With the DeskStar 16GP series, IBM introduced Giant Magneto-Resistive (GMR) heads, an important step in exceeding capacities of 10 GB per drive. In fact, the introduction of the much more sensitive GMR heads allowed an increase of the maximum per-drive capacity from almost 9 GB to 16.8 GB for the IBM product lines.

This drive family came in a large variety of capacities: 3.2, 4.3, 6.4, 8.4, 10.1, 12.9 and 16.8 GB, using up to three platters. The drives were equipped with an upgraded 512 kB drive cache memory, and the UltraATA/33 interface. The DTTA-351010 reached maximum data transfer rates of 12.4 MB/s, while it was capable of exploiting the full interface bandwidth at 31.4 MB/s.