We wrote in December 2023 about the Exos X26z, the largest hard drive that Seagate makes. The 25TB Business HDD is a host-managed HM-SMR (shingled Magnetic Recording) unit that does not work with Windows or macOS. The Linux-compatible drive was made exclusively for Seagate’s largest enterprise customers and has always been difficult for anyone else to get their hands on.
In fact, when Storage overview did manage to test one, but the site had to go through eBay as it couldn’t be purchased directly from Seagate or one of its official partners.
That has now changed, as you can buy the Exos X26z online at ServerPartDealsand it won’t cost you a fortune to do so. The 25TB 3.5-inch 7.2K RPM SATA 6Gb/s drive is currently on sale for $319.99 (with discounts available for bulk orders).
Stop, HAMR time!
The drives for sale are “Manufacturer Recertified,” with a two-year warranty. “New” and “Seller Refurbished” drives are listed ($359.99 and $299.99, respectively), but they are currently sold out, with no word on when restocks will be available.
The Exos X26z is only really useful for the largest hyperscalers and increases the capacity per slot by 25% compared to conventional hard drives. In the tests that Storage rating The Exos X26z ran on the hard drive (in line with Seagate’s 20TB IonWolf Pro drive) and performed well, but it’s important to remember that Seagate has since launched drives that use advanced hard-drive recording technology (HAMR).
Seagate has said its future drives powered by HAMR will be able to break data capacity barriers. The company is ultimately aiming for 50TB, and unlike the Exos X26Z HDD, these drives won’t be quite as elusive when they eventually arrive.