HGST, Inc. (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) was a manufacturer of

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magn ...

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It i ...

s, and

external storage In computing, external storage refers to non-volatile memory, non-volatile (secondary) computer data storage, data storage outside a computer's own internal computer hardware, hardware, and thus can be readily disconnected and accessed elsewhere ...

products and services. It was initially a subsidiary of

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

, formed through its acquisition of IBM's disk drive business. It was acquired by

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology products ...

in 2012. However, until October 2015, it was required to operate autonomously from the remainder of the company due to conditions imposed by Chinese regulators. Chinese regulators later permitted Western Digital to begin wider integration of HGST into its main business. By 2018, the HGST brand had been phased out, with its remaining products now marketed under the Western Digital name.

History

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded on January 6, 2003, as a merger of the hard disk drive businesses of IBM and

. Hitachi paid IBM US$2.05 billion for its HDD business. On March 8, 2012,

(WD) acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WD common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion. The deal resulted in Hitachi, Ltd. owning approximately 10 percent of WD shares outstanding, and reserving the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD. Citing

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

concerns, China's Ministry of Commerce required HGST to operate autonomously from Western Digital, restricting outright integration between the companies' operations. As a result, HGST continued to operate independently with its own product lines and product development. As part of the deal, Western Digital agreed to trade assets with

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems ...

, with Toshiba receiving assets for the production of 3.5-inch hard drives (1, 2 and 3-platter drives produced in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major Sub-provincial division, sub-provincial city and one of the Special economic zones of China, special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pea ...

, China), in exchange for a Toshiba factory in Thailand for producing 2.5-inch drives (which had been inactive since the 2011 floods). In November 2013, HGST announced a 6 TB capacity drive filled with

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

. In September 2014, the company announced a 10 TB helium drive, which uses

shingled magnetic recording Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) is a magnetic storage data recording technology used in hard disk drives (HDDs) to increase storage density and overall per-drive storage capacity. Conventional hard disk drives record data by writing non-overl ...

to improve density. In October 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a decision allowing Western Digital to begin integrating HGST into its main business. WD was required to maintain the HGST brand and sale team for at least two more years. Since then, first WD-branded products left HGST's plant at 304 Industrial Park in

Prachinburi Province Prachinburi province ( th, ปราจีนบุรี, , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-seven provinces (''changwat''), it lies in eastern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao, ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

; in reverse, certain HGST-branded products became produced at Western Digital's plants in

Bang Pa-in District Bang Pa-in ( th, บางปะอิน, ) is one of the 16 districts (''amphoe'') of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, central Thailand. History Bang Pa-in was established in the Ayutthaya era in the name ''Khwaeng'' Uthai. In the Rattanako ...

, Ayutthaya Province,

and

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Ma ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 2018, Western Digital announced that it was phasing out its HGST brand and that all of its remaining product lines (particularly Ultrastar) will henceforth be marketed as brands of Western Digital.

Products

Hard drives and solid-state drives

* Ultrastar – Enterprise-class line of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch HDDs with

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...

Fibre Channel Fibre Channel (FC) is a high-speed data transfer protocol providing in-order, lossless delivery of raw block data. Fibre Channel is primarily used to connect computer data storage to servers in storage area networks (SAN) in commercial data c ...

, SAS, and

SATA SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host adapter, host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) ...

interfaces; and a line of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch Fibre Channel, SAS and

PCIe PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common m ...

NVMe NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open, logical-device interface specification for accessing a computer's non-volatile storage media usually attached via PCI Express (PCIe) bus. The ...

SSDs. Now marketed under Western Digital brand. *

Deskstar The Deskstar was the name of a product line of computer hard disk drives. It was originally announced by IBM in October 1994. The line was continued by Hitachi when in 2003 it bought IBM's hard disk drive division and renamed it Hitachi Global ...

– Desktop-class line in 3.5-inch form factor with SATA interfaces. Phased out after discontinuation of HGST brand. Western Digital-branded successors are 3.5-inch variants of WD Blue and Black HDDs, and for Deskstar NAS drives also WD Red. * Travelstar – Mobile-class line in 2.5-inch form factor with SATA interfaces. Phased out after discontinuation of HGST brand. Western Digital-branded successors are 2.5-inch variants of WD Blue and Black HDDs. * Endurastar – Ruggedized line in 2.5-inch form factor with PATA or SATA interfaces, primarily for automotive applications. Phased out after discontinuation of HGST brand. * CinemaStar – 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form factors, optimized for consumer electronics applications requiring quiet operation and AV streaming commands support. Phased out after discontinuation of HGST brand. Western Digital-branded successors are WD Purple and AV.

External storage

* LifeStudio products, announced in 2010 but now discontinued, were external hard drives that combine photo organization software, a 3D Wall for displaying content, a connected USB Flash key. * G-Technology external storage products, acquired in 2009, are sold to

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

communities, including users of multimedia content such as

Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear editing, non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia, Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Macintosh, Mac computers power ...

digital audio/video production professionals. Now rebranded as SanDisk Professional. * Touro family of cloud storage backup products.

References

{{Authority control Hitachi Western Digital 2003 establishments in California 2015 disestablishments in California 2012 mergers and acquisitions Computer companies established in 2003 Computer companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Electronics companies established in 2003 Electronics companies disestablished in 2018

History

Products

Hard drives and solid-state drives

External storage

See also

References