Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB 7.2K RPM SAS-12GBPS 512MB Hard Drive WUH721818AL5204

Interface: SAS-12GBPS

The Importance of a High-Speed Interface

When it comes to data storage, speed is of utmost importance. The interface of a hard drive determines how quickly data can be transferred to and from the drive. In the case of the Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive, its SAS-12GBPS interface ensures lightning-fast data transfer rates.

Product Overview

Manufacturer Information

• Company: Western Digital Corporation
• Model Number: WUH721818AL5204
• Product Line: Ultrastar
• Series: Ultrastar DC HC550
• Product Name: Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Enterprise Hard Drive

Applications and Use Cases

• Cloud and Hyperscale Storage Solutions
• Massive Scale-out (MSO) and High-density Data Centers
• Distributed File Systems
• Bulk Storage with Object Storage Platforms such as Ceph™ and OpenStack® Swift
• Primary and Secondary Storage for Apache Hadoop® for Big Data Analytics

Key Features

Storage Specifications

• Capacity: 18TB
• Enclosure Type: Internal
• Interface: SAS-12Gbps
• Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): 2.5 Million Hours

Drive Performance Metrics

• Interface Transfer Rate: 1200 Mbps
• Sustained Transfer Rate: 257 Mbps
• Average Latency: 4.16 ms
• Cache Buffer: 512 MB
• Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM

Physical Dimensions

Drive Measurements

• Z-height: 26.1 mm
• Dimensions (Width x Depth): 101.6 x 147 mm
• Weight: 690 g

Unleash the Full Potential of Your System

The SAS-12GBPS interface is designed for enterprise-grade storage systems that require high-performance drives. With a data transfer rate of 12 gigabits per second (GB/s), this interface allows you to unleash the full potential of your system, ensuring smooth and efficient operation even under heavy workloads.

Seamless Integration with Existing Infrastructure

One of the key advantages of the SAS-12GBPS interface is its backward compatibility with previous generations of SAS interfaces. This means that the Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive can seamlessly integrate into your existing infrastructure without requiring any major upgrades or changes.

Benefits of SAS-12GBPS Interface

Enhanced Performance

The high-speed SAS-12GBPS interface ensures enhanced performance, allowing for faster data access and retrieval. This is particularly important for applications that require real-time access to large datasets, such as databases, virtualization environments, and content delivery networks.

Reduced Latency

With its fast data transfer rate, the SAS-12GBPS interface significantly reduces latency, ensuring that your applications can access data quickly and efficiently. This is crucial for tasks that demand low latency, such as online transaction processing, real-time analytics, and high-performance computing.

Improved Scalability

The SAS-12GBPS interface enables improved scalability, making it easier to expand your storage capacity as your data needs grow. By supporting a larger number of drives and higher data transfer rates, this interface ensures that your storage infrastructure can keep up with increasing demands without compromising performance.

Reliability and Data Integrity

Western Digital is renowned for its commitment to quality and reliability. The Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive with SAS-12GBPS interface is no exception. This drive incorporates advanced features like error correction and detection algorithms, ensuring the integrity of your data and minimizing the risk of data loss or corruption.

Capacity: 18TB

Unprecedented Storage Capacity

The Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive offers an unrivaled storage capacity of 18 terabytes (TB). This massive amount of storage space allows you to store and access vast amounts of data without the need for multiple drives or complex storage configurations.

Efficient Data Management

With 18TB of storage capacity, you can consolidate your data onto a single drive, simplifying your data management process. Whether you are dealing with large media files, databases, or virtual machine images, this drive provides ample space to accommodate your storage needs.

Optimized Cost per Terabyte

The Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive delivers exceptional value for money in terms of cost per terabyte (TB). By offering such a high storage density, this drive allows you to optimize your storage infrastructure, reducing the overall cost of ownership while maximizing your storage capacity.

Benefits of 18TB Capacity

Reduced Hardware Complexity

By providing a large storage capacity in a single drive, the Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive reduces the need for additional drives or complex storage configurations. This simplifies your hardware setup, resulting in reduced complexity, lower maintenance costs, and improved overall system efficiency.

Scalability and Future-Proofing

The 18TB capacity ensures that you have enough room to accommodate future growth and expansion. As the demand for data storage continues to increase, having ample capacity allows you to scale your storage infrastructure without the need for frequent upgrades or replacements.

Efficient Data Backup and Recovery

With its high capacity, the Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive enables efficient data backup and recovery processes. Whether you are performing regular backups or restoring data in the event of a system failure, having a large storage capacity ensures that you can store all your critical data without compromise.

Speed: 7.2K RPM

The Power of High Rotation Speeds

The Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive operates at a speed of 7,200 revolutions per minute (RPM). This high rotation speed is crucial for achieving optimal performance and minimizing access times.

Faster Data Access

The 7.2K RPM speed ensures faster data access, allowing your applications to retrieve information quickly. This is particularly beneficial for tasks that involve frequent read and write operations, such as database queries, file transfers, and multimedia streaming.

Improved Workload Efficiency

With its high rotation speed, the Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive can handle heavy workloads more efficiently. By reducing the time it takes to access data, this drive minimizes the impact of latency and maximizes the overall performance of your system.

Smooth Multitasking

Whether you are running multiple applications simultaneously or performing resource-intensive tasks, the 7.2K RPM speed ensures smooth multitasking. This drive can keep up with demanding workloads, ensuring that your system remains responsive and reliable even under high usage scenarios.

Benefits of 7.2K RPM Speed

Optimized Performance

The high rotation speed of the Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive optimizes performance, enabling faster data access and improved overall system responsiveness. This is particularly important for tasks that require quick access to data, such as real-time analytics, virtualization, and content delivery.

Reduced Latency

By minimizing access times, the 7.2K RPM speed reduces latency, ensuring that your applications can retrieve data without delay. This is crucial for tasks that demand low latency, such as online transaction processing and high-performance computing.

Enhanced Productivity

A faster drive enables faster data retrieval, resulting in increased productivity. With the Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive's 7.2K RPM speed, you can spend less time waiting for data and more time focusing on your work, ultimately improving efficiency and productivity.

Cache: 512MB

The Role of Cache in Data Storage

The cache plays a vital role in data storage by temporarily storing frequently accessed data for quick retrieval. The Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive features a generous 512MB cache, optimizing data access and improving overall performance.

Accelerated Data Transfer

The 512MB cache acts as a buffer between the drive and the system, accelerating data transfer by temporarily storing frequently accessed data. This results in faster access times and improved overall system performance.

Efficient Data Processing

With a larger cache, the Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB Hard Drive can handle a higher volume of data requests simultaneously. This enables efficient data processing, particularly when dealing with tasks that involve random access patterns or frequent read and write operations.

Minimized Drive Wear and Tear

The cache helps minimize drive wear and tear by reducing the number of physical read and write operations. By temporarily storing frequently accessed data, the drive can retrieve information from the cache instead of accessing the spinning disks, resulting in less mechanical stress and prolonging the lifespan of the drive.

Benefits of 512MB Cache

Improved System Responsiveness

The generous 512MB cache ensures improved system responsiveness by storing frequently accessed data. This allows your applications to retrieve information quickly, resulting in a more responsive and efficient user experience.

Optimized Workload Performance

A larger cache enhances workload performance by reducing access times and minimizing latency. This is particularly beneficial for tasks that require quick access to data, such as database queries, file transfers, and virtualized environments.

Seamless Multitasking

The 512MB cache enables seamless multitasking by efficiently handling multiple data requests simultaneously. Whether you are running resource-intensive applications or performing complex calculations, this drive can keep up with your demands, ensuring smooth multitasking without compromising performance.