WD Red 2TB, 4TB and 4TB NAS Hard Drives Use SMR / DM-SMR Over the last few days, a story has been circulating that revolves around WD Red NAS Hard Drives and their potential use of shingled magnetic recording (SMR) and a statement has been shared by the brand highlighting that this is indeed the case, namely, drive managed shingled magnetic recording (DM-SMR). Now, it turns out this is something that many platforms and solo users online had reached the conclusion of as early as July 2019 and when reaching out to WD, was met with less than immediate responses. But now it appears that the WD Red 2TB, 4TB and 6TB Standard class NAS 3.5" Hard Drives do indeed feature this method of platter utilization inside and it's upset a few people indeed. So, what is SMR, Should you be concerned, What does this mean for bigger WD Red Capacities and How is WD responding to this? Let's take a look at the news.
What has WD Told us so far?
We reached out to WD and we were furnished with the following reply by Yemi Elegunde, Enterprise & Channel Sales Manager Western Digital UK:
Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) is a hard drive technology that efficiently increases areal density and capacity for users managing increasing amounts of data, thus lowering users’ TCO. There are both device-managed and host-managed types, each for different use cases. All our WD Red drives are designed to meet or exceed the performance requirements and specifications for common and intended small business/home NAS workloads. WD Red capacities 2TB-6TB currently employ device-managed shingled magnetic recording (DMSMR) to maximize areal density and capacity. WD Red 8-14TB drives use conventional magnetic recording (CMR). DMSMR should not be confused with host-managed SMR (HMSMR), which is designed for data center applications having respective workload requirements and host integration.
What are DM-SMR, HS-SMR and HA-SMR?
Essentially, SMR comes in three variations - DMSMR, HMSMR and HASMR. There are key differences between them and this should be considered by the host software requirements and drive performance characteristics that are needed at the end-user level.
What is Drive-Managed SMR (DM-SMR)
Drive-managed SMR, where the drive manages all write commands from the host, allows a plug-and-play implementation, compatible with any hardware and software. However, the background ‘housekeeping’ tasks that the drive must perform result in highly unpredictable performance, unfit for enterprise workloads.
What is Host-Managed SMR (HM-SMR)
In contrast to drive-managed SMR, host-managed SMR is an implementation where the host is responsible for everything ranging from managing data streams, to read/write operations and zone management. Host-managed SMR requires host-software modification so that the host system has knowledge of the underlying media and can micro-control all elements by employing a new set of commands. Depending on the system architecture, implementing these modifications may seem like an onerous task, yet once developers gain SMR familiarity and optimize their applications for sequential writing, they can take advantage of unsurpassed levels of reliability and quality. With the ability to deliver predictable, consistent performance comparable to what users expect from traditional PMR drives, host-managed SMR is emerging as the preferred option for implementing shingled magnetic recording.
What is Host-Aware SMR (HA-SMR)
Host-aware SMR is like a superset of the aforementioned options. On the surface, this may seem like the best of both worlds. However, if predictability and reliability are what you are after, you cannot take any shortcuts in modifying your stack as you would for host-managed SMR. As such, host-managed SMR allows for a smooth, staged transition to Host-aware SMR in a future timeframe.
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