This is it Neo, the Matrix is making the upgrade to 22TB drives! Neo: “Whoa!” — Ok, that might be a corny intro to a story, but that’s what I kind of felt like when I thought about what it would be like to upgrade all of my HDDs to 22TB. Western Digital has finally begun shipping 22TB variants of some of its popular HDD models and you can get your hands on one right now.
Specifically, targeting the company’s Gold, Red, and Purple series. You can now find 22TB variants of these models via WD’s website and the price isn’t much more than the models under them. So they aren’t super-inflated like some of the stuff rolling into the market right now. They all feature a 512MB cache and 7200 RPM
For example, you can get the WD Gold 22TB for $599, while the 20TB model below it can be found via places like Newegg for $529. So it is simply just the next step up in price, which feels right.
Of course, the price is still a bit steep for many. These models aren’t for just anyone as the average user doesn’t need 22TB of space. So they are mostly targeted at commercial/enterprise users. As well as anyone looking for a massive NAS solution or long-term video surveillance storage.
That being said, we are big fans of the Gold series and you can find many of them spread throughout various systems around the office here. They typically last a long time and can take a lot of abuse.
As mentioned, they only seem to be available from Western Digital’s own website for the time being. So this means they are still having to make their way to various retailers before you’ll see them pop up anywhere else. Eventually, though, you’ll likely see them become available via Newegg, Amazon, and more in the near future.
What would you do with 22TB drives? Start your own media server? Create the ultimate network-wide backup of all computers in the house? Use the comments below to share.
