With SSDs evolving at a breakneck speed, there are times when the rapid changes to traditional spindle-based storage are simply overlooked. And yet in the last year or so there have been several massive steps forward for HDD technology which has allowed drives to better compete against the rising SSD tide, at least from a price for capacity standpoint. For example, Western Digital has moved towards a helium-filled chassis to boost capacity and performance on their latest RED series.

However, a lot of the Western Digital RED's performance stems from the fact that it is an exotic gas based model, which relies upon seven platters and fourteen read/write heads. While many, many consumers will find it to be a very good fit some many worry about what happens when the helium is slowly replaced by fresh air via a method called outgassing.