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The Race to Seal Helium HDDs (2021)


Long thought impossible, helium has been one of the greatest breakthroughs for high-capacity HDDs. This is the story the science behind them.

He moved all the casing openings to the top, and rather than plugging holes, he created a thin metal foil as a second cover and began researching welding techniques used in other industries. “As sealing the drive would be the very last step in the manufacturing process, I needed to make sure we didn’t damage any components by creating a lot of heat,” Stipe explained. In 2013, after Western Digital acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the company shipped the world’s first commercial helium hard drive.

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