Question 1

Efax suffix means these drives are using smr, right?

Accepted Answer

Western Digital's complete lack of information regarding this particular drive's use of SMR or PMR would lead me to believe that they are still shipping drives that could use either. (They also produce them from more than one contracted facility) It is my understanding that older versions of this drive use PMR while the more recently manufactured versions will use SMR. If you call customer support to inquire, they will tell you that they are only able to give a definitive answer on whether the drive uses SMR or PMR if you provide them a serial number. This would indicate to me that they have drives with the same product number using both technologies. Also, if you review the specs for the drive on their site, there is absolutely no mention of PMR or SMR. However, if you look at some other WD manufactured drives, such as the Ultrastar DC HC520 12 TB it is clearly marked and identified as a PMR drive.

Question 2

Can you please confirm if this drive is smr or pmr? drives with smr are inappropriate for in zfs storage pools and may cause loss of data.

Accepted Answer

SMR. Western digital was hit with a class action lawsuit because they did not advertise this fact. I bought one in 2020 and it failed just past the 2 year mark. Dont buy this drive for a NAS, which is exactly what's its marketed as.

Question 3

Wd red 8tb is smr or cmr? it is the same "efax" suffix in the model number as 6tb or 4tb, and those are smr

Accepted Answer

WD does not specify SMR versus CMR.  WD has confirmed that the EFAX line has transitioned to SMR for the 2T to 6T drives.  That's only for today, and subject to change at any time.  Just my opinion, but it seems unlikely to me that all EFAX drives will not transition to SMR eventually.  The only thing we know for sure is that WD is super secretive on the subject and will not disclose the information until forced to do so.  If CMR is important to you, your choices in the WD brand are Black or Red Pro.  Personally, I'm switching my brand loyalty to Seagate for being completely transparent as to which of their drives are CMR and which are SMR.

Question 4

Why only support for up to 8 bays? What would be the impact of running 12 of these in a single appliance?

Accepted Answer

Your limitation in drives is variant on your case and software.  You can have more than 8 bays if you know what you are doing.  Personally I run a Plex server and have 28 bays among 3 servers linked and raided to be able to lose 3 drives without losing data.

You can literally buy all the hardware on Amazon and build it yourself.

Software I use is a lifetime license from StableBit Drive Pool.

Standing screen display size	24 Inches
RAM	2 TB
Hard Drive	2 TB Mechanical Hard Disk
Brand	Western Digital
Series	WD Red NAS Internal Hard Drive
Item model number	WD20EFAX
Hardware Platform	PC, Mac
Item Weight	2.12 ounces
Product Dimensions	1.03 x 5.79 x 4 inches
Item Dimensions LxWxH	1.03 x 5.79 x 4 inches
Color	Red
Number of Processors	1
Flash Memory Size	256 GB
Hard Drive Interface	Serial ATA
Hard Drive Rotational Speed	5400 RPM
Manufacturer	Western Digital
Language	English, English, English, English, English
ASIN	B07PGWXQCM
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer	No
Date First Available	March 7, 2019

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Western Digital 2TB WD NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 5400 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, SMR, 256MB Cache, 3.5" - WD20EFAX, Red

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