Famous GoT actor lifts more than $20 million worth of 122.88TB SSDs for charity; 'The Mountain' carried 2,316 drives, totaling almost 283PB

The Mountain lifts 282.624PB of data
(Image credit: VDURA)

  • Game of Thrones' "The Mountain" lifted 282.624PB of data weighing 996 pounds
  • Phison's 122.88TB drives powered the load, requiring 2,316 units
  • VDURA and Phison donated $2,000 to support Atlanta families

HPC storage supplier VDURA (previously known as Panasas) and SSD manufacturer Phison recently partnered up at SC24 in Atlanta to answer that age of old question – how much data can "The Mountain" from Game of Thrones lift? (Don’t pretend for one second that you haven’t wondered that yourself).

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who played Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in GoT (and is probably best known for gouging out the eyes of Pedro Pascal’s character in a memorable, and gory, fight scene), lifted a record-setting 282.624PB of data, weighing 996 pounds (425kg).

Phison’s recently launched PCIe Gen5 122.88TB Pascari D205V drives formed the core of the massive data load (to save you firing up your calculator, that equates to around 2,316 drives). Rogue Fitness Equipment provided the lifting bar and additional equipment, while customized Silver Dollar Boxes, designed by 2017 America’s Strongest Man Jerry Pritchett, housed the drives.

Largest amount of data ever lifted

“With our latest product update, VDURA can offer our pioneering, legacy industry expertise with a new agility to meet the evolving needs of AI and HPC infrastructures,” said VDURA CEO Ken Claffey.

“We are excited to make our mark in a big way as a leader in the industry known for our strength and durability. Today, we set a new record for the largest amount of data ever lifted. Going forward, we are setting the industry standard for reliability and scalability, with the strength to support our customers and their evolving workloads.”

Michael Wu, General Manager and President of Phison US, added, “We’re proud to partner with VDURA to support this record-setting lift with our ultra-capacity Pascari drives. Phison recently unveiled the first PCIe Gen5 122.88TB class drives, and now alongside VDURA we are again pioneers in a new milestone to showcase the true impact of mixing optimal strength, durability and capacity.”

The event also highlighted community engagement, with VDURA and Phison donating $1,000 each to the Atlanta Community Food Bank, helping provide over 6,000 meals for local families in need. You can watch the data lift in the video below.

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Record-Breaking Data Lift - VDURA @ SC24 - YouTube Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson Record-Breaking Data Lift - VDURA @ SC24 - YouTube
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Wayne Williams
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Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.

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