- Hard drives nonetheless matter the place capability, price effectivity and sturdiness outweigh uncooked pace
- Most trendy exhausting drives are constructed for information facilities, servers and specialised storage roles
- Consumer exhausting drives are actually uncommon, whereas enterprise, NAS and video drives dominate
Hard disk drives are sometimes written off as legacy tech, however a more in-depth take a look at what remains to be on sale tells a distinct story.
After compiling an in depth checklist of 167 of the best hard disk drives value shopping for, six clear factors emerged about who remains to be making HDDs, what they’re constructing, and who they’re really for.
The first thing which stands out relates to brand. Western Digital has more drives on the list than anyone else, with 66 models spanning consumer, NAS, enterprise, and specialist categories. That range stretches from WD Blue consumer drives to WD Gold and Ultrastar models designed for data centers.
Today’s best hard disk drive deals
8TB is the new baseline
My second takeaway concerns capacity. Seagate is the king of the excessive finish drives, providing six fashions above 30TB, together with a number of Exos M and Exos X variants that go far past what most individuals affiliate with spinning disks.
No different producer comes shut. While HDDs have disappeared from many shopper units, capability development on the prime finish remains to be vastly vital.
Capacity clustering tells its personal story. 8TB is the most typical measurement on the checklist, showing 21 occasions, adopted carefully by 12TB with 20 entries.
These capacities present up repeatedly in households like WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf, and Toshiba N300. Drives beneath 8TB are actually all however out of date in new 3.5-inch fashions.
The fourth discovering seemingly received’t come as an enormous shock. Almost half of the fashions, 80 in whole, are enterprise drives designed for information facilities and large-scale storage.
Product traces similar to Seagate Exos, WD Ultrastar, and Toshiba MG dominate this class, and it is the place most HDD improvement effort is now targeted, slightly than on on a regular basis desktops.
The fifth takeaway reveals a extra targeted viewers. There are 43 NAS-specific drives, together with Seagate IronWolf and IronWolf Pro, WD Red Plus and Red Pro, and Toshiba’s N300 vary. These are constructed for always-on methods in house servers and small companies.
Surveillance drives are far much less widespread, with solely 17 fashions devoted to video workloads, similar to WD Purple and Seagate SkyHawk AI.
Interestingly, solely 10 drives on the lengthy checklist are aimed toward mainstream customers and Toshiba is the one producer nonetheless treating exhausting drives as efficiency {hardware}. If presents 15 fashions in its X300 and X300 Pro traces for high-performance desktops and workstations slightly than on a regular basis PCs.
It’s clear that whereas HDDs haven’t disappeared, as SSDs took over speed-driven duties, spinning disks have now settled into roles the place capability, sturdiness, and price per TB matter essentially the most.
A fast word on the checklist. It excludes all exhausting disk drives beneath 8TB, which are actually all however out of date in new 3.5-inch fashions. It additionally solely contains 3.5-inch drives, not 2.5-inch ones. Drives from skilled refurbishers or relabeled fashions bought below manufacturers like HP or Dell have been disregarded. Where a number of SKUs of the identical drive existed with minor variations similar to cache measurement, encryption, or formatting, solely a single consultant mannequin was counted.
|
Brand |
Model |
Model ID |
Capacity |
Segment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seagate |
BarraCuda 8TB |
ST8000DM004 |
8TB |
Consumer |
|
Seagate |
BarraCuda 16TB |
ST16000DM001 |
16TB |
Consumer |
|
Seagate |
BarraCuda 20TB |
ST20000DM001 |
20TB |
Consumer |
|
Seagate |
BarraCuda 24TB |
ST24000DM001 |
24TB |
Consumer |
|
Seagate |
BarraCuda 28TB |
ST28000DM000 |
28TB |
Consumer |
|
Toshiba |
MD07 12TB |
MD07ACA12T |
12TB |
Consumer |
|
Toshiba |
MD07 14TB |
MD07ACA14T |
14TB |
Consumer |
|
Western Digital |
WD Blue 8TB |
WD80EAAZ |
8TB |
Consumer |
|
Western Digital |
WD Blue 10TB |
WD100EAGZ |
10TB |
Consumer |
|
Western Digital |
WD Blue 12TB |
WD120EAGZ |
12TB |
Consumer |
|
Western Digital |
WD Black 8TB |
WD8002FZBX |
8TB |
Performance |
|
Western Digital |
WD Black 10TB |
WD102FZBX |
10TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 8TB |
HDWR780XZSTA |
8TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 10TB |
HDWR71AXZSTA |
10TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 12TB |
HDWR51CXZSTA |
12TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 14TB |
HDWR51EUZSVA |
14TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 16TB |
HDWR51GXZSTA |
16TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 18TB |
HDWR51JUZSVA |
18TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 20TB |
HDWR62AXZSTA |
20TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 8TB |
HDWR780XZSTB |
8TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 10TB |
HDWR71AXZSTB |
10TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 12TB |
HDWR51CXZSTB |
12TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 14TB |
HDWR51EXZSTB |
14TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 16TB |
HDWR51GXZSTB |
16TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 18TB |
HDWR51JXZSTB |
18TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 20TB |
HDWR62AXZSTB |
20TB |
Performance |
|
Toshiba |
X300 Pro 22TB |
HDWR62AXZSTB |
22TB |
Performance |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf 8TB |
ST8000VN004 |
8TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf 10TB |
ST10000VN000 |
10TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf 12TB |
ST12000VN0008 |
12TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf 16TB |
ST16000VN001 |
16TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 8TB |
ST8000NT001 |
8TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 12TB |
ST12000NT001 |
12TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 14TB |
ST14000NT001 |
14TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 16TB |
ST16000NT001 |
16TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 18TB |
ST18000NT001 |
18TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 20TB |
ST20000NT001 |
20TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 22TB |
ST22000NT001 |
22TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 24TB |
ST24000NT002 |
24TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 28TB |
ST28000NT000 |
28TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
IronWolf Pro 30TB |
ST30000NT011 |
30TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 8TB |
HDWG780XZSTA |
8TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 10TB |
HDWG71AXZSTA |
10TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 12TB |
HDWG51CXZSTA |
12TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 14TB |
HDWG51EXZSTA |
14TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 16TB |
HDWG51GXZSTA |
16TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 18TB |
HDWG51JXZSTA |
18TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 20TB |
HDWG62AXZSTA |
20TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 8TB |
HDWG780XZSTB |
8TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 10TB |
HDWG71AXZSTB |
10TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 12TB |
HDWG51CXZSTB |
12TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 14TB |
HDWG51EXZSTB |
14TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 16TB |
HDWG51GXZSTB |
16TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 18TB |
HDWG51JXZSTB |
18TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 20TB |
HDWG62AXZSTB |
20TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 22TB |
HDWG62CXZSTB |
22TB |
NAS |
|
Toshiba |
N300 Pro 24TB |
HDWG82EXZSTB |
24TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Plus 8TB |
WD80EFPX |
8TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Plus 10TB |
WD101EFBX |
10TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Plus 12TB |
WD120EFGX |
12TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 8TB |
WD8005FFBX |
8TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 10TB |
WD103KFBX |
10TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 12TB |
WD122KFBX |
12TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 14TB |
WD142KFGX |
14TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 16TB |
WD161KFGX |
16TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 18TB |
WD181KFGX |
18TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 20TB |
WD202KFGX |
20TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 22TB |
WD221KFGX |
22TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 24TB |
WD241KFGX |
24TB |
NAS |
|
Western Digital |
WD Red Pro 26TB |
WD260KFGX |
26TB |
NAS |
|
Seagate |
Exos 2X18 16TB |
ST16000NM0092 |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos 2X18 18TB |
ST18000NM0092 |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos 7E10 8TB |
ST8000NM018B |
8TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos 7E10 10TB |
ST10000NM018B |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X18 10TB |
ST10000NM018G |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X18 12TB |
ST12000NM000J |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X18 14TB |
ST14000NM000J |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X18 16TB |
ST16000NM000J |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X18 18TB |
ST18000NM000J |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X20 18TB |
ST18000NM003D |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X20 20TB |
ST20000NM007D |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X24 12TB |
ST12000NM002H |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X24 16TB |
ST16000NM002H |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X24 20TB |
ST20000NM002H |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos X24 24TB |
ST24000NM002H |
24TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos M 28TB |
ST28000NM003Ok |
28TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos M 30TB |
ST30000NM004Ok |
30TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos M 32TB |
ST32000NM003Ok |
32TB |
Enterprise |
|
Seagate |
Exos M 36TB |
ST36000NM003Ok |
36TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HA340 8TB |
0B47078 |
8TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HA340 10TB |
0B47062 |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HA340 12TB |
0B47063 |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC320 8TB |
0B36404 |
8TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC330 10TB |
0B42266 |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC520 12TB |
0F30146 |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC530 14TB |
0F31051 |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC550 14TB |
0F38581 |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC550 16TB |
0F38462 |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB |
0F38459 |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC560 20TB |
0F38785 |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC560 20TB |
0F38755 |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC570 22TB |
0F48155 |
22TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC580 22TB |
0F62784 |
22TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC580 24TB |
0F62795 |
24TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC590 24TB |
0F65684 |
24TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC590 26TB |
0F65672 |
26TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC650 20TB |
ultrastar-dc-hc650-20-tb |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC670 26TB |
ultrastar-dc-hc670-26-tb |
26TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC680 26TB |
0F62892 |
26TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC680 27TB |
0F62898 |
27TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC680 28TB |
0F62904 |
28TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC690 30TB |
WSH723200ALN601 |
30TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar DC HC690 32TB |
WSH723220ALN601 |
32TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar HC555 12TB |
0B48720 |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar HC555 14TB |
0B48721 |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar HC555 16TB |
0B48722 |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar HC555 18TB |
0B48723 |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
Ultrastar HC555 20TB |
0B48724 |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 8TB |
WD8005FRYZ |
8TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 10TB |
WD103KRYZ |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 12TB |
WD122KRYZ |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 14TB |
WD142KRYZ |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 16TB |
WD161KRYZ |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 18TB |
WD181KRYZ |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 20TB |
WD203KRYZ |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 22TB |
WD221KRYZ |
22TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 24TB |
WD242KRYZ |
24TB |
Enterprise |
|
Western Digital |
WD Gold 26TB |
WD261KRYZ |
26TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG07 12TB |
MG07SCA12TA |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG07 14TB |
MG07SCA14TA |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG08 14TB |
MG08ACA14TA |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG08 16TB |
MG08ACA16TA |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG09 10TB |
MG09ACA10TA |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG09 12TB |
MG09ACA12TA |
12TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG09 14TB |
MG09ACA14TA |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG09 16TB |
MG09ACA16TA |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG09 18TB |
MG09ACA18TA |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG09 20TB |
MA09ACA20TAM |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG10 8TB |
MG10ADA800E |
8TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG10 10TB |
MG10ADA10TE |
10TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG10F 20TB |
MG10AFA20TE |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG10F 22TB |
MG10AFA22TE |
22TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG11 14TB |
MG11ACA14TE |
14TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG11 16TB |
MG11ACA16TE |
16TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG11 18TB |
MG11ACA18TE |
18TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG11 20TB |
MG11ACA20TE |
20TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG11 22TB |
MG11ACA22TE |
22TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG11 24TB |
MG11ACA24TE |
24TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MG08 8TB |
MG08ADA800A |
8TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
MA11 28TB |
Row 149 – Cell 2 |
28TB |
Enterprise |
|
Toshiba |
S300 Pro 8TB |
MD10ADA800V |
8TB |
Video |
|
Toshiba |
S300 Pro 10TB |
MD10ADA10TV |
10TB |
Video |
|
Seagate |
SkyHawk AI 8TB |
ST8000VE001 |
8TB |
Video |
|
Seagate |
SkyHawk AI 10TB |
ST10000VE001 |
10TB |
Video |
|
Seagate |
SkyHawk AI 12TB |
ST12000VE001 |
12TB |
Video |
|
Seagate |
SkyHawk AI 16TB |
ST16000VE004 |
16TB |
Video |
|
Seagate |
SkyHawk AI 20TB |
ST20000VE003 |
20TB |
Video |
|
Seagate |
SkyHawk AI 24TB |
ST24000VE002 |
24TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple 8TB |
WD85PURZ |
8TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 8TB |
WD8002PURP |
8TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 10TB |
WD102PURP |
10TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 12TB |
WD122PURP |
12TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 14TB |
WD142PURP |
14TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 18TB |
WD181PURP |
18TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 22TB |
WD221PURP |
22TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 24TB |
WD241PURP |
24TB |
Video |
|
Western Digital |
WD Purple Pro 26TB |
WD260PURP |
26TB |
Video |
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