[SOLVED] CMR vs SMR - Is SMR Really That Bad?

[Oasis Curator]

I've got a couple of SMR drives on the way that are simply there to hold films and TV series, ocassional playing through Plex.
However I want these drives to last a long time so data integrity / reliability is important.

Is SMR really that bad?
Or for my application, will it be fine?

I note WD Blues use SMR tech but their blacks use the more traditional CMR.

 

[SkyNetRising]

SMR drives are ok for mass storage workloads - write once, read only afterwards. Like for archives, backups, user media storage.

If you want to write constantly, delete, write again, overwrite, then SMR drives are not suitable.
Continuous write workloads incur terrible performance consistency.

 

[Oasis Curator]

Thanks.
Yeah, it's more archiving / writing and reading rather than re-writing all the time.

 

[Zerk2012]

However I want these drives to last a long time so data integrity / reliability is important.

Then all your data needs to be backed up any drive can fail at anytime

 

[Pextaxmx]

I believe anything over 10TB (inclusive) is all CMR. Per TB cost is usually lower as well. No reason to suffer from SMR drives.

 

[Banqu0]

Not all Blues use SMR. The ones that that have product numbers ending in AZ are SMR drives. Ones that end in RZ, are CMR.

 

[worstalentscout]

Not all Blues use SMR. The ones that that have product numbers ending in AZ are SMR drives. Ones that end in RZ, are CMR.

the product numbers - how/where to see them on the actual items ?

what about capacities ? like 500GB or lower ? will they be CMR ?

many thanks............

 

[Banqu0]

the product numbers - how/where to see them on the actual items ?

what about capacities ? like 500GB or lower ? will they be CMR ?

many thanks............

WD5000AZRZ is 500GB and is CMR. Not sure about lower capacities.

 

[worstalentscout]

WD5000AZRZ is 500GB and is CMR. Not sure about lower capacities.

many thanks.................so even though it's a Blue model............it should be okay to store info as external HDD with good reliability ?

or is the Black model far more reliable ?

 

[Banqu0]

many thanks.................so even though it's a Blue model............it should be okay to store info as external HDD with good reliability ?

or is the Black model far more reliable ?

I can't say for certain if there is any hard data on whether Blue or Black is more reliable, but as a general rule, faster spinning drives wear more quickly due to the faster rotations. That said, I have some Blacks that are7 years old and still operating (if anectotal evidence is useful to you).

 

[Pextaxmx]

I can't say for certain if there is any hard data on whether Blue or Black is more reliable, but as a general rule, faster spinning drives wear more quickly due to the faster rotations. That said, I have some Blacks that are7 years old and still operating (if anectotal evidence is useful to you).

I am no HDD engineer but as a mechanical engineer I always imagined faster spin provides better environment for the head to fly safely with less chance of touching the surface. Higher speed = higher lift force. Even if the head geometry is optimized for the speed, higher Reynolds number is always a good thing for any aero lift generating device

 

[worstalentscout]

I can't say for certain if there is any hard data on whether Blue or Black is more reliable, but as a general rule, faster spinning drives wear more quickly due to the faster rotations. That said, I have some Blacks that are7 years old and still operating (if anectotal evidence is useful to you).

many thanks for the useful info indeed.................

i've a 13yo Hitachi external HDD .............only 117 hours of spin time..............so maybe i'll get the 500GB Blue since it's CMR..............i'll see if the Blue vs Black price difference is big or not in my country..............thanks again