0B48607 Western Digital Ultrastar DC HA340 10TB 7.2K RPM SATA-6GBPS 256MB Enterprise Hard Disk Drive

Western Digital Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB Enterprise Hard Drive Overview

The Western Digital 0B48608 Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB hard disk drive is engineered for enterprise-class storage environments that demand high reliability, large capacity, and consistent performance. With a rotational speed of 7,200 RPM and SATA 6Gbps interface, this 3.5-inch form factor drive provides a balance of speed and capacity, making it ideal for data centers, cloud storage, and high-performance servers. Designed with Western Digital’s proven HelioSeal technology, this HDD reduces power consumption and enhances reliability by filling the drive with helium, which reduces internal friction.

The Ultrastar DC HA340 series features a 256MB cache buffer and uses 512e sector formatting, helping improve data transfer efficiency. It supports LSE P3 technology, which enhances data integrity and safeguards against power failures — a critical feature in enterprise environments. With an impressive 12TB storage capacity, it can manage enormous datasets without sacrificing performance.

Key Features of the Western Digital Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB HDD

• Storage Capacity: 12TB, providing ample space for large-scale data storage needs.
• RPM Speed: 7,200 revolutions per minute, ensuring reliable and consistent read/write performance.
• Interface: SATA 6Gbps, compatible with most enterprise storage controllers and servers.
• Cache Buffer: 256MB, which accelerates data handling and boosts overall throughput.
• Form Factor: 3.5 inches, standard for enterprise hard drives.
• Sector Format: 512e (512-byte emulation), allowing compatibility with legacy systems.
• HelioSeal Technology: Helium-filled design reduces turbulence and power consumption while improving reliability.
• Enhanced LSE P3: Late Stage Error Protection technology for improved data integrity.

Detailed Specifications

Physical Dimensions and Interface

The Ultrastar DC HA340 maintains the classic 3.5-inch form factor, making it compatible with a wide range of storage arrays and rack-mounted servers. The SATA 6Gbps interface ensures backward compatibility with older SATA standards, while delivering fast data transfer rates up to 600MB/s, depending on workload and configuration.

Performance and Reliability

With a spindle speed of 7,200 RPM, the drive strikes a balance between performance and power efficiency, suited for mixed workload environments. The 256MB cache buffer helps to pre-load frequently accessed data, reducing latency and speeding up read/write operations. The drive is rated for 2 million hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures), showcasing its durability under continuous operation.

Advanced Technologies

HelioSeal Technology

Western Digital’s HelioSeal technology fills the drive with helium instead of air, reducing internal turbulence and friction. This technology enables more platters to fit inside the drive housing without increasing noise or power consumption, which results in a higher capacity and lower operating temperatures.

512e Sector Format

The 512e (512-byte emulation) sector format ensures compatibility with existing enterprise software and operating systems, facilitating smooth integration into legacy infrastructures while benefiting from higher capacity drives.

LSE P3 Data Protection

Late Stage Error (LSE) protection with P3 technology enhances data integrity by detecting and correcting errors late in the write process. This feature helps prevent data loss during unexpected power interruptions, which is critical in enterprise storage environments.

Use Cases for the Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB

The Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB is tailored for a broad range of enterprise applications where large data volumes and reliability are paramount. Some common use cases include:

• Cloud Storage Providers: Large-scale data storage with consistent performance and reliability to serve millions of users.
• Data Centers: Ideal for tiered storage environments, balancing cost, capacity, and performance.
• Enterprise Servers: Suitable for database storage, virtualization, and transactional workloads.
• Backup and Archival Solutions: High capacity and error protection ensure data longevity and security.
• Big Data and Analytics: Handles massive datasets efficiently in data lakes and analytic platforms.

Comparing Ultrastar DC HA340 to Other Enterprise HDDs

When compared to other enterprise hard drives, the Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB stands out due to its combination of high capacity, reliable performance, and advanced data protection technologies. The drive's helium-filled design is a significant advancement over traditional air-filled drives, offering better thermal management and energy efficiency.

In comparison to competing models from Seagate and Toshiba, the Ultrastar DC HA340 often provides a better balance of price-to-performance, especially in mixed workload scenarios where both capacity and reliability are critical. Its LSE P3 error protection provides an added layer of security, reducing the risk of data corruption during critical operations.

Performance Benchmarks

In real-world benchmarks, the Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB consistently achieves sequential read speeds up to 260 MB/s and write speeds near 250 MB/s, depending on the specific workload. Random read/write IOPS performance is solid for a 7,200 RPM drive, making it a versatile option for both sequential and transactional data.

Power Consumption and Operating Environment

Thanks to its HelioSeal design, the Ultrastar DC HA340 consumes approximately 6.8 watts during read/write operations and less than 5 watts during idle, significantly lower than comparable air-filled drives. This makes it attractive for data centers looking to reduce energy costs and carbon footprints.

The drive is designed to operate reliably in temperatures ranging from 5°C to 60°C, supporting a wide range of enterprise deployment environments. It also supports standard enterprise shock and vibration resistance specifications, ensuring data safety during transport and operation.

Additional Considerations for Choosing Enterprise HDDs

Workload Types

Selecting the right enterprise hard drive depends heavily on workload characteristics. The Ultrastar DC HA340 excels in mixed workloads, where sequential and random I/O operations occur frequently. It may not match SSD speeds but provides an excellent price-per-gigabyte ratio for archival and bulk storage.

Hybrid Storage Solutions

Many enterprises combine Ultrastar DC HA340 drives with solid-state drives (SSDs) to create tiered storage architectures. This approach maximizes performance by assigning high-demand data to SSDs, while offloading bulk data to high-capacity HDDs like the Ultrastar DC HA340.

Cost Efficiency

While SSD prices continue to decrease, HDDs like the Ultrastar DC HA340 remain cost-effective for large-scale storage deployments. The balance of high capacity, reasonable speed, and enterprise-grade reliability makes it an economically sound choice for many organizations.