List of HDDs using SMR technology.

Hello.

If the topic turns out to be useful / needed, I will pin it somewhere at the top, and if not, it will slide down to other pages in a moment, along with other posts. As long as the manufacturers do not stop being "ashamed" of this technology and start marking the drives using it in the documentation, such a list may make some sense.

I tried to confirm most of the models in the documentation, a few entries are unconfirmed (based on, among others, performance tests and high density of writing to the platter, usually accompanied by a large cache buffer).

SMR technology is nothing very new, but for some time now you have come across a cheap disk. This post is not intended to be a technical elaboration on this technology, if someone is interested in the details of its operation, he will certainly find a lot of articles on the web on this topic. In short, SMR drives allow you to get more capacities, but the price is sacrificing performance.

In general, these disks are suitable as a data storage, where writes are not made non-stop (due to the data writing mechanism). They are not especially suitable for RAID arrays and for applications requiring high write performance (some imperfections at very high load will also ricochet read speed).

Manufacturers very scrupulously hide the fact that they use SMR technology in disks, so I will try to list disks that are known to use this technology (or there are indications that they can use it).

Seagate 3.5 "


Seagate 2.5 "


Toshiba 3.5 "


Toshiba 2.5"


Western Digital 3.5"


Western Digital 2.5 "


Western Digital 2.5 "USB


Hitachi (Western Digital) 3.5 "


The current WD series (as of April 2020) look like this (click the picture to enlarge):


Source: Western Digital RED NAS Blog, post 22/04/2020, https://blog.westerndigital.com/wd-red-nas-drives/

The technology used in current Seagate drives: https://www.seagate.com/en/pl/internal-hard-drives/cmr-smr-list/

Sources:


I am aware that this list is far from complete .

If you find other disks with more or less confirmed use of SMR technology - write in the answers, providing links to information sources or at least information indicating that such a disk has a good chance to use this technology (for example, the recording density of 2TB / plate).

Also, if you find information that reliably confirms that the disk on the list is not an SMR disk - it is also worth including such information.

At this point, most drives are "sure" - WD drives are confirmed on their blog, Toshiba drives are confirmed with Toshiba's representative to another portal, and most Seagate drives are endorsed from their catalog notes, but there are also a few drives placed on a legitimate basis suspicions (as indicated in the notes). Most of the sources are presented in the spoiler above.

Other sources on SMR on SEAGATE drives:

https://blocksandfiles.com/2020/04/15/seagate-2-4-and-8tb-barracuda-and-desktop-hdd-smr/
https://geizhals.eu/?cat=hde7s&sort=p&xf=1080...+6Gb%2Fs%7E3772_3.5%7E8457_Drive+Managed+8SMR ( SMR)% 7E957_Seagate

Thanks for the info. I have seen Blocks and Files, the models match my table.
As for geizhals too, though with two differences. They say the WD5000AAKX is an SMR drive, which is very hard for me to believe. They also mention WD80EZAZ (8TB) as the SMR, while WD didn't admit it. Only 2TB and 6TB of the EZAZ series are SMR drives. At the bottom of their blog slide, they wrote:

Quote:

NOTE: All other capacity points use CMR recording technology. (Updated 4/22/2020)

So it follows that WD40EZAZ and WD80EZAZ can be CMR disks.

In addition to the WD slide, it is worth throwing in the published indicative table of series, capacity and recording technology.
It is not exact to the model, but you will know what to expect.
https://blog.westerndigital.com/wd-red-nas-drives/

I tossed into the general info for WD in spoiler one, thanks.

Is the wd10jmvw-11ajgs4 disk also smr or does it still have standard writing?

Two plates, 4 heads, rather CMR.

Here there is an up-to-date list of WD drive types broken down into CMR and SMR.

Attached is the list for April 23, 2020.

In the second appendix I added WD disks in CMR technology.
I did a bit of research on a 2.5-inch drive with a capacity of about 1TB.

Thanks. I picked up the SMR from this list, it coincides with the slide from WD's blog. I have even hunted a few more (although I mainly added OEM disks for recorders and recorders, possibly disks sold as a component of the disk bay).

The last item on this list is the info that all WD HGST drives are CMR. This is probably not entirely true, because the Ultrastars HC620 and HC650 are already SMR disks (confirmed with the official datasheet).

I reorganized the list a bit, because it becomes longer and longer and a single table will be worse and worse to read. So I divided them into producers and sizes to make the tables clearer.

As Toshiba admitted that not only P300 uses SMR technology - I added DT02, DT02-V, L200 and MQ04 drives to the table. In addition to the P300, they also benefit from SMR technology, which Toshiba has officially confirmed.

Look, a Samsung M9 ST2000LM003 2.5 "2TB 32MB cache 9.5mm is CMR, and its" younger "brother ST2000LM007, differing basically only in thickness (7mm) and larger cache (128MB) and is SMR.

PS. Why is this topic suddenly so hot? He has also appeared on other forums in the last few days.

In the lean 7.5mm disks it was hard to fit enough plates to fit a 2TB. SMR technology made it possible.
The topic became hot, because the manufacturers did not admit or still do not admit to using this technology, and using it, apart from increasing the capacity of the platter, also has some consequences when it comes to disk performance. Thus, the use of such disks in places where the write intensity is high is not recommended, as these disks are not suitable for high data loads.

phanick wrote:

Look, a Samsung M9 ST2000LM003 2.5 "2TB 32MB cache 9.5mm is CMR, and its" younger "brother ST2000LM007, differing basically only in thickness (7mm) and larger cache (128MB) and is SMR.

PS. Why is this topic suddenly so hot? He has also appeared on other forums in the last few days.

That's probably why it has such a cache. It has to have a buffer somewhere for it to work. The problem is that these drives do not really like loads - my 1TB Seagate is light and warms up a lot (though less than the previous one, which went under warranty). Apparently there is a problem with RAID, I don't know, I haven't tested it. I would say that the SMR is suitable for the archive, but it is more delicate and it is easier to damage the data on it (even by disconnecting the power supply), so not really. It also doesn't behave like other disks, where you can stuff data down to the last MB - this disk slows down when it's busy. It is even worse with series such as RED or BLACK Western Digital - drives supposedly for performance and higher loads.
Dt1 - really good job.

The entire Barracuda 2-8TB family, all with a 256MB cache, are now SMR drives (also not listed st8000dm004 and a 7200rpm drive - ST2000DM008). Barracuda Pro do not use this technology). EXOS drives - 5E8 only, EXOS x10, x12, x14 and x16 are not SMR. Seagate 2.5 "drives with 128GB cache also come with SMR technology. Some have TRIM implemented.

What is smr? Platter still exist? Since I installed the SSD, I look at the discs with disgust.

In short, writing on a "tile" - the writer works on more than one track, which means that when writing, it must first read the adjacent tracks, and in case of problems it damages not only the saved file, but also those on the adjacent tracks. It is still a disk. The technology allows you to increase the capacity cheaper than the previous ones.
Since the time when SDD fell, losing a lot of data, I liked the discs. It is good but only for the system.

WD60EFAX and WD20EFAX dropped out of Synology's compatibility list a few days ago. Originally, they were shown to be compatible, but with the proviso that they should not mix with classic PMR disks in RAID arrays.
It is probably worth being careful (i.e. avoiding in such applications) other SMR disks available on the market as well.

I found such a sheet: https://www.seagate.com/pl/pl/internal-hard-drives/cmr-smr-list/ - there are no exact models, but you can deduce what you need based on the series and capacity. I also found a sheet for the Barracuda Compute family, where it was confirmed that practically all models larger than 1TB use SMR technology, I completed the table.

One observation - the chart shows that all Seagate 2.5 "drives currently in production use SMR technology.

I just got into the WDC WD20SDRW-34VUUS0 and it's probably SMR (has trim). Buffer not visible in programs. Does this disk have variable address translation? Can anyone comment on its failure rate? I don't care about performance, so I'll get over it, but I do with data integrity. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much information about him.

I have the impression that I wrote a post here but it has been deleted
As a general rule, don't expect CMR in the latest drives.
As for the failure rate, of course, there is a greater risk with SMR, but how will it actually be, we will find out over time.

Seagate states on its website: https://www.seagate.com/pl/pl/internal-hard-drives/cmr-smr-list/
Toshiba too: https://www.toshiba-storage.com/pl/products/toshiba-internal-hard-drives-p300/
so if you want to be sure, look for info from WD

I did not find yours on this page: https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of-wd-cmr-and-smr-hard-drives-hdd/

But according to this page you have DM-SMR (PMR): https://hddscan.com/blog/2020/hdd-wd-smr.html

Yes, I have an SMR. It's hard, maybe it won't rain that fast.

Considering that it is a 2.5 "/ 7mm disk, it is definitely SMR - 2 platters, 4 heads, 1TB / platter. As a consolation, probably all new models of 2TB USB drives use SMR technology.

I can see that. There is one thing that worries me the most. Since there is more than one track when writing, what does the issue of, for example, unstable USB power look like? This is what I fear the most. That during disconnection, where it would normally damage only the data processed at the moment, here the data, theoretically already saved and safe, will fly. Is the disk somehow protected against this?

In 2018, I purchased a 2.5 inch HGST 1TB HTS541010B7E610 drive.
Initially, it was supposed to be used to store projects and documentation.
At that time, I did not pay attention to the data recording technology yet.

After a year, it was changed to a normal unit.
The reason was significant delays in writing and reading data from it.

The drive continued to work for testing purposes with another in the laptop (Dell M6600).

Here are some measurements from HD Tune:
* 2019-11

* 2021-01

* 2022-01 (disk attached to the docking station)


The drive started to fail in the current one.
I did the scan in Victoria.


Currently, the drive still mounted in the laptop has big problems with writing data.
The reading is also not overwhelming.

Currently installed are 2 pcs. WDC 1TB WD10JFCX-68N6GN0, this wretch and Kingston 240GB SUV500MS240 SSD (per system).

The gentleman gives the link:

https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of-wd-cmr-and-smr-hard-drives-hdd/

On this page, by pasting the disk code, e.g. WD 1TB - WD10EZAZ in the appropriate field, you can check whether the disk is SMR or CMR - some models are not in the database, so add if you bought it.