Seagate IronWolf Professional 22TB HDD Capsule Evaluate

Seagate’s IronWolf Professional lineup of exhausting drives for network-attached storage items has persistently provided good worth for cash, notably on the highest capability factors. I bought two 22TB IronWolf Professional drives for manufacturing deployment late final yr. As a part of the burn-in testing previous to precise deployment, they have been put via our analysis routine for direct-attached storage drives in each inside and exterior (Thunderbolt 3 DAS) modes. This capsule evaluation presents an outline of the efficiency you possibly can anticipate from the drive in standalone, RAID 0, and RAID 1 modes.

Introduction and Product Specs

Information storage necessities have stored growing during the last a number of years. SSDs have taken over the function of the first drive in most computing methods. Nonetheless, in relation to sheer bulk storage, exhausting drives (HDDs) proceed to be the storage media of selection in areas coping with giant quantities of comparatively chilly knowledge. The Seagate IronWolf Professional NAS exhausting drive household targets NAS items as much as 24 bays and is supposed for artistic professionals, SOHO, and small-to-medium enterprises. These CMR SATA drives have a workload ranking of 550 TB/yr, unrecoverable learn error charge (URE) of 1 in 10E15, MTBF of 1.2M hours, and a rated load/unload cycle of 600K for the heads. The household carries a 5-year guarantee. The 22TB model incorporates ten platters with an areal density of 1260 Gb/in². It has a 512MB DRAM cache. Acoustics vary from 20 dBA to 34 dBA relying upon the working mode.

We put two IronWolf Professional 22TB NAS HDDs to check in three distinct configurations:

All methods have been up to date to the newest model of Home windows 11 22H2. It have to be famous that for the final a number of years Home windows has been interfering with the efficiency of detachable storage drives linked through Thunderbolt / PCIe by disabling the write caching utterly. Subsequently, the RAID0 and RAID1 configurations have been evaluated in two modes every – one with write caching off (default / ‘Fast elimination’ underneath Disk Properties > Coverage), and one other with the write caching on (‘Higher efficiency’ mode underneath Disk Properties > Coverage).

The S.M.A.R.T readout for the completely different configurations are offered under.

S.M.A.R.T Passthrough – CrystalDiskInfo
Seagate IronWolf Professional 22TBx2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – Default	x2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – DefaultSeagate IronWolf Professional 22TB

Artificial Benchmarks – ATTO and CrystalDiskMark

Benchmarks comparable to ATTO and CrystalDiskMark assist present a fast take a look at the efficiency of the storage gadgets. Seagate claims speeds of as much as 285 MBps. That is simply hit at increased queue depths within the CrystalDiskMark sequential workloads. ATTO numbers attain as much as 270 MBps for sequential workloads with switch sizes as small as 8KB.

ATTO Benchmarks
TOP: Seagate IronWolf Professional 22TBx2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – Default	BOTTOM: x2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – DefaultSeagate IronWolf Professional 22TB

CrystalDiskMark makes use of 4 completely different entry traces for reads and writes over a configurable area dimension. Two of the traces are sequential accesses, whereas two are 4K random accesses. Internally, CrystalDiskMark makes use of the Microsoft DiskSpd storage testing software. The ‘Seq128K Q32T1’ sequential traces use 128K block dimension with a queue depth of 32 from a single thread, whereas the ‘4K Q32T16’ one does random 4K accesses with the identical queue configuration, however from a number of threads. The ‘Seq1M’ traces use a 1MiB block dimension. The plain ‘Rnd4K’ one makes use of solely a single queue and single thread .

CrystalDiskMark Benchmarks
TOP: Seagate IronWolf Professional 22TBx2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – Default	BOTTOM: x2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – DefaultSeagate IronWolf Professional 22TB

Actual-World Benchmarking – File Switch Workloads

A lot of the NAS disk exercise in dwelling shopper and SOHO use-cases is said to file transfers. This may increasingly contain giant quantities of multimedia content material and/or paperwork. Efficiency analysis for this use-case includes 5 completely different workloads:

• AV: Multimedia content material with audio and video recordsdata totalling 24.03 GB over 1263 recordsdata in 109 sub-folders
• House: Images and doc recordsdata totalling 18.86 GB over 7627 recordsdata in 382 sub-folders
• BR: Blu-ray folder construction totalling 23.09 GB over 111 recordsdata in 10 sub-folders
• ISOs: OS set up recordsdata (ISOs) totalling 28.61 GB over 4 recordsdata in a single folder
• Disk-to-Disk: Addition of 223.32 GB unfold over 171 recordsdata in 29 sub-folders to the above 4 workloads (whole of 317.91 GB over 9176 recordsdata in 535 sub-folders)

Aside from the ‘Disk-to-Disk’ workload, every knowledge set is first positioned in a 29GB RAM drive, and a robocopy command is situation to switch it to the storage unit formatted in NTFS.

robocopy /NP /MIR /NFL /J /NDL /MT:8 $SRC_PATH $DEST_PATH

Upon completion of the switch (write take a look at), the contents from the unit are learn again into the RAM drive (learn take a look at) after a ten second idling interval. This course of is repeated 3 times for every workload. Learn and write speeds, in addition to the time taken to finish every go are recorded. Every time attainable, the temperature of the exterior storage system is recorded through the idling intervals. Bandwidth for every knowledge set is computed as the typical of all three passes.

The ‘Disk-to-Disk’ workload includes an identical course of, however with one iteration solely. The information is copied to the exterior unit from the CPU-attached NVMe drive, after which copied again to the interior drive. It does embody extra quantity of steady knowledge switch in a single course, as knowledge that does not match within the RAM drive can also be a part of the workload set.

Audio and Video LearnAudio and Video WriteBlu-ray Folder LearnBlu-ray Folder WriteDisk-to-Disk LearnDisk-to-Disk WriteISOs LearnISOs WriteImages and Paperwork LearnImages and Paperwork WriteDevelop All

Efficiency throughout all of the workloads is as per expectations, and is basically depending on file sizes. For big-sized recordsdata, the numbers method the marketed specs. RAID0 clearly has a bonus for these sequential workloads, and there may be vital gulf for write workloads between the ‘write caching on’ and ‘off’ settings.

Along with monitoring the instantaneous learn and write speeds of the drive when processing the above workloads, the temperature of the drive was additionally recorded. The graphs under current the recorded knowledge. For small recordsdata, the write speeds (as learn periodically from the Home windows counters) must be smoothened, however the common time for every part has already been recorded within the graphs above.

File Switch Workloads – Efficiency Consistency
TOP: Seagate IronWolf Professional 22TBx2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – Default	BOTTOM: x2 – RAID 1 – Defaultx2 – RAID 0 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 1 – Write Cache Onx2 – RAID 0 – DefaultSeagate IronWolf Professional 22TB

Actual-World Benchmarking – Software Traces utilizing PCMark 10 Storage Bench

There are a variety of storage benchmarks that may topic a tool to synthetic entry traces by various the combo of reads and writes, the entry block sizes, and the queue depth / variety of excellent knowledge requests. We noticed outcomes from two in style ones – ATTO, and CrystalDiskMark – in a earlier part. Extra severe benchmarks, nonetheless, truly replicate entry traces from real-world workloads to find out the suitability of a selected system for a selected workload. Actual-world entry traces could also be used for simulating the conduct of computing actions which are restricted by storage efficiency. Examples embody booting an working system or loading a selected recreation from the disk.

PCMark 10’s storage bench (launched in v2.1.2153) consists of 4 storage benchmarks that use related real-world traces from in style purposes and customary duties to completely take a look at the efficiency of the newest fashionable drives:

• The Full System Drive Benchmark makes use of a wide-ranging set of real-world traces from in style purposes and customary duties to completely take a look at the efficiency of the quickest fashionable drives. It includes a complete of 204 GB of write site visitors.
• The Fast System Drive Benchmark is a shorter take a look at with a smaller set of much less demanding real-world traces. It topics the system to 23 GB of writes.
• The Information Drive Benchmark is designed to check drives which are used for storing recordsdata relatively than purposes. These usually embody NAS drives, USB sticks, reminiscence playing cards, and different exterior storage gadgets. The system is subjected to fifteen GB of writes.
• The Drive Efficiency Consistency Check is a long-running and intensely demanding take a look at with a heavy, steady load for knowledgeable customers. In-depth reporting reveals how the efficiency of the drive varies underneath completely different circumstances. This writes greater than 23 TB of information to the drive.

The Full System Drive Benchmark includes of 23 completely different traces. For the aim of presenting outcomes, we classify them underneath 5 completely different classes:

• Boot: Replay of storage entry hint recorded whereas booting Home windows 10
• Inventive: Replay of storage entry traces recorded through the begin up and utilization of Adobe purposes comparable to Acrobat, After Results, Illustrator, Premiere Professional, Lightroom, and Photoshop.
• Workplace: Replay of storage entry traces recorded through the utilization of Microsoft Workplace purposes comparable to Excel and Powerpoint.
• Gaming: Replay of storage entry traces recorded through the begin up of video games comparable to Battlefield V, Name of Responsibility Black Ops 4, and Overwatch.
• File Transfers: Replay of storage entry traces (Write-Solely, Learn-Write, and Learn-Solely) recorded through the switch of information comparable to ISOs and images.

PCMark 10 additionally generates an general rating, bandwidth, and common latency quantity for fast comparability of various drives. The sub-sections in the remainder of the web page reference the entry traces specified within the PCMark 10 Technical Information.

Booting Home windows 10

The read-write bandwidth recorded for every drive within the boo entry hint is offered under.

Home windows 10 BootDevelop All

Inventive Workloads

The read-write bandwidth recorded for every drive within the sacr, saft, sill, spre, slig, sps, aft, exc, sick, ind, psh, and psl entry traces are offered under.

Startup – Adobe AcrobatStartup – Adobe After ResultsStartup – Adobe IllustratorStartup – Adobe LightroomStartup – Adobe PhotoshopStartup – Adobe Premiere ProfessionalUtilization – Adobe After ResultsUtilization – Adobe IllustratorUtilization – Adobe InDesignUtilization – Adobe Photoshop HeavyUtilization – Adobe Photoshop GentleDevelop All

Workplace Workloads

The read-write bandwidth recorded for every drive within the exc and pow entry traces are offered under.

Utilization – Microsoft ExcelUtilization – Microsoft PowerpointDevelop All

Gaming Workloads

The read-write bandwidth recorded for every drive within the bf, cod, and ow entry traces are offered under.

Startup – Battlefield VStartup – Name of Responsibility Black Ops 4Startup – OverwatchDevelop All

Information Switch Workloads

The read-write bandwidth recorded for every drive within the cp1, cp2, cp3, cps1, cps2, and cps3 entry traces are offered under.

Duplicating ISOs (Learn-Write)Duplicating Images (Learn-Write)Exporting ISOs (Write-Solely)Exporting Images (Write-Solely)Importing ISOs (Learn-Solely)Importing Images (Learn-Solely)Develop All

General Scores

PCMark 10 stories an general rating based mostly on the noticed bandwidth and entry instances for the complete workload set. The rating, bandwidth, and common entry latency for every of the drives are offered under.

Full System Drive Benchmark Bandwidth (MBps)Full System Drive Benchmark Latency (us)Full System Drive Benchmark RatingDevelop All

Energy Consumption

The facility consumption of each the 5V and 12V rails was tracked utilizing Quarch’s HD Programmable Energy Module with the disk linked to the legacy SATA HDD testbed. The graph under presents the recorded numbers whereas processing the CrystalDiskMark workload and following it up with 5 minutes of idling.

The HDD specs do enable for peak currents of as a lot as 2A on the 12V rail, and we see that taking place. Nonetheless, for the overwhelming majority of the motion, the drive energy is round 7W, with the quantity dropping right down to 2.8W underneath ‘idling’ circumstances. It’s attainable that the drive enters an much more decrease energy state after prolonged idling.

Concluding Remarks

Whereas enterprise knowledge storage necessities have skyrocketed within the final decade or so, the height capability enhance in HDDs has surpassed the necessities in shopper and SOHO eventualities. When 4TB and 6TB HDDs have been the norm, I used to run 8-bay NAS items (nonetheless have a few these in use) with drives configured in RAID5. Rebuilds weren’t notably nice. Since then, HDD capacities have elevated, however peak speeds haven’t scaled up (they don’t seem to be even on the SATA 6 Gbps restrict but). Performing RAID5 / RAID6 rebuilds with 10TB+ HDDs, whereas praying fervently for one more disk within the array to not fail, is finest prevented. Fortunately, elevated HDD capacities have made it possible to function drive arrays in RAID10. For a 4-bay array, RAID5 operation with 10TB HDDs would have yielded 30TB of usable storage with help for a single disk failure (and hoping that one does not have to rebuild). With 22TB HDDs, RAID10 operation supplies 44TB of usable area with help for twin disk failure (so long as they don’t seem to be from the identical mirrored set). Rebuilds contain copying over knowledge from the opposite drive within the mirrored set, and don’t stress the remainder of the drives within the array. It’s a completely different matter that 6+ bays are nonetheless helpful in dwelling and SOHO eventualities for SSD caching and working different purposes (comparable to VMs) from the SSD volumes.

Presently, the 22TB drives appear to supply one of the best $/TB metric at increased capacities, notably after the launch of the 24TB drives (which command a premium, as anticipated). I had bought them for $400 every, however the worth continues to fluctuate round that mark. Having seen a number of stories on varied boards about some IronWolf Professional 22TB HDDs being dead-on-arrival and needing to be RMA-ed, I used to be a bit apprehensive at first. Fortuitously, the drives I bought managed to finish their burn-in course of with none hiccups. Efficiency is nothing to put in writing dwelling about, however I might be configuring them in RAID1 (for now), with plans to shift to RAID10 later.