0B47061 Western Digital Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB 7.2K RPM SATA 6GBPS HDD.

Western Digital Ultrastar DC HA340 Series

Architected for Demanding Data Center Environments

The Western Digital 0B47061 Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB enterprise hard disk drive represents the pinnacle of storage technology designed specifically for hyperscale cloud and enterprise applications. This 3.5-inch form factor drive delivers exceptional capacity, performance, and reliability for read-intensive workloads where data integrity and constant availability are paramount. Built upon Western Digital's proven HelioSeal technology and featuring advanced mechanical components, the HA340 series stands as a benchmark for enterprise storage solutions in modern data infrastructure.

Core Product Specifications

Capacity

The specific model 0B47061 identifies the 12TB variant within the Ultrastar DC HA340 product family. This capacity point represents one of the optimal sweet spots for enterprise storage, balancing high-density storage with proven reliability metrics. The drive utilizes conventional magnetic recording (CMR) technology rather than shingled magnetic recording (SMR), ensuring consistent performance characteristics and compatibility with enterprise workloads that require predictable input/output operations.

Physical Form Factor and Interface

Encased in the industry-standard 3.5-inch form factor, the Ultrastar DC HA340 maintains compatibility with existing enterprise server and storage system infrastructure. The drive features a SATA 6Gb/s interface, providing broad compatibility with enterprise storage systems, cloud infrastructure, and data center hardware. The SATA implementation includes advanced command queuing (NCQ) and hot-plug capabilities essential for maintaining system availability during drive replacement procedures in always-on environments.

Performance Characteristics and Technical Capabilities

Rotational Speed and Data Transfer Rates

Operating at 7,200 RPM, the Ultrastar DC HA340 delivers the optimal balance between performance, power consumption, and acoustics for read-intensive applications. This rotational speed enables sustained data transfer rates that meet the requirements of most enterprise read-centric workloads while maintaining energy efficiency compared to higher-RPM alternatives. The drive's sophisticated caching algorithms and mechanical design minimize latency while maximizing throughput across various block sizes typical in enterprise environments.

Cache Configuration and Performance Optimization

With a substantial 256MB DDR3 or DDR4 cache buffer (depending on production date), the HA340 efficiently manages data flow between the host system and the physical media. This large cache enables advanced write caching and read look-ahead algorithms that significantly improve performance for sequential and random access patterns. The cache implementation includes power-loss protection circuits that safeguard data in transit during unexpected power events, a critical feature for maintaining data integrity in enterprise deployments.

Sector Format and Advanced Format Technology

The drive employs 512e (512-byte emulation) sector formatting on 4K native physical sectors, providing compatibility with legacy operating systems and applications while benefiting from the increased storage efficiency and improved error correction capabilities of advanced format technology. This implementation delivers enhanced data integrity through more robust error correction codes (ECC) that can correct longer burst errors compared to traditional 512-byte sector formats, resulting in higher effective reliability and reduced read errors.

Workload Rating and Duty Cycle

Designed for enterprise workloads up to 550TB per year, the HA340 withstands the rigorous demands of always-on data center operations. This workload rating represents approximately ten times the duty cycle of typical consumer drives and ensures consistent performance under continuous operation. The drive's mechanical components, including the precision spindle motor and actuator assembly, are engineered specifically for this elevated duty cycle, with specialized lubricants, wear-resistant materials, and balanced rotational components.

Error Recovery and Environmental Specifications

The 0B47061 Ultrastar DC HA340 implements Western Digital's time-limited error recovery (TLER) technology, which prevents drive fallout in RAID environments by limiting the time spent on error recovery procedures. This ensures that the drive remains responsive within RAID array timeout parameters, preventing unnecessary array rebuilds due to extended drive recovery cycles. The drive operates within a temperature range of 5°C to 60°C and can withstand non-operating shock up to 300G, ensuring resilience during shipping and handling.

Advanced Technologies and Feature Set

HelioSeal Technology and Mechanical Advantages

The 0B47061 Ultrastar DC HA340 leverages Western Digital's proprietary HelioSeal technology, which hermetically seals the drive with helium instead of air. This innovative approach reduces mechanical drag on the platters, decreases power consumption, and allows for increased platter density within the same form factor. The lower density gas creates less turbulence, enabling the drive to operate cooler and quieter while accommodating more platters for higher capacity points compared to air-filled designs.

Power Management and Efficiency

Optimized for data center power efficiency, the Ultrastar DC HA340 implements advanced power management features including multiple power states that balance performance with energy consumption. The drive supports staggered spin-up, which prevents excessive current draw during system initialization, and features enhanced low-power idle states that reduce energy consumption during periods of inactivity. These power management capabilities contribute significantly to reducing total cost of ownership in large-scale deployments.

Acoustics and Thermal Characteristics

With an idle acoustics rating of 2.8 bels and seek noise of 3.2 bels, the HA340 operates quietly compared to many enterprise-class drives, an important consideration in densely populated server environments. The drive's thermal design minimizes heat generation through efficient mechanics and electronics, reducing cooling requirements and associated energy costs. The helium-filled environment further enhances thermal transfer characteristics, allowing for more effective heat dissipation from critical components.

Security Features and Data Protection

The 0B47061 Ultrastar DC HA340 offers optional hardware-based encryption capabilities that protect data at rest without impacting performance. When implemented with compatible systems, this feature provides cryptographic erasure capabilities that instantly render data unrecoverable by destroying the encryption key, a critical requirement for drive retirement and repurposing in secure environments. The encryption implementation complies with TCG Enterprise and IEEE 1667 standards for broad ecosystem compatibility.

Application Scenarios and Use Cases

Hyperscale Cloud Storage Infrastructure

In hyperscale cloud environments, the Ultrastar DC HA340 excels as a capacity-optimized storage tier for warm and cool data storage applications. Its high areal density and power-efficient operation make it ideal for large-scale object storage systems, archival storage, and backup repositories where cost-per-terabyte and reliability are primary considerations. The drive's consistent performance characteristics ensure predictable behavior across large fleets of drives, simplifying capacity planning and performance management.

Enterprise Storage Systems

In traditional enterprise storage systems, the Ultrastar DC HA340 serves as a high-capacity component in tiered storage architectures. Its TLER implementation and vibration compensation technology make it particularly well-suited for RAID configurations, where multiple drives operate in close proximity and must maintain synchronization. The drive's high MTBF rating reduces the frequency of drive replacements in large arrays, minimizing maintenance overhead and maintaining array performance by reducing rebuild events.

Big Data Analytics

For big data analytics platforms and reference data stores, the HA340 provides the capacity required for large datasets while delivering the performance necessary for analytical processing. The drive's consistent latency profile ensures predictable query performance, while its high sustained transfer rates enable efficient data loading and processing operations. In these applications, the drive's reliability ensures data availability for critical business intelligence and analytical workloads.

Storage System Integration

Western Digital subjects the Ultrastar DC HA340 to extensive qualification testing with major storage system vendors to ensure seamless integration and optimal performance. This qualification process validates compatibility with system firmware, management tools, and performance characteristics under various workload patterns. Enterprises can deploy these drives with confidence in compatible systems, knowing they have undergone rigorous interoperability testing.