Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology helps hard drive manufacturers to produce HDDs with larger capacity. But it is not recommended to use SMR drives for applications with significant load (for example in NAS boxes or for 24x7 use). If you ever questioned whether your hard drive uses SMR, then this guide would help you.
How to use this guide.
Since WD Corporation purchased HGST, all the hard drive models produced by both companies are intertwined in company portfolios.
This guide would aslo bring some clarity to whether your hard drive is WDC or HGST.
To use this guide first you would have to convert your drive model name.
There are two model naming conventions in this guide.
WDC naming convention: all model names in this naming convention start with letters "WD", WDC full model name would aslo have a dash, for example WD60EFRX-68L0BN1.
HGST naming convention: all model names in this naming convention start with letters "W" or "H", and there is no dash in the model name, for example HUH728080ALE601, WUH721010AL42L4.
You would notice that some characters in the model names in the tables below are replaced with "?". "?" - means any character.
If your drive follows WDC model naming convention, then first you would have to take all the letters and numbers after the dash, for example WD40EFRX-68L0BN1 would transform to 68L0BN1.
Then modify this short model name, replacing first two characters and the very last one with "?", for example 68L0BN1 would become ??L0BN?.
Use this string "??L0BN?" to search for model name in the tables below: can be found as WD60EFRX-??L0BN?. Any capacity drive with the name "??L0BN?" is from the same family and all the fields from the found table row are valid for it, meaning model WD60EFRX-68L0BN1(6TB) and WD40EFRX-00L0BN0(4TB) are from the same family.
If your drive follows HGST model naming convention, then you would have to replace one or two capacity encoding numbers and the very last number in the model name with "?". For example HUH728060ALE601 would become HUH7280??ALE60?, and HUS726T6TALE6L1 transforms to HUS726T?TALE6L?.
Use this modified string, for example "HUH7280??ALE60?" to search for model name in the tables below. Any capacity drive is from the same family as the found model name and all the fields from the found table row are valid for it, meaning HUH728060ALE601(6TB) and HUH728080ALE600(8TB) are from the same family.
Model Guide
Abbreviations used in the guide:
He - Helium-filled drive.
CMR - Conventional Magnetic Recording (means not SMR).
PMR - Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (both CMR and SMR type drives use it).
DM-SMR - Device Managed Shingled Magnetic Recording.
HM-SMR - Host Managed Shingled Magnetic Recording.
MAMR - Microwave Assisted Magnetic Recording (can be found on both CMR and SMR types of drives).
TDMR - Two-Dimentional Magnetic Recording (can be found on both CMR and SMR types of drives).
If your drive is not found in this guide, please send me pictures from both, the label and the PCB sides of the HDD (or full model and serial number if you cannot take the pictures) and I'll try to add your drive to the guide.
Please don't send me the USB model name aka enclosure name, I will not be able to tell anything by it.
CMR 3.5" drives
| Model Name | Interface | Type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any model before year 2018 | SATA, SAS | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| Any model before year 2019 | SATA, SAS | CMR (PMR) | HGST |
| WD20PURZ-??AKKY? | SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD40PURX-??GVNY?
WD40EFRX-??WT0N? WD40EZRZ-??WN9B? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD40EZRZ-??GXCB?
WD40EFRX-??N32N? WD40EMRX-??UZ0N? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD5001FZWX-??ZHUA?
WD6001FZWX-??A2VA? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD60EFRX-??L0BN?
WD60EFRX-??MYMN? WD60EZRZ-??GZ5B? WD60EZRZ-??RWYB? WD60EZRX-??MVLB? WD60PURX-??LZMY?? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD6005FRPZ-??S9PB? | SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD60PURZ-??AJFX? | SATA | CMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD4002FYYZ-??B7CB?
WD6002FFWX-??TZ4N? WD6002FRYZ-??WD5B? WD6002FZWX-??GBGB? HUS7260??ALE61? HDN7260??ALE61? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | HGST |
| WD6003FFBX-??MU3N?
HUS726T?TALE6L? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | HGST |
| HUS7260??ALA64?
HUS726T?TALA6L? |
SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| HUS7260??ALS64? | SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WD6003FZBX-??K5WB? | SATA | CMR (PMR) | HGST |
| WD8002FRYZ-??FF2B?
WD80EFZX-??UW8N? WD80EZZX-??CSGA? WD80PURZ-??YNPY? HUH7280??ALE60? HUH7280??ALN60? |
SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WD8003FFBX-??B9AN?
WD80EFAX-??KNBN? WD82PURZ-??TEUY? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | HGST |
| WD101EFAX-??LDBN?
WD101EMAZ-??G7DA? |
SATA | CMR (PMR) | HGST |
| WD100EFAX-??LHPN?
WD100EMAZ-??WJTA? WD100EZAZ-??TDBA? HUH7210??ALE60? |
SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WUH7210??AL42L?
WUH7210??AL52? |
SAS | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WUH7210??ALE6L?
WUH7210??ALN6L? |
SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WD120EFAX-??UNTN?
WD120EMAZ-??BLFA? WD121PURZ-??GUCY? |
SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WD120EMFZ-??A6JA?
WD140EDFZ-??A0VA? WD140EMFZ-??A0WA? |
SATA | CMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| WUH7214??AL42L?
WUH7214??AL52? |
SAS | CMR (PMR with TDMR, He) | HGST |
| WUH7214??ALE6L?
WUH7214??ALN6L? |
SATA | CMR (PMR with TDMR, He) | HGST |
| WD181KFGX-??AFPN? | SATA | CMR (MAMR, He) | HGST |
CMR 2.5" drives
| Model Name | Interface | Type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any model before year 2016 | SATA, USB | CMR (PMR) | WDC, HGST |
SMR 3.5" drives
| Model Name | Interface | Type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| WD20EZAZ-??GGJB?
WD20EZAZ-??WGYX? |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD40EDAZ-??SLVB?
WD60EDAZ-??U78B? WD60EMAZ-??LW3B? |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD60EDAZ-??BMZB?
WD60EFAX-??SHWN? WD60EMAZ-??TKPB? WD60EZAZ-??ZGHB? |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD60EFAX-??JH4N?
WD60EMAZ-??LW3B? |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| HSH7214??AL42M?
HSH7214??AL52M? |
SAS | HM-SMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
| HSH7214??ALE6M?
HSH7214??ALN6M? |
SATA | HM-SMR (PMR, He) | HGST |
SMR 2.5" drives
| Model Name | Interface | Type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| WD9000LPZX-??HKTX? | SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD10SPSX-??A6WT?
WD10SPWX-??A4RT? |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD10SPZX-??Z10T?
WD10SPZX-??EW0T? HTS5410??B7E610 |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD10SDZW-??UMGS?
WD10SMZM-??WKCS? WD10SMZW-??Y0TS? WD10SDRW-??A0XS? |
USB | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD20SPZX-??CRAT?
WD20SPZX-??UA7T? |
SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD20SDRW-??VUUS?
WD20SDZM-??TM5S? WD20SDZW-??Z3CS? WD20SMZM-??H3FS? WD20SMZW-??YFCS? WD20SMZW-??JW8S? WD20SDRM-??A4DS? |
USB | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD40NPZZ-??PDPT? | SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD40NPZZ-??JHGT?
WD40NMZW-??GX6S? |
USB | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD50NDZW-??MR8S?
WD50NMZW-??LG6S? WD50NDZW-??A3YS? |
USB | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD50NPZZ-??A9JT? | SATA | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
| WD50NDZW-??A8JS?
WD50NDZW-??A8KS? WD50NMZW-??A8NS? |
USB | DM-SMR (PMR) | WDC |
Author: Artem Rubtsov
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