Economics and Access Speed: Key Requirements
for Low Capacity HDDs in the Data Center

As the industry evolves to develop purpose-built solutions for growing data storage
requirements, IT managers continue to rely on lower capacity drives that are
economical to acquire, yet deliver quick and reliable data access for traditional data
center applications. Ultrastar®DC HC310* is a low-capacity HDD, with 6TB and 4TB
offerings, that helps address economic and access requirements of many traditional
IT workloads. Low capacity drives also help address architecture limitations. Part of
our mid-capacity DC HC300 series, the Ultrastar DC HC310 is designed for traditional
storage and server applications as well as distributed and scalable computing,
including block and file storage architectures, providing fast 7,200 RPM performance
and lower acquisition cost to help ease budget constraints. Ultrastar DC HC310 is
offered with either 6Gb/s SATA or 12Gb/s SAS interface in a 512e format. A 512n option
is also available on 4TB models to support legacy systems with native 512-byte
block sizes.

Highlights

• Excellent random and sequential performance
• 6TB and 4TB capacity points support traditional
  IT systems
• Sustained transfer rate up to 255MB/s (512e/4Kn
  models); 233MB/s (512n models)
• Choice of 12Gb/s SAS or 6Gb/s SATA
• Advanced Format 512e9
  models up to 6TB;
  512n formatting available on 4TB to support
  legacy systems
• Self-Encrypting Drive options
  3-year limited warranty

Technology Innovation Delivers Efficiency and
Performance for Traditional and Legacy Systems

Ultrastar DC HC310 is based on a new 4-disk air platform design that uses conventionalmagnetic recording (CMR) technology in a 3.5-inch large form factor. Compared to theprior generation, Ultrastar 7K6000, the DC HC310 delivers a 12% performance boostand uses slightly larger-diameter media. It features a second-generation, dual-stagemicro actuator to enhance head positioning accuracy for better drive performance.Write performance gains are also supported by Western Digital’s media cachearchitecture, a disk-based caching technology that provides a large cache area onthe disk, which also improves reliability and data integrity during unexpected powerloss. Finally, the addition of flash-based non-volatile cache (NVC) on both SATA and SAS models helps improve write performance. The Ultrastar DC HC310 also includes a Rebuild Assist feature, which helps dramatically reduce RAID rebuild times and maintain system performance during the rebuild process. Learn more in our Rebuild Assist technical brief.

Applications & Workloads

• Distributed file systems, like Apache Hadoop®,
  to support Big Data analytics
• Direct & Network Attached Storage
  (DAS & NAS)
• RAID arrays
• Legacy applications requiring 512n format (4TB)

Data Security with Trusted Quality, Reliability

Compliance and privacy requirements drive the need for increased data security.Ultrastar DC HC310 helps protect data from unauthorized use by offering securityand encryption options. Both SAS and SATA models offer hardware-based encryption options, which includes both Sanitize Crypto Scramble / Erase functionality and TCG encryption (Trusted Computing Group, Enterprise SSC). Additionally, SAS SED is also offered as a FIPS 140–2 Level 2 certified model. The Ultrastar DC HC310 extends Western Digital’s long-standing tradition of reliability leadership with a 2M-hour MTBF² rating and a 3-year limited warranty.

Feature / Function

Benefits

•  Advanced Format up to 6TB

•  512n format available on 4TB

•  Enables higher capacities and reliability

•  Compatibility with legacy systems

• Up to 255MB/s transfer rate (512e/4Kn); 233MB/s transfer rate (512n)

•  12% faster than prior generation

•  2M hours MTBF and 0.44% AFR

•  3-year limited warranty

•  One of the highest reliability ratings for air-filled Capacity Enterprise HDDs