Seagate Says Network Attached Storage and SMR Don’t Mix

Seagate Corporate Communications Leader Greg Belloni contacted us today in the wake of our previous coverage of SMR discs popping up without warning and in unexpected places.

Belloni confirmed that Seagate is using SMR technology on some desktop hard drives, but emphasized that the company is not “dipping” SMR drives into NAS (Network Attached Storage) channels.

Seagate confirms that we do not use Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology on any IronWolf or IronWolf Pro unit, specially designed for NAS solutions. Seagate always recommends using the correct unit for the correct application.

We talked a little with Belloni on the subject. He did not object to the allegations that SMRs appeared unexpectedly on Seagate’s desktop channels, but wanted to make it very clear that Seagate does not have any IronWolf or IronWolf Pro SMR units and has no plans to release any.

Seagate only produces NAS drives that are CMR. We do not have SMR units in our IronWolf and IronWolf Pro units, which are NAS solutions. As Jason mentioned in his email, we don’t recommend SMR for NAS […] I was just hoping we could fix that, to make it a little bit clearer that Seagate is not producing NAS drives with SMR technology. […] Seagate will always recommend the correct drive technology for the correct application.

There’s a little leeway here. When we pressed Belloni on the issue of SMR drives on Seagate’s desktop channel, he told us that Seagate did not feel the need to “split” it on that channel, as the company believes SMR’s low and explosive performance profile. it is suitable for desktop use.

This sounds almost identical to Western Digital’s justification for surprising NAS users with SMR drives in the red line, a statement that slower disks are “application appropriate”. Belloni acknowledged the similarity, but reiterated Seagate’s position on IronWolf and NAS discs, noting that both its Exos and Archive SMR discs have always been clearly marked as such.

We disagree with Seagate that SMR drives are appropriate in desktop versions, or that it’s okay to put them in there without the company’s usual warnings about the technology’s performance profile.

With that said, we are pleased to see Seagate make serious and consistent statements on how to maintain its entire line of NAS drives without SMR.