This article provides an objective comparison of two major hard drive brands – Seagate and Western Digital (WD). We will give an overview of each company and compare their product lines, looking at performance, reliability, price, noise levels, security features, and innovation. The goal is to help consumers understand the key similarities and differences between these top hard drive manufacturers to make an informed decision when purchasing a new hard disk drive.
Company Overviews
Western Digital (WD) was founded in 1970 in California and its headquarters are in San Jose, California. WD manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and storage systems. The company has manufacturing locations in China, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. In 2021, WD generated $16.6 billion in revenue and has a large market share in the HDD and SSD markets.
Seagate Technology was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Seagate designs and manufactures HDDs, SSDs, and storage systems. The company has key manufacturing operations in China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Northern Ireland. In 2021, Seagate generated $11.7 billion in revenue. While smaller than WD, Seagate still maintains a significant market share especially in the HDD market.
Overall, both WD and Seagate are major players in the data storage industry with long histories and large global manufacturing footprints. WD generates more revenue and has a broader product portfolio, while Seagate remains highly competitive especially in HDDs.
Product Lines
When it comes to consumer HDDs, Seagate offers the Barracuda line while WD offers the WD Blue line. The Barracuda drives are known for providing lots of storage capacity and decent performance at an affordable price point. The WD Blue drives offer good all-around performance for everyday computing and gaming. Both lines offer a range of storage capacities to choose from.
For enterprise HDDs, Seagate has the IronWolf line and WD offers the WD Gold line. The IronWolf drives are optimized for NAS systems and 24/7 operation with features like vibration sensors and workload ratings. The WD Gold drives are also designed for maximum reliability and performance in enterprise environments. Both offer robust features for enterprise use cases.
In SSDs, Seagate offers the Firecuda line while WD has the WD Black line. The Firecuda drives focus on balancing performance and affordability with decent speeds and endurance ratings. The WD Black drives aim for maximum performance with top tier speeds and endurance for high intensity workloads. Both lines offer a range of capacities and form factors.
Overall, Seagate and WD offer comparable products across consumer, enterprise, and solid state drive segments. The choice often comes down to specific workload needs and budget.
Sources:
https://history-computer.com/seagate-vs-wd/
https://4ddig.tenorshare.com/hard-drive/seagate-vs-western-digital.html
Reliability
When it comes to reliability, the latest Backblaze report for Q2 2023 shows very similar annual failure rates for Seagate and WD drives. Seagate had an overall 1.38% annual failure rate across all of their drive models tested, while WD came in at 1.45%. Some specific models, like the Seagate IronWolf 18TB, performed exceptionally well with a 0% failure rate.
In terms of warranty, Seagate offers 1-5 years depending on the product line, while WD ranges from 1-5 years as well. Both offer advanced replacement during the warranty period, so customers can get a replacement drive shipped quickly before sending the failed drive back. Overall, while Seagate may have a slight edge in reliability from the Backblaze reports, both brands offer comparable warranties and support options.
Performance
When comparing the performance benchmarks of Seagate and Western Digital hard drives, Seagate tends to have a slight edge in sequential reads and writes according to independent testing sites like Tom’s Hardware and StorageReview. In Tom’s Hardware testing of 7200 RPM desktop hard drives, the Seagate BarraCuda Pro 12TB drive achieved 276 MB/s sequential reads and 277 MB/s sequential writes, while the WD Black 12TB drive hit 247 MB/s reads and 246 MB/s writes [1].
For faster spinning 10,000 RPM and 15,000 RPM enterprise-class hard drives, Seagate’s Cheetah and Exos X drives again outperformed comparable WD Velociraptor and Re drives in sequential transfers in StorageReview’s tests. However, Western Digital’s SATA SSDs tend to match or edge out Seagate’s models in read/write speeds according to multiple third-party benchmarks.
In terms of RPM speeds, both Seagate and Western Digital offer 5400 RPM drives for basic usage, 7200 RPM for mainstream desktop usage, 10,000 RPM for performance-intensive applications, and 15,000 RPM for enterprise servers and high-end workstations. For the fastest sustained throughput for sequential transfers, Seagate’s 15K drives top the market.
Price
For the most popular models like the BarraCuda and IronWolf series, the MSRP for WD drives tends to be slightly lower than Seagate drives. The WD Red Plus 4TB has an MSRP of $99.99, while the Seagate IronWolf 4TB is $129.99 MSRP. However, price per GB comparisons tell a different story. When factoring in larger capacities, Seagate actually offers a lower price per GB in many cases. For example, the 18TB Seagate Exos HDD has a price per GB around $0.03, while the WD Gold 18TB comes out to around $0.04 per GB. So while individual MSRPs may favor WD, Seagate tends to compete better on a price per GB basis at higher capacities.
Noise Level
When it comes to noise output, WD and Seagate drives have historically been very comparable. Modern hard drives use ramp load technology and other acoustic management features to minimize vibration and noise during operation.
In recent tests, the WD Red Plus NAS drives (CMR versions) measured around 25 dB under load while the Seagate IronWolf drives were around 28 dB (Source). Both ranges are considered quiet for a hard drive spinning at 5400-7200 RPM. Seagate’s IronWolf Pro drives can peak around 33 dB under heavy loads.
WD’s Red Plus drives use NoTouch ramp load technology to park the recording head off the disk surface during idle, reducing vibration. Seagate’s IronWolf drives rely on Rotational Vibration sensors and multi-axis shock sensors to detect vibration and compensate (Source).
Overall, both WD and Seagate hard drives are relatively quiet nowadays thanks to ramp load, sensor, and caching technologies to minimize noise during operation. In comparable capacity drives, WD Red Plus runs slightly quieter on average.
Security Features
When it comes to security features, Seagate offers robust encryption and password protection tools. The Seagate Secure self-encryption drive (SED) utilizes AES 256-bit encryption to secure all data stored on the drive (Seagate, n.d.). Users can easily enable encryption and set a password using the Seagate Toolkit software. Once enabled, all data written to the drive is encrypted and protected by the password (Seagate, n.d.). If the password is forgotten, the data cannot be accessed, providing a high level of security. Seagate also offers the Secure Downloads and Diagnostics feature to verify data integrity and securely delete local copies of files after uploading (Seagate, n.d.).
In comparison, WD offers the 256-bit AES hardware encryption built into its WD Black SN850 NVMe SSD to protect data. Users can enable password protection and hardware encryption using the WD Security software tool. Overall, both Seagate and WD provide robust encryption and password protection capabilities to keep data secure.
Innovation
Western Digital and Seagate are both pushing the limits of hard drive capacity through research and development. Recent innovations like shingled magnetic recording (SMR) allow the companies to pack more data onto each disk platter. In 2023, Western Digital announced a new 28TB hard drive using SMR technology (source). Seagate is aiming even higher, targeting hard drives with capacities up to 30TB and beyond (source). Both companies invest heavily in R&D to stay on the cutting edge. In 2021, Seagate spent over $1.1 billion on research and development while Western Digital spent $1.9 billion (source). This focus on innovation allows them to keep hard disk drives competitive against flash storage in certain applications.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both Seagate and WD produce quality hard drives with their own strengths and drawbacks.
Seagate drives tend to be faster and slightly cheaper, making them a good choice for casual home users who need lots of storage and speed for a lower price point. They offer innovative features like hybrid SSD caching but can be less reliable over time.
WD drives are considered more reliable and come with helpful security features. They are a bit pricier but the higher quality makes them ideal for mission critical business or enterprise use where downtime is unacceptable. WD also offers advanced enterprise features like NVMe and robust management software.
For most regular consumers, Seagate provides excellent value, while businesses or intensive professional use cases may benefit from the proven reliability of WD. Evaluate your specific performance, budget, and usage requirements to decide which brand better suits your storage needs.