therefore, when used in a hard disk, it creates less friction and turbulence for the disk. As a result, the discs don't need to be as hard as air-filled hard disks. This allows manufacturers to install thinner and larger numbers of disks in the same housing, thereby increasing data storage capacity.

Helium hard disks are relatively new products in the field of data storage. The first batch of commercial helium hard disks have only been in the past ten years.

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In addition to being able to produce high-capacity hard drives, using helium can also bring some performance advantages, especially in data centers and servers using hundreds or even thousands of hard drives.

Since the disks used in helium hard disks can be thinner, they require less rotational power. The resistance generated by helium is also less than that of air, which leads to a further reduction in power consumption, making helium hard disks more energy-efficient than hard disks that use air. In addition, the helium hard disk is less noise and has a lower operating temperature.

What are the disadvantages?

Although helium hard drives have many advantages, potential disadvantages must be paid attention to. One of the risks is that the helium leak can cause drive failure.

Helium has the smallest atomic radius in the known element, which makes it very difficult to accommodate. Hard drive manufacturers have spent decades trying to seal helium hard drives, but have not succeeded. However, modern technology and years of research have enabled the sealing of helium drives with extremely low leakage chances.

However, defects or long-term wear during manufacturing can cause gas leakage and drive failure.

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ArticleThat is, according to an old study by cloud storage provider Backblaze, the annual failure rate (AFR) of helium-filled hard disks is lower than that of air-filled hard disks. However, apart from this Backblaze study, there is limited data on its long-term reliability. So, this is something to remember.

Apart from leaks, recovering data from a faulty helium hard drive is also a challenging task. While recovering data from a helium hard drive is not impossible, it requires advanced tools and technology, which will be very expensive and the cost of recovering data is only worth it in rare cases.

Should you buy a helium hard drive?

The decision to choose a helium hard drive depends mainly on your needs. If you need a single hard drive with a capacity of more than 10-12TB for your computer, NAS, or home servers, most of the hard drives you encounter will use helium and there is no reason to avoid using them unless you are really worried about data recovery. All major hard drive manufacturers, including WD, Seagate and Toshiba, offer helium hard drives of various sizes that are subject to the same warranty as air-filled hard drives.

However, for home computers, you can save money by combining multiple hard drives with smaller capacity unless you have space constraints. This is because your PC doesn't require expensive NAS-class hard drives. This will be redundant.

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ArticleIs helium hard disk the future?

While replacing air with helium in hard disks allows manufacturers to increase the storage capacity of hard disks several times, the limitation of this technology is still the amount of data that can be stored on a disc with a given size. Therefore, unless the manufacturer is able to add more disks, the amount of data stored on a helium hard disk is limited.

Luckily, helium is not the only innovation in the hard disk space. Manufacturers are constantly innovating new technologies. One of the innovations is the energy-assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) technology. With EAMR, manufacturers are breaking through the limit on the amount of data that can be stored on a particular disk. This is achieved by using heat, microwaves or current to reduce the coercive force of the disc, thereby enabling writing to smaller areas, thereby increasing the storage size of the same disc. What’s more, helium can be used with EAMR and is already part of some of the hard drives that use it. Therefore, with innovative technologies such as helium and EAMR, the future of hard disk technology is bright.

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