Seagate outlined its plans for large-capacity spinning-rust hard drives back in May this year . At the time, the company promised that it would follow its 6TB enterprise-grade products with 8TB and 10TB models before the end of the financial year. While that deadline applied only to small-scale production samples for Seagate's biggest customers, it appears to be one the company is confident of hitting with the first 8TB units already in its partners' hands.Speaking during the company's most recent earnings call, Seagate chair and chief executive officer Steve Luczo confirmed that the first 8TB models have shipped to partners in its Kinetic object-oriented storage platform programme . '' he told analysts and press on the call. 'What Luczo did not provide was a date when the drives would enter mass production as SKUs for general customers, and anyone hoping to get their hands on one could have a wait: Seagate has previously stated that its first 8TB and 10TB drives will be aimed firmly at the enterprise market and come with a price-tag to suit, with consumer-grade versions some way down the line.