Specifications
Model Numbers (32 TB)
WSH723220AL4201 (SATA) · WSH723220AL5201 (SAS)
Model Numbers (30 TB)
WSH723200AL4201 (SATA) · WSH723200AL5201 (SAS)
Formatted Capacity
32 TB / 30 TB
Recording Technology
UltraSMR (shingled magnetic recording) with ePMR heads
Interface
SATA 6 Gb/s or SAS 12 Gb/s
Sector Size
512e: 512 bytes · 4Kn: 4096 bytes
Disks / Heads
11 disks, 22 heads
Areal Density
1,480 Gbits/in² (32 TB) · 1,385 Gbits/in² (30 TB)
Data Buffer
512 MB
Sustained Transfer Rate
Up to 257 MiB/s
RPM
7200 RPM
Workload Rating
550 TB/year
MTBF
2.5 million hours
Z-Height
26.1 mm
Format
3.5-inch, helium-sealed
Power Disable (PWDIS)
Optional, per model
Security Options
SE (Secure Erase) · TCG encryption variants
Target
Hyperscale, big data, AI training data lakes
Platform Claim
World's first 11-disk HDD platform
Capacity Record
Up to 32 TB — highest-capacity SMR drive in the Ultrastar line
Overview
The Ultrastar DC HC690 is Western Digital's UltraSMR flagship: the first 11-disk 3.5-inch platform in the industry, and the drive that broke the 32 TB barrier for shingled magnetic recording. It combines energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording (ePMR) heads with Western Digital's UltraSMR stacking to raise areal density to 1,480 Gbits/in² without changing the physical footprint or the field-proven mechanical design of the HC600 series.
Model WSH723220AL4201 is the 32 TB SATA 6 Gb/s unit; WSH723200AL4201 is the 30 TB SATA unit. SAS 12 Gb/s counterparts share the same base model with a 5-series interface digit. Both sector formats are offered, 512e and 4Kn, and the drive is rated for 550 TB per year of sustained workload with a 2.5 million hour MTBF — cloud-scale reliability numbers, not desktop ones.
Capacity went up 14 % over the 28 TB HC680, and sustained transfer is rated at 257 MiB/s versus the HC680's 265 MB/s: a roughly 3 % sequential-performance trade for a meaningful density gain. For AI-adjacent storage tiers — training data lakes, checkpoint archives, object-store backends — that trade is normally the right one, because the tier is bandwidth-bound at the fabric rather than at the platter. Note that SMR drives need host-managed or host-aware write scheduling, which is why the HC690 belongs behind a storage controller or a ZFS/object layer rather than in a naive RAID rebuild path.
Key Benefits
32 TB in a standard 3.5-inch carrier lowers cost per rack unit and per watt for cold and warm tiers. 550 TB/year workload rating is five to ten times a desktop drive's, sized for continuous data-lake ingestion. 2.5M hour MTBF meets hyperscale fleet-replacement planning. SATA and SAS in the same family covers both JBOD and dual-port HA topologies. Helium-sealed 11-disk platform keeps power-per-terabyte low. SE and TCG variants support crypto-erase decommissioning.
Applications
AI/ML training data lakes and dataset archives; object storage and cold-tier backing stores; hyperscale and big-data analytics clusters; backup and disaster-recovery targets; video surveillance and media archives; HPC scratch-to-archive staging; ZFS and Ceph OSD tiers where host-aware SMR scheduling is available.
Request a Quote — WD ULTRASTAR DC HC690 — 32 TB ULTRASMR DATA CENTER HDD (WSH723220AL4201)
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