0B47745 Western Digital 16TB 7.2K RPM SAS 12GBPS Ultrastar Dc Hc555 Enterprise Hard Drive

Western Digital 0B47745 16TB 7.2K RPM SAS 12Gbps Ultrastar DC HC555 Overview

The Western Digital 0B47745 16TB Ultrastar DC HC555 is a high-capacity enterprise-class hard disk drive engineered to meet the demanding requirements of modern data centers. Built on Western Digital’s advanced HelioSeal technology, this 3.5-inch HDD is designed for high availability, performance, and reliability. With a rotational speed of 7200 RPM, a SAS 12Gbps interface, 512e sector format, and a massive 512MB cache buffer, the HC555 ensures optimal throughput and sustained performance in enterprise storage environments.

Designed for Data Center Efficiency

This enterprise HDD is tailored for hyperscale storage architectures, cloud storage providers, and massive-scale data centers requiring low TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The helium-filled Ultrastar DC HC555 allows for lower power consumption and higher storage density compared to traditional air-filled drives, enabling businesses to store more data in the same physical footprint while reducing cooling and power costs.

Helium Technology Advantage

HelioSeal technology is a cornerstone of Western Digital’s enterprise HDD design, offering reduced turbulence and internal friction, resulting in less wear and longer life expectancy. With reduced air resistance, the drive consumes less power and generates less heat, significantly increasing the reliability of storage systems in 24/7 operating conditions.

Operational Efficiency

The helium platform contributes to operational cost savings by supporting cooler, quieter environments and lower energy bills. This makes the HC555 ideal for companies looking to improve the energy efficiency of their data storage infrastructure.

Interface and Performance Capabilities

The 12Gbps SAS interface ensures high-speed data transfer capabilities with advanced error correction and dual-port connectivity for increased redundancy. This is essential for mission-critical enterprise applications where performance and uptime are non-negotiable.

SAS 12Gbps Interface Benefits

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) offers full-duplex data transmission, superior error detection, and recovery mechanisms, making it far more robust than SATA alternatives. The HC555’s 12Gbps SAS interface allows seamless integration into existing enterprise storage environments such as JBODs, RAID arrays, and SAN systems.

Backward Compatibility

While optimized for 12Gbps SAS infrastructure, the drive is backward compatible with 6Gbps systems, ensuring flexibility for organizations in transition or operating mixed-generation environments.

7200 RPM Spindle Speed

With a spindle speed of 7200 revolutions per minute, the Ultrastar DC HC555 strikes a balance between performance and energy efficiency. It’s suitable for sequential and random read/write workloads typical of big data, backup, archiving, and content delivery applications.

Capacity and Sector Format

Offering 16TB of raw storage, the HC555 supports large-scale data warehousing and massive unstructured data growth. The 512e sector format ensures compatibility with legacy systems while enabling increased storage efficiency and error correction capabilities.

512e Sector Format Explained

The 512e (512-byte emulation) format offers a transitional solution between traditional 512-byte sector sizes and modern 4K sectors. This allows the HC555 to function in older systems while preparing businesses for a full transition to Advanced Format drives, supporting compatibility and future-readiness.

Data Integrity and Reliability

The 512e format also supports advanced error correction technologies and metadata alignment, contributing to superior data integrity across enterprise systems that handle sensitive or mission-critical workloads.

Use Cases in Modern Enterprise Storage

The Western Digital 0B47745 Ultrastar DC HC555 is designed for a wide range of enterprise applications including cloud infrastructure, object storage, enterprise backup, content streaming, and distributed file systems. Its balance of capacity, reliability, and performance makes it a preferred choice for enterprise-grade IT environments.

Cloud Infrastructure and Hyperscale Deployments

Data centers supporting multi-tenant cloud services benefit greatly from the HC555’s high density and low power profile. Its helium platform minimizes cooling needs while maximizing rack-level storage potential, allowing hyperscalers to deliver more value per watt and per square foot.

Big Data Analytics

For organizations analyzing petabytes of structured and unstructured data, the HC555 provides sustained performance necessary for batch processing, ETL jobs, and AI model training datasets. The large cache buffer ensures smooth read/write operations even under heavy IO loads.

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

CDNs require reliable, high-capacity storage to cache and serve large volumes of content quickly. The HC555’s robust SAS interface and large capacity make it ideal for storing streaming media, backups, and archival data for global distribution.

Enterprise Backup and Disaster Recovery

Reliable backup infrastructure is a cornerstone of enterprise data management. The HC555's high storage density and dependable performance make it a go-to solution for organizations deploying disk-to-disk or disk-to-cloud backup strategies.

Cold and Archive Storage

When data doesn't need to be accessed frequently but must be retained long-term, the HC555 delivers. Its low TCO, high capacity, and durability are ideal for WORM (Write Once, Read Many) storage systems, archiving compliance records, medical imaging, and historical datasets.

Enterprise-Grade Durability and MTBF

Reliability is critical in enterprise environments, and the Ultrastar DC HC555 is built to last. It boasts a 2.5 million-hour MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and is rated for 550TB workload per year, significantly higher than consumer-grade drives.

Vibration Protection and Error Recovery

Integrated Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) and dual-stage actuators stabilize the drive heads during operation, ensuring consistent performance even in high-vibration environments such as multi-bay enclosures. Error Recovery Control (ERC) ensures timely and predictable responses to data access errors.

Extended Environmental Resilience

The HC555 is designed to operate within a wide range of temperatures and humidity levels, supporting non-stop workloads in both on-premises and remote edge deployments. This makes it a dependable choice for mission-critical applications operating in less-than-ideal environmental conditions.

Compatibility and Integration Flexibility

The Western Digital 0B47745 is compatible with a broad range of enterprise hardware platforms, including RAID controllers, enterprise servers, and storage arrays from major OEM vendors. Its SAS interface and 3.5-inch form factor ensure plug-and-play readiness with minimal integration effort.

Certified OEM Compatibility

Western Digital works closely with OEMs to ensure compatibility and performance validation. The HC555 is certified for a wide range of systems from HPE, Dell EMC, Supermicro, and others, ensuring smooth deployment in existing enterprise architectures.

Hot-Swap and Drive Tray Integration

Supporting hot-swap functionality, the HC555 can be replaced or added to live systems without downtime. It fits standard enterprise drive trays and carriers, making it a versatile option for scaling storage quickly and safely.

Security and Firmware Optimization

Enterprise-grade security and firmware management are crucial for safeguarding data. The Ultrastar DC HC555 features optional Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) capabilities, TCG-compliant encryption, and secure erase options for compliance with data privacy regulations.

Firmware Update and Management Tools

Western Digital provides robust tools for firmware monitoring, updating, and diagnostics, allowing IT administrators to manage drive health and firmware versions across entire fleets. This supports long-term consistency, security, and performance optimization.

Secure Erase and Data Sanitization

The HC555 supports secure erase commands for safe decommissioning and repurposing. These features are critical for ensuring data privacy and regulatory compliance when drives are retired or reassigned within infrastructure.

Cost-Efficiency and Lifecycle Value

Over the drive's lifespan, the Ultrastar DC HC555 offers excellent cost efficiency. Its high storage density, low power consumption, and proven reliability contribute to a reduced total cost of ownership. Organizations looking to optimize both capital and operational expenditures benefit significantly from deploying this enterprise HDD.

Lifecycle Planning and Scalability

Designed with future scalability in mind, the HC555 allows businesses to start with small deployments and scale seamlessly as storage needs grow. It fits well into hybrid and full-cloud strategies, supporting dynamic workloads across departments.

Industry-Wide Adoption and Trust

The Ultrastar DC series, including the HC555, is widely adopted by leading cloud providers, financial institutions, healthcare networks, and research organizations. Its track record of performance and durability makes it one of the most trusted enterprise drives available today.