Hello, I'm looking to change my 2 hard disks. I saw that some were SMR and others CMR. For data archiving, which type of hard drive should I choose, CMR or SMR? Thanks for your feedback!
CMR: conventional magnetic recording CMR, or Conventional Magnetic Recording, is the most commonly used recording technology. In CMR discs, data is stored on the surface of the disc in the form of magnetic grains. Each grain represents one bit of information, and these bits can be read and written independently. This allows great flexibility in writing and reading data. The advantages of CMR lie in its reliability and consistent performance, making it the preferred choice for applications requiring sustained read and write speeds. CMR hard drives are ideal for servers, workstations and high-end storage systems. However, they are limited in terms of capacity and are more expensive than SMR drives. SMR: multiple surface magnetic recording Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) is a different technology from CMR. In SMR discs, the tracks are narrowed as much as possible to keep pace with users' ever-increasing capacity requirements. This means that more data can be stored on the same surface, but there is a slight compromise in terms of writing performance. SMR drives are particularly suited to applications requiring large-scale storage at relatively low cost. They are often used and recommended for data archiving, backup systems and other applications where write speed is not the main priority. Data recovery from SMR disks Due to their increased complexity, SMR disks are less reliable than CMR disks. This is why they are often found in high-capacity models for the general public. If an SMR drive fails, data recovery is more complex due to the overlapping track layout. Recovery techniques may require special procedures to avoid damaging neighbouring data. This has an impact on the cost of data recovery. Experienced professionals are recommended to deal with damaged SMR disks, which, more than ever, require special skills to maximise the chances of recovery.
The advantages of CMR lie in its reliability and consistent performance, making it the preferred choice for applications requiring sustained read and write speeds. CMR hard drives are ideal for servers, workstations and high-end storage systems. However, they are limited in terms of capacity and are more expensive than SMR drives.
SMR drives are particularly suited to applications requiring large-scale storage at relatively low cost. They are often used and recommended for data archiving, backup systems and other applications where write speed is not the main priority.
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