CONCLUSION

   Just like with the previous IronWolf Pro drives Seagate doesn’t disappoint with their brand new 14TB model since according to all our charts it’s among the 3 fastest SATA drives to pass from our lab to date. We didn’t really expect a performance bump compared to the previous line prior to HAMR getting introduced by the end of the year (since we’re still talking about an 8-platter design like the last IronWolf Pro line) but we did get some and so that might have been due to the use of TDMR (according to Seagate TDMR uses new platters, motors and controllers compared to SMR). And then there’s the new enclosure which seems way too basic compared to the “fancy” enclosure (it almost looked like zinc alloy) Seagate used with their previous Guardian series lines. Our guess is that it’s either due to the use of TDMR or because of the upcoming HAMR drives (the first such drives according to Seagate should be delivered to their clients by the end of the year and should allow for capacities of up to 40TB by 2023).

   14TB hard disk drives are the highest capacity models currently in the market and so as expected (and just like their lower capacity brothers when first introduced to the market) they don’t come cheap. To be more specific the IronWolf Pro 14TB SATA III HDD by Seagate (ST14000NE0008) will set you back no less than USD588.88 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 565.85Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). This of course is a hefty amount but since these drives are not really targeted to the mainstream consumer market that shouldn’t really be a problem. At the end of the day just like with its predecessor you’re still getting one of the fastest HDDs in the market today featuring the highest capacity currently, impressive reliability numbers (1.2 million hours MTBF with 300TB/yr.) and is not only covered by a 5 year warranty but also a 2 year subscription to Seagate’s Rescue Data Recovery service (thus getting our Platinum Award).

PROS

- Build Quality (300TBW / 1.2 Million Hours MTBF)
- Top Of The Charts Performance (SATA)
- Technologies Used (TDMR / AgileArray / Rotational Vibration Mitigation / Health Management)
- Optimizations For Up To 24 Drives
- 256MB Cache
- Massive 14TB Capacity
- Temperatures / Power Consumption
- 5 Year Limited Warranty & 2 Year Rescue Data Service Subscription

CONS

- Price (For Some)