No matter how many hard drives I get, I always seem to be running out of storage. I'm currently at 148TB, but I'm down to the last 8TB on the primary NAS and need to pick up more drives in a few months' time. Thankfully, Seagate's latest announcement is aimed squarely at my usage needs: the brand has announced 20TB variants of the Exos and IronWolf Pro hard drives, with both models going on sale from later this month.
I already have over 40TB spread out over various IronWolf and IronWolf Pro drives, and I recommend them highly if you're interested in picking up one of the best NAS for Plex models. I first got started with two 14TB IronWolf drives three years ago, and they're holding up just fine in my primary NAS — a DiskStation DS1019+ — that runs 24/7.
So what do you get with the 10TB Exos and IronWolf Pro drives? Both drives are based on conventional magnetic recording (CMR) tech, so you will get long-term reliability, and they spin at 7200rpm and include five-year warranty as standard.
The 20TB Exos is designed for data center use cases, and goes up to 285MB/s for file transfers and has a low latency of 4.16ms. With a 2.5 million hour MTBF, the Exos is guaranteed to last several years under demanding 24/7 workloads.
The 20TB IronWolf Pro should be more relevant for NAS buyers, and like all Pro models over 10TB, it has a helium-sealed chassis for better durability. It has built-in rotational vibration sensors, and is designed for intense workloads, with Seagate touting 300TB/year endurance. It also goes up to 285MB/s for transfers, and includes the IronWolf Health Management system for monitoring the drive health and status. As is the case with all IronWolf Pro drives, you get three years of data recovery services as standard.
As for what these drives will cost, the 20TB Exos retails for $670, while the 20TB IronWolf Pro is available for $650. You'll be able to get your hands on the drives from later in the month. Don't want to wait for the 20TB drives? The 18TB variant of the IronWolf Pro is now on sale.
Seagate IronWolf Pro 18TB NAS HDD
The 18TB IronWolf Pro has a 256MB cache, five-year warranty, vibration resistance built-in, and spins at 7200rpm. In short, this is the ideal NAS hard drive if you want a lot of storage, and the discount makes it just that little bit more enticing.
