Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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This talk reflects on 18 years of SMR evolution —covering physical layouts, filesystems, garbage collection algorithms, device drivers, and simulators. Furthermore, the talk will also discuss how SMR disks integrated with data storage solutions like RAID and deduplication, including real-world use cases of SMR disks by hyperscalers.

We will also discuss how SMR and HAMR technology interact in the context of AI workloads to provide intriguing new possibilities for HDDs.

Audience will learn what was the promise of Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology 18 years ago and what is the current reality Understand how lessons learned from SMR research and deployment can be applied to future disk technologies. Learn about the potential of this new future disk technology, specifically if it is a HAMR disk.
Presented by Babar Khan, Independent
Learn More:
• SDC Website: snia.org/sniadeveloper
• SNIA Website: snia.org
• SNIA Educational Library: snia.org/library
• X: twitter.com/SNIA
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/snia