Unmasking Shingled Magnetic Recording in Western Digital and Seagate HDDs

Date: 30/08/2025

Until recently, users—at least the savvy ones willing to spend a few days scouring forums—were sure of one thing: Seagate’s consumer hard drives use SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording), which is bad, while Western Digital’s do not. Many people based their purchasing decisions on that single criterion. But a recent investigative report turned that assumption on its head.
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