China's Double Eleven Shopping Festival is coming!(Machine translated subtitles, may contain errors!)
Many people may be prepared to take this opportunity to get into a large capacity mechanical hard drive
If you've done some homework before shopping
Maybe you've heard of PMR (CMR) and SMR technology.
Netizens are saying this SMR technology disk is worse.
Today I'm going to show you how many SMR disks are on the market today.
Shingled Magnetic Recording disk
There are many articles and videos on the principles of SMR discs online and I won't say any more.
The short version is.
The magnetic head only needs to be as wide as the green bar to read data, but the gray bar to write
Each channel of the PMR disk is as wide as a gray bar.
You can write wherever you want.
SMR discs further reduce channel spacing
Cause the head to overwrite two or more tracks adjacent to each other on one side when writing data
So you need to read data that might be overwritten into the cache before you write
Write the previous line and then add the next one.
If the next line of the next line has data.
Then we have to repeat the above steps and write the next line after the next line
and so on
Until a Band's area is rewritten.
If you think about it, you'll see it's not easy.
I stumbled upon a picture online.
If it's just sequential writing, it's okay.
But random writing would be bad.
Huazhong University of Science and Technology has a master's thesis for 2012
Shingled Magnetic Recording disk write feature research and optimization design
The article mentions.
Performance of SMR drives for write data operations with high data volumes
Write performance of current hard drives can be achieved
However small data volume write operations
and the poor or even impossible performance of random write operations.
Apparently this tray is only suitable for use as a warehouse tray.
If it's always censored, read and write.
There could be a drop or even a fake death.
If you buy a hard drive to install systems, games, videos.
Do experiments, set up NAS or hang up P2P downloads, etc
Scenarios that require frequent random reading and writing
Be sure to avoid buying these plates.
If the budget is sufficient, go straight for SSDs.
In today's era of big data.
Significantly increase single-disc capacity with SMR technology
Make larger capacity drives with fewer disks
From the perspective of protecting the Earth's environment
It's a good thing, too, of course.
For the business, it also reduces the cost of production of warehouse pallets
But what's wrong with this SMR?
The fault lies with the merchants' propaganda.
The former PMR (CMR) drive has been quietly replaced with an SMR drive
The average consumer doesn't know this.
SMR hard drives are no cheaper than PMR (CMR)
But its performance is reduced and the use scenes are narrowed.
According to the principle we just described.
SMR drives had to use large caches.
And the merchants are using this big cache as a selling point.
Like it's better than a PMR drive.
That's a bit of an understatement.
Determine if the hard drive uses SMR technology or not
At present it can be judged simply by the following methods
1. Small, large cache
If it's a dish larger than 6T
It's a normal thing to use the 256M cache.
But two or three T plates give you 256M.
There must be something wrong with that.
It's not like the factory is a charity.
I didn't give you 256M cache even though it's so expensive.
2. Name with Archive
I'm telling you it's a warehouse plate.
3. Support for TRIM
This does not work with older SMR disks.
4. Extra large capacity
20 T's and such, PMR technology can't do that much.
But most people can ignore this...
There are only three surviving mechanical hard drive manufacturers.
Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba.
Let's take a look at it one by one.
Let's start with Seagate. He started it, after all.
The BarraCuda series are all SMR discs except 1T which are currently available in Jingdong.
Because a single disc 1T PMR would do it, there's no need for SMR.
SMR doesn't have to be 5400 rpm either.
It's doable at 7200 rpm.
IronWolf's NAS storage series doesn't see much of a problem so far
SkyHawk monitor disc mixed with two strange 5400 revolutions
Look at the Western number again, and the blue disk, look at the model number.
EZEX is the most classic 7200 rpm blue disc
EZRZ is the original 5400 rpm green disk, but it's also a PMR disk
EZAZ looks like SMR for now.
The model with the penultimate letter A also appears on the red plate.
Of which the 2T are definitely SMR.
But the 6T and 8T are less judgmental.
The Toshiba side of the desk and the monitor don't seem to have any problems.
And the discs are 7200 rpm.
Without further ado, the official website usually provides a detailed data manual
Even manufacturers within 10T are afraid to use SMR
What about the laptop hard drive?
Unfortunately, the 1T and 2T laptop drives currently on sale are basically SMR drives.
I'm using a 1T Hitachi HTS721010A9E630 myself.
Single 500G, 7200 to 32M cache
I recommend it, but it's off the shelves on Jingdong
There's no guarantee it's a brand new plate when you buy it from other sources.
As for the 2T Samsung ST2000LM003
Single disc 667G, 5400 rpm 32M cache, long out of production.
It's either second-hand or a zero disc.
Hard drives are still not recommended to buy used.
However, even 500G may not be PMR (CMR), such as this 128M cache
Normally, a 500G drive would give you 16M cache.
What about the mobile drive?
Mobile drives are meant for archiving, SMR drives are normal.
As SSD prices get lower and lower
More and more people are buying mechanical hard drives just to use them as storage platters.
Manufacturers find it easier to make larger drives with fewer disks
It also meets the needs of most consumers.
Of course there will be a strong promotion of this technology.
But to promote the technology.
The manufacturer doesn't inform consumers of its drawbacks
It doesn't even tell the consumer which technology the drive uses.
Let's just pretend nothing happened.
Same with the SSD.
Vendors find QLC also meets most consumer needs
Then TLC won't give it to you anymore.
That's why I made this video.
It's about getting more consumers to know that fact.
Choose carefully when purchasing a mechanical hard drive according to your needs
Don't simply identify with a brand.
What are the disadvantages of SMR discs compared to PMR (CMR) discs, it has been said above a lot
What is the advantage of SMR disk over PMR(CMR) disk?
Maybe it's lighter and thinner.
But what's the point of having a thin and light drive that I installed in my desktop?
So what's my reason for not buying a PMR (CMR) drive?
With regard to failure rates, SMR technology reduces the number of discs
Naturally, the probability of disc and head failures is also reduced.
But does this overwriting method affect disk life?
It's still up to the large sample stats.
I don't have the data, and I'm not afraid to jump to conclusions.
Can't say I got an SMR plate and it's broken.
And the PMR (CMR) disk in my hand is not broken.
I'll just say all SMR disks are unreliable.
That's like thinking of yourself as the world.
I'm using the SMR drive as a warehouse drive myself.
I'm not experiencing an unbearable drop in speed.
Of course, I don't want to try to install the system on an SMR drive.
Or hang up a BT download to torture yourself.
Both PMR (CMR) and SMR drives have been used.
As an ordinary consumer.
Instead of obsessing over the reliability of SMR technology
How about a timely backup of important data?
So that's it for this video.
If it helps you with your mechanical hard drive purchase
Please click the like button