Previously, HGST already offered a 10TB helium-filled HDD but as a part of its Archive Ha series, which uses shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology not usually suitable for constant usage. Today, HGST has become a thorn in Seagate's eye by announcing and launching the new Ultrastar He10 HDD which uses traditional perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology. The Ultrastar He10 uses HGST's HelioSeal technology, hermetically sealing platters in an enclosure filled with helium rather than air. It also uses 7Stac technology, which means it uses seven platters packaged in the same 1-inch form factor used by traditional 3.5-inch HDDs.

According to HGST, packing the drive in helium and implementing some other improvements, allows the Ultrastar He10 no only to offer 25 percent more capacity but also do it by consuming 43 percent less power compared to a 8TB air-based HDD. The same improvements also allowed HGST to rate the Ultrastar He10 with 2.5 million hour MTBF, which is 25 percent higher than any other HDD on the market as well as back it with a 5-year warranty.

According to published specifications, the new HGST Ultrastar He10 will be available in SATA 6Gbps and SAS 12Gbps versions and offer sustained transfer rates of 249/225 MB/s. It also comes with some enterprise features like Secure Erase, Self-Encrypting/TCG Drives and RAID Rebuild Assist mode. The SATA 6Gbps version of the Ultrastar He10 uses 6.8 and 5.0 Watts in active and idle modes (9.5/5.8 Watts for the 12Gbps SAS version).

According to HGST, the company managed to ship over 4 million helium-filled HDDs up to date. Helium-filled HDDs from HGST are usually a bit pricier compared to standard HDDs but in the end offer TCO (total cost of ownership) due to their lower power consumption and higher capacity.

Unfortunately, HGST did not announce the precise price of the new Ultrastar He10 HDD but you can expect it to retail at around US $800 considering that the 8TB Ultrastar He8 HDD now sells for around US $550.