HDDs from different companies

[Nem]

I've been using nothing but WD Reds (WDxxEFRX) in my server, which I believe are CMR drives, but it looks like theyre not being made anymore and are becoming harder to find. The newer alternatives (WDxxEFAX) are SMR drives, which I understand are not as good for NAS performance?

 

A few related questions:

1) Is it ok to mix drives from different companies? For example, if I wanted to add some Seagate IronWolf drives to my current WD array?

2) What is the difference between IronWolf/NAS/Pro models? And are they CMR/SMR?

3) How are the IronWolf drives compared to WD Red? Any other companies that are recommended?

 

The new drive will be used as a parity drive (for now). As a parity drive, it would have to be at least as large as my largest array drive, but I'm not sure if a 6GB Seagate is exactly the same size as a 6GB WD Red

[JorgeB]

10 minutes ago, Nem said:

WDxxEFRX

For some capacities they were replaced with RED plus, they are still CMR, e.g.

WD30EFRX is the same as WD30EFZX

 

11 minutes ago, Nem said:

Is it ok to mix drives from different companies?

Perfectly fine.

 

11 minutes ago, Nem said:

What is the difference between IronWolf/NAS/Pro models? And are they CMR/SMR?

Those should all be CMR.

 

 

[Nem]

2 hours ago, JorgeB said:

For some capacities they were replaced with RED plus, they are still CMR, e.g.

WD30EFRX is the same as WD30EFZX

 

I can only seem to find WDxxFFBX drives. Example: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/2PYLrH/western-digital-red-pro-4tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-wd4003ffbx

 

Are they the same as EFZX?

[JorgeB]

10 hours ago, Nem said:

Are they the same as EFZX?

No, those are RED Pro (7200rpm), but they are also CMR.