So, you decided to buy the Seagate IronWolf, sure the name sounds cool. But you're not here for the name, you are here for the Product and let me tell you this. If you plan to use this as an Internal HDD then please move on, if you plan to use this product as intended (NAS) then carry on.
Seagate IronWolf is dare I say a Consumer Grade HDD designed for NAS/Surveillance. I say Surveillance because I feel there is little difference between the Seagate IronWolf and Seagate SkyHawk, not to mention IronWolf is listed as “Surveillance HDD” under Seagate Warranty lookup tool.
Now that isn’t a bad thing, as both serve few vital functions. These functions being:
Store large chunks of Data;
Function around the clock 24/7/365;
I’m sure at this point someone is wondering why I said it’s not good for a “Internal HDD” in a Home/Small Office computer. And the reasons for this is quite simple:
Most home/office PC’s only really need 500 ~ 1000GB as rest is usually stored on offsite backup (applies to: office use only or savvy home user);
NAS aren’t designed to work as a single unit;
Now the primary point is #2, that NAS work in a Cluster (RAID) to replicate data across the Cluster of HDD’s in that RAID. In home settings you do not have a RAID and as such using 1 NAS drive as an Internal is rather silly, as it’s not the intended purpose of a NAS.
The other problem is that the IronWolf (Non-Pro, anything from 1 to 4 TB) will be running at 5900 RPM, this isn’t fast by any means as most consumer grade HDD’s like Compute or Baracudda run at 7200 RPM’s and come with a similar price tag as IronWolf minus the cool name. If you want the 7200 RPM speeds, you would need the IronWolf Pro and this is the point where the price starts to climb pretty fast vs consumer alternatives.
The other problem I personally ran is that the IronWolf isn’t very MacOS friendly, and no this isn’t a problem with Driver support since my MacOS system runs fine with NTFS 2.5, 3.5 and SSD/M2 external drives. However, when it comes to IronWolf its locked in Read-Only mode, this only applies when connecting the IronWolf via SATA to USB adaptor with power and hooking it up to a USB port on the computer.
Now then I hope this review was informative, and “NO” this isn’t a good choice to use as a PS4 hard drive either, for Gaming an SSD is a much better option, alternatively a Consumer grade HDD with a Flash portion would be more beneficial (assuming it’s 7200 RPM).
Cheers.
| Hard Drive | 8 TB Mechanical Hard Disk |
|---|---|
| Brand | Seagate |
| Item model number | ST8000VNZ04 |
| Product Dimensions | 14.7 x 10.18 x 2.61 cm; 719.85 Grams |
| Item dimensions L x W x H | 14.7 x 10.2 x 2.6 centimeters |
| Flash memory size | 8 |
| Hard Disk Interface | Serial ATA |
| Hard drive rotational speed | 7200 RPM |
