Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC560 20TB HDD Review

1. Introduction2. WD Ultrastar DC HC560 20TB3. Testing Methodology4. CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO Disk Benchmark6. IOMeter 4K Random Performance7. Throughput8. Workload Scenarios9. Real Life File Transfer Tests10. Closing Thoughts11. View All Pages

WD's 20TB Ultrastar DC HC560 aims to meet the storage needs of hyperscale cloud data centres and is the first drive to feature WD's OptiNAND and ePMR (Energy-Assisted Perpendicular Magnetic Recording) technologies. We put this drive through its paces and see what is on offer for the £400 asking price.

The 20TB DC HC560 uses nine 2.2TB discs, (each with an areal density of 1,131 Gbits/sq².) to reach its capacity, along with eighteen heads. It has a spindle speed of 7,200rpm, a 4.16ms average latency and has an impressive 512MB of cache. WD quote a maximum sustained transfer rate of 269MB/s for the drive.

At the time of writing this review, there are two versions of the DC HC560, the standard version we are looking at here (WUH722020ALE6L4) and a SED (Self Encrypting Drive) version (WUH722020ALE6L1).

The official power consumption figures for the drive are 7W when operating and 6W when idle.

WD quote a workload figure of up to 550TB/year for the DC H560 and back it with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

• Usable Capacities: 20TB.
• Spindle Speed: 7,200rpm.
• No. Of Heads: 18.
• No. Of Platters: 9.
• Cache: 512MB.
• Recording Method: ePMR (Energy-Assisted Perpendicular Magnetic Recording).
• Interface: Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s (SATA III)
• Form Factor: 3.5in.
• Dimensions: 26.1 x 101.6 x 147mm,
• Drive Weight: 690g.

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