Seagate started making NVMe mechanical hard drives that meet the big storage needs for AI projects. They showed their first test system at NVIDIA's GTC 2025 event on March 19. This test paired Seagate's NVMe hard drives with NVMe solid-state drive caches plus NVIDIA's BlueField 3 data chip. The team wanted to fix the speed limits of old SAS/SATA connections, which max out around 6 to 12 Gbps.
The new design uses PCIe connections instead of the older methods. This change creates faster paths for moving the huge data loads that AI programs create. Computers process information much faster with less waiting time. These improvements matter a lot as data centers need to handle more complex AI tasks every day.
The test system linked eight NVMe hard drives with four NVMe solid-state caches. Everything connects straight to the BlueField 3 chip. Seagate kept the old SAS/SATA plugs for backward support but skipped the extra adapter cards and special controllers. The PCIe-based NVMe system breaks through the old speed barriers that adapters and controllers used to create.
Seagate claims this setup cuts data delays by about 30% compared to systems that send data through the main processor. This smart change gives companies a cheaper option than using only flash drives. Flash storage works great but costs way more than most AI data centers can afford for their massive storage needs. Hard drives with NVMe offer the right mix of speed and value for AI work.
The new design uses PCIe connections instead of the older methods. This change creates faster paths for moving the huge data loads that AI programs create. Computers process information much faster with less waiting time. These improvements matter a lot as data centers need to handle more complex AI tasks every day.
The test system linked eight NVMe hard drives with four NVMe solid-state caches. Everything connects straight to the BlueField 3 chip. Seagate kept the old SAS/SATA plugs for backward support but skipped the extra adapter cards and special controllers. The PCIe-based NVMe system breaks through the old speed barriers that adapters and controllers used to create.
Seagate claims this setup cuts data delays by about 30% compared to systems that send data through the main processor. This smart change gives companies a cheaper option than using only flash drives. Flash storage works great but costs way more than most AI data centers can afford for their massive storage needs. Hard drives with NVMe offer the right mix of speed and value for AI work.
