The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/PricePerGig on 2025-03-25 20:18:30.
Hi all, After adding CMR/SMR as per Seagate rules to PricePerGig.com I wanted to add the Western Digital rules to the site so we can filter by tags.
Before I spend countless hours sifting through Western Digital's rather poor excuse for documentation and then implementing it to auto add the tags to each HDD (e.g. CMR tag so you can filter by that and just see all the CMR drives), I thought I better ask a simple question to the experts.
Are these reliable definitions?
We have a number of different ways they do this - I've summarized them for your convenience (and my future reference!) Some clearly state CMR/SMR, others just put it right at the top in the sales gumph, and others are hidden down the bottom somewhere.
WD Red, Blue, Purple, Gold and WD_BLACK Drives
- WD Gold 3.5" - all CMR
- WD_BLACK 3.5" - all CMR
- WD Black 2.5" - ignore - depends on size, but they are so small I don't think I'll bother what say you?
- WD Blue 2.5" - All SMR
- WD Blue 3.5" - ignore - depends on size, but they are all less than 2TB anyway so ignore.
- WD Purple Pro 3.5" - all CMR
- WD Purple 3.5" - All CMR
- WD Red Plus 3.5" - All CMR
- WD Red 2.5" (CMR) - no link, but looks like they are all CMR
- WD Red 3.5" - All SMR
- WD Red Pro 3.5" - All CMR
Western Digital Ultrastar Drives
The data sheet can be checked to see if the drive uses CMR or SMR.
- Ultrastar DC HC620 (Hs14) 3.5" - all SMR
- Ultrastar DC HC570 3.5" - All CMR - can someone please check, it's buried in there
- Ultrastar DC HC550 3.5" - All CMR - But I'm not 100% on that.
- Ultrastar DC HC560 3.5" - ePMR & CMR !!! HELP, what's ePMR, what would we like it tagged as?
- Ultrastar DC HC530 (He14) 3.5" - All CMR
- Ultrastar DC HC520 (He12) 3.5" - It doesn't say!
- Ultrastar DC HC510 (He10) 3.5" - It Doesn't Say!
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- just an interlude here, I'm pretty tired at this point and not sure if anyone cares about ultrastar, it's a cool name though, I mean, 'red' vs 'ultrastar', I know which one I'd pick. I wonder if I can get a domain name with that in - back to it.
- Utrastar DC HC330 3.5" - All CMR
- Ultrastar DC HC320 (7K8) 3.5" - All CMR
- Ultrastar DC HC310 (7K6) 3.5" - it dosn't say
- Ultrastar DC HA210 (7K2) 3.5" - it doesn't say. I'm assuming since they are only up to 2TB, probably all CMR. but why wouldn't it just say so.
OK, that's it. I may well have bitten off more than I can chew here. I prefer coding over trawling through this! Please consider supporting the site next time you buy anything from amazon, just click any old link and complete your purchase as normal, I may get a small commission - pricepergig.com
Thanks to all that have supported this endeavour so far with your kind comments, and critical ones, it all helps.
I'm going to watch Adolescence and go to bed.
Side note for those that missed it
Seagate rule sheet: https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/products/cmr-smr-list/
Example of how this turned out : PricePerGig.com then click 'CMR' or 'SMR' tags/filters.
See the other discussion here if you're interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1jgu9do/i_added_cmr_smr_and_hamr_tags_on_pricepergigcom/ )
End side note