Seagate IronWolf 10TB NAS HDD Review




/ 8 years ago

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Introduction


Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-top angle

With Seagate’s latest offensive on the storage market, we now have a wide variety of 10 TB drives for all sort of operations and in a market segment that is available for consumers. While SSDs have the speed advantage, HDDs are still the only way to go when you need a large capacity and only have a normal budget. Today I’m taking a closer look at the new Seagate IronWolf 10 TB NAS HDD and will put it through the paces in my testing area.

With 10 TB capacity, we have entered the era where you can have 20 TB raw capacity in a 2-bay NAS. That is an impressive capacity option for such a tiny footprint and when you couple that with the fact that a unit like that would consume about 20-25W, then it is even more impressive.

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-side angle 2

I like the branding theme from Seagate, it highlights the drives more than the previous naming where they just were called NAS drives. While it was simple, an eye-catching branding can’t hurt. But all that aside, let us have a look at the numbers and specifications of this drive.

The IronWolf drives are rated for usage in systems with up to eight drives, that’s up to 80TB raw capacity. Wow. To make sure that the drives perform optimally in such environments, they are equipped with dual-plane balance systems and rotational vibration sensors which are part of the AgileArray system. Naturally, the drives have also been optimized for usage in RAID setups and it comes with error recovery control.

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-side

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-side 2

Performance wise, the IronWolf 10 TB drive isn’t without either. It isn’t just large, it’s also fast. It is rated for a sustained data transfer rate of 210 MB/s which is thanks to the 7200 RPM disk speed and the 256 MB cache.

Endurance is another vital part of your storage setup and we aren’t being let down here either with 600K load/unload cycles and an 180 TB workload rating per year. With that kind of endurance, multiple users can work their butts off on these drives and it will still run as smooth as ever, whether you’re a creative pro, a small business, or just a power user.

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-bottom

The drive is backed by a 3-year warranty and you can also get the additional rescue service plan from Seagate with these drives. It doesn’t cost much more and it is definitely something that is worth considering for professionals and businesses where every byte of data could mean a lot of money or in the worst case scenario, lost profit. Seagate has a great recovery rate with failed drives and it doesn’t matter in what kind of setup they were used.

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-side angle

NAS drives are designed to run around the clock and every day and it is no different with the Seagate Ironwolf. Else there wouldn’t be much point in the entire type of systems. The need to serve files all the time and it doesn’t matter whether it is your movie and show library, music collection, digital photos, or your companies databases and sale charts – the IronWolf will be a great companion.

 

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-connector

The IronWolf Pro drive for larger drive arrays than 8 drives is also on the way and is scheduled to be released this fall. If you actually need more than 80TB raw capacity, then you might want to hold off until they arrive. I’m sure it’ll be worth it.

The IronWolf isn’t a loud drive either with just 2.8 bels when idle and 3.2 bels in operation. That should leave you with a nice and silent running server for all your data.

Specifications

The specifications are taken directly from the manufacturer’s site and might as such be subject to possible future changes.

Seagate_IronWolf-SS-specs

Package and Accessories

An OEM drive doesn’t come with much on the side and it’s no different here. The drive will come in a protective cover for the transport, but that’s it. Then again, what more do you need? I’m sure that there also will be some retail packages for the shop shelves as well, but most people will opt for the cheaper OEM option.

Seagate_IronWolf-Photo-box

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Test Procedure & Specifications


Testing a mechanical hard drive’s performance is pretty straightforward and there isn’t much to say tell in this section. I will be testing the drive that in this case is the Seagate IronWolf 10TB NAS drive in a wide a variety of applications to gather as many tests results as possible. In return, it will hopefully allow you to find just the right comparison so you are well equipped with knowledge when you decide what you next storage drive should be.

Test system:

Software used:

  • AIDA64 Storage Benchmark
  • Anvil’s Storage Utilities
  • AS SSD Benchmark
  • ATTO Benchmark
  • CrystalDiskMark
  • IOMeter
  • PCMark 8 Storage Benchmark
  • Windows 10 Pro
Each of the following pages will contain the benchmark screenshots as well as charts comparing the drive to similar drives previously tested.
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AIDA64 Engineer


AIDA64 is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. It provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring.

It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives and is compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems. It also has a disk benchmark tool, and that is the one we’ll be using.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida suite

Linear Performance

The Linear Read and Write tests measure the sequential performance by reading or writing all sectors without skipping any. It gives, as the name says, a linear view on the drives overall performance from start to end.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida read linear

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida write linear

Random Performance

The Random Read and Write tests measure the random performance by reading or writing variable-sized data blocks at random locations on the surface of the drive. The Random tests are actually a combination of both speed and access times as it moves the position before each new operation.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida read random

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida write random

Access Times

The Access time tests are designed to measure the data access performance by reading or writing small 0.5KB data blocks at random locations on the drive surface.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida read access

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-aida write access

Drive Comparison

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-AIDA access

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Anvil’s Storage Utilities


Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a relative new benchmarking utility that has the ability to test mainly hard drives and solid state drives, but also any other form of storage medium that you can throw at it. It is completely free as well, which is a nice thing

Compressible Data

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-anvils compr 75

Incompressible Data

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-anvils incompr 75

Drive Analysis

The drive-analysis shows the drive’s performance over various fillage scenarios. The straighter the line, the better the result. We really want a consistent performance across the entire drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartAnal-Anvils compressible

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartAnal-Anvils incompressible

Drive Comparison

For comparison reasons, the drive comparison chart will use values from the fresh and empty drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-Anvils

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AS SSD


The AS SSD software determines the performance of Solid State Drives (SSD). The tool contains five synthetic and three practice tests. The synthetic tests determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD. These tests are performed without using the operating system caches. In Sequential tests, the program measures the time it takes to read and write a 1 GB file respectively. To give a clearer picture of the drives tested, I’ve chosen to include all tests. Special the copy test is one that I think is relevant on the consumer level as it gives the user a view

To give a clearer picture of the drives tested, I’ve chosen to include all tests, also the copy test. While it isn’t the most static test, I think it is a relevant test in the eyes of consumers, giving them a view into one of the operations they’re going to be doing many times.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-asssd combined

Compression

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-asssd compr 75

Drive Analysis

The drive-analysis shows the drive’s performance over various fillage scenarios. The straighter the line, the better the result. We really want a consistent performance across the entire drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartAnal-ASSSD sequential

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartAnal-ASSSD random

Drive Comparison

For comparison reasons, the drive comparison chart will use values from the fresh and empty drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-ASSSD seq

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-ASSSD random fixed

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ATTO


The ATTO Disk Benchmark is a performance measurement tool is for Windows. It measures storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for both reads and writes. It has multiple options available to customize your performance measurement, including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously.

ATTO can be used to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives so it is a popular tool everywhere.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-atto 75

Drive Analysis

The drive-analysis shows the drive’s performance over various fillage scenarios. The straighter the line, the better the result. We really want a consistent performance across the entire drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartAnal-ATTO

Drive Comparison

For comparison reasons, the drive comparison chart will use values from the fresh and empty drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-ATTO

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CrystalDiskMark


CrystalDiskMark is a small HDD benchmark utility for your hard drive that enables you to rapidly measure sequential and random 4KB/512KB read/write speeds.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-cdm 75

Drive Analysis

The drive-analysis shows the drive’s performance over various fillage scenarios. The straighter the line, the better the result. We really want a consistent performance across the entire drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartAnal-CDM

Drive Comparison

For comparison reasons, the drive comparison chart will use values from the fresh and empty drive.

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-CDM

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PCMark 8


PCMark 8 Storage benchmark is used test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of popular games. You can test any recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 8 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.

Yes, I know that the Seagate IronWolf NAS HDD isn’t designed to be worked in a desktop environment where these apps and games are run, but I’ll still include it for the sake of comparison. There is also a likely option where people will use this drive as their Steam library disk.

Seagate_IronWolf-Bench-pcmark

Drive Comparison

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-PCMark

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IOmeter


IOMeter is an I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered systems. It is used as a benchmark and troubleshooting tool and is easily configured to replicate the behavior of many popular applications. One commonly quoted measurement provided by the tool is IOPS.

Where most benchmarks show an average value, our IOmeter tests are a little different and show us the final result after a 20 minute continuously running test.

Sequential Performance

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-IOmeter seq

Random Performance

Seagate_IronWolf-ChartComp-IOmeter ran

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Final Thoughts


Pricing

At the time of writing, the Seagate IronWolf 10 TB HDD can be yours for $448.99 at NewEgg, £399.95 at Overclockers UK, or €443.68 through Geizhals.

Seagate_IronWolf-Chart-PricePerGB

Conclusion

Seagate really stepped up with their latest drives and now offer the widest availability and choices when it comes to consumer 10TB drives. The IronWolf 10TB drive that I tested today did really great and showed that this is a great drive, not only in size but also in performance.

We have just seen a great performance throughout all the benchmarks and the Seagate IronWolf isn’t just the largest drive we have tested to date, it is also one of the best performing ones which make it land a spot at the top of most charts. When you couple that with the support for usage in up to 8-bay enclosures, then you know that you got a great drive.

Performance and capacity is one thing, a drive that is built to house all your valuable data and backups also need to be reliable. And the IronWolf is that too with a high TBW rating, good warranty, and naturally a 24/7 usage certification.

Despite the larger capacity, Seagate actually managed to create a drive that draws less power than the smaller 8TB brother which is quite impressive. More storage at lower power consumption while still running with a 7200RPM spindle speed, that’s something no one can argue against. Noise wise you won’t hear the drive either once it has been built into your setup. During heavy random operations, you can hear the moving parts, that’s a given, but during sequential operations it’s silent and you won’t notice it at all. And those are the kind of operations that the drive is built for and will be used for.

The IronWolf also presents itself good with the fresh label design and new branding. While you won’t look at the drive for long before you built it into your system, it can’t hurt to look good.

Pros

  • Great performance
  • Silent operation
  • Low power consumption
  • Suited for up to 8-bays
  • 10TB Capacity

Cons

  • none

“Seagate once again shows us that they’re one of the biggest players in the HDD market with the IronWolf drive. An industry-leading performance and capacity at a low power consumption are things that you simply can’t argue against.”

Editors-Choice

Seagate IronWolf 10TB NAS HDD Review

Thank You Seagate for providing us with this sample

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