Is this hard drive SMR or CMR?

Hello there,

I've recently found out drives are either SMR or CMR and you should know this before buying as both have their ups and downs and purpose. What is the best for gaming or a windows operating system?

I am using for my windows: WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB Is this a SMR or CMR drive?

Also the same question for the one below:

Amazon.com

The purpose of the above drive is for storage of documents and video games (meant to be playable)

On WD Red NAS Drives - Western Digital Corporate Blog on here its not clear if its SMR or CMR

also found this bit on there https://blog.westerndigital.com/wp-c...R_SKUs_vDS.pdf

Let me know what you guys conclude.

Also what is this in CM? 5.79 x 4 x 1.03 inches

I think I cannot add a drive higher then 2.5CM

You might find some advice in post #5 in What to HD specs mean? and perhaps you might usefully check through the rest of that thread as well.

In the article linked to there, CMR vs SMR - MTPW, there is a reference to WD Red Pro as being CMR but other WD Reds being a mixture.

Perhaps you can ask WD about those particular disks and post their response.
- I've never seen any disk specs mention SMR/CMR and I wonder if it matters.

Best of luck,
Denis

WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB

WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB is a decent choice for a 1tb mechanical disk.

I have had one for almost 10 years. It is cmr. Fast for a mechanical disk. Height:2.54 cm
It has taken quite a beating so I dont know how much longer it will stay alive. It has done well to have lasted this long.

The 1tb is cmr. The bigger disks in that WD Blue series are smr. The large e.g. 256mb cache is usually the sign of smr.

It does matter. I have a seagate 2tb smr. I didn't know it was smr back then. I would not have bought it if I had known.
It slows considerbly as you move further across the disk. Writing to the final 500gb is agonizingly slow. It is all on one platter so has low power draw and the health has held up well so far though it hasnt been given any abuse.

Avoid smr.

I would suggest using an ssd for the operating system and CMR mechanical disks for storage.

Hello @Max Pen,

This Thread might interest you for additional information => How to tell if a new HDD is SMR or CMR