Yes! You can finally buy 26TB hard disk drives, two years after launch, but only in packs of 20 for $9100, and you will probably need a data center to run them

Back in May 2022, Western Digital unveiled its 22TB CMR and 26TB UltraSMR hard disk drives, the latter of which achieved its high capacity through the use of large block encoding and an advanced error correction algorithm to increase track-per-inch (TPI) density.

The 26TB Ultrastar DC HC670 UltraSMR HDD is a 3.5-inch hard drive featuring a SATA or SAS interface with a transfer rate of up to 261MB/s. It operates at 7200 RPM using SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology and includes a 512MB cache for improved performance. Built with Western Digital’s EAMR, TSA, and HelioSeal technologies, it’s optimized for sequential write applications and is ideal for use in data centers.

We initially reported the 26TB drive was set to begin shipping to select customers in the summer, but by October 2022, it became clear why customers wouldn’t be able to buy the 26TB drive any time soon.

Packs of 20

When we spoke to Western Digital, the company explained these were host-managed drives that “require host software and stack modification with sequentialized data streams and error handling for random writes.” As a result, WD said it would only be offering them to strategic hyperscale and OEM customers. Fast forward to now, and the drive is finally available for anyone to buy – with some caveats.

Bottom Line Telecommunications is selling the 26TB 512 7200RPM SATA ULTRA 512E SE P3 DC HC (as it’s called on the site), but doesn’t have them in stock. Instead they will be ordered directly from the manufacturer as required, meaning there’s a 15-business-day wait between the site ordering the product and having it ready to ship. No returns or exchanges are offered either.

You also have to order a pack of 20, which will set you back $9,142.68, with free ground shipping in the US. Even though you can now purchase the HC670 UltraSMR HDD, it remains a host-managed drive, and the same restrictions that kept it out of most people’s hands remain. Still, if you have access to a data center and $10,000 to spare, this high-capacity storage solution could be yours to deploy in a little over a fortnight.