Seagate Exos M 30TB Review

Final Score: 89% / 89 out of 100

For those interested in a short, concise summary, we can confidently say the Seagate Exos M 30TB is a groundbreaking achievement in the competitive realm of enterprise near-line storage. Be it in capacity, overall efficiency, or innovation, this is a drive that is pushing the very boundaries of possibility. Mix in seamless integration into existing infrastructure without requiring a costly redesign, and the Exos M is worthy of the highly lauded “Exos” moniker.

On the capacity front, the (finally released) highly innovative HAMR technology allows Seagate to pack an unprecedented 3 terabytes of data per platter, culminating in a massive 30TB total capacity. This leap in storage density may not fully satiate the demands (or needs, let alone wants) of the growing worldwide storage demand… but this massive 6TB boost, with promises of much more to come, does give us hope that the industry will (eventually) be able to catch up and possibly even exceed projected demand. Which in turn will put downward pressure on price per TB of “cloud” storage for us plebes in the consumer marketplace.

Beyond capacity, the drive balances its immense size with robust power efficiency innovations that help keep the “nanophotonic” lasers’ power demands in check. In fact, at a surprisingly low “up to” 9.5watts of power consumption, the Terabyte to Watt ratio is significantly higher than ever before – a whopping 3.158TB per watt of power! This, in turn, allows large-scale data centers to operate even more cost-effectively.

On the performance front, Seagate has once again exceeded expectations. Yes. Peak performance is (sometimes) slightly lower than the Exos X 24TB option; however, thanks to the major increase in storage density, said performance is routinely higher in the real world. For example, if one has an array of 12 drives in Raid 6 and is actively storing 200TB of data, the Exos M 30TB array will vastly exceed the Exos X 24 TB-based array’s real-world performance… and allow for better future growth than the ‘mere’ 24TB’ers can ever hope to match. Mix in advanced performance features (such as instant secure erase), and this is a series that is as professional as it is peppy.

Now, with all this said, the Exos M 30TB is not perfect. While it technically is not a ‘generation 1.0’ product and rather is a 2nd generation, the fact remains that it does not have a proven reliability track record. Yet. Time will tell, but HAMR has been in product development for so long, we sincerely doubt that Seagate would risk their Enterprise reputation (and sweet, sweet government contracts) by releasing a technology that was not fully baked. In fact, Seagate is one of the most conservative companies we know of when it comes to their Enterprise product stack. As such, we actually have very few concerns over longevity, and instead fully expect them to be about the same as previous EXOS models – excellent with the occasional wonky one that fails fairly quickly due it being a mass-produced product.

That leaves two serious complaints that need to be addressed. It does create more heat than Exos X 24TB; and it also has a noise profile that is more reminiscent of (much) older Seagate enterprise drives rather than what numerous Exos “X” generations have trained buyers to expect. On the heat side of the equation. Contrary to internet lore, it is not ‘massive’. Nor is it even as large as the ~7 percent power increase would lead one to believe … as once again Seagate are being very conservative and not trying to needlessly hype up expectations on this front. Yes. They can, and will, when under heavy sustained write loads, run warm. Water makes things wet, the sky typically appears blue, and all mega-capacity HDDs run warm under sustained load. These are drives that are designed to live in server racks with server rack levels of cooling. Thus, not being a great match for ‘shoe box builds’ is a nothing burger… as even in home PC cases with mediocre cooling should be more than up to the task of handling its increased needs.

To be blunt, that tiny laser heats up such a small portion of the superlattice that the ‘waste heat’ byproduct is not that much more than the previous X24 era. It is simply a case of either blatant ClickBaiting or inexperience. That fact is, any noticeable difference in temperatures between the generations will more than likely come down to how much heavy write vs. read scenarios they will be working in. More sustained writes? Slightly higher cooling requirements. Less writes, more reads? Rounding error heat increase. So while they can slightly increase the total cost of ownership (via increased AC cooling requirements) at the Data Center levels, it should be a rounding error compared to actual heat-producing components found in modern server racks.

Furthermore, Enterprise buyers may not even notice any difference regardless of write vs. read percentages. Some may even notice a minor decrease in overall TCO. We say that, while it does use a bit more (~0.6W) compared to the previous X 24TB generation, and about 1.5W more than the X 22TB generation, it uses about half a watt less than what the X16 TB generation used. Many an older server rack coming up for a ‘refresh’ is rocking 16 TB right now. So, yeah. Contrary to what some would lead you to believe, this increase is not worrisome for the intended buyer.

As for the noise… they are intended for the server rack. With server-grade fans… making a server-grade racket. So, while they are not a great fit for home (especially HTPC) systems. Even if this is a major reversal of fortune for home buyers when compared to basically all previous ‘X’ generations… it is hard to fault an enterprise-grade piece of equipment acting (and sounding) like… well… Enterprise Grade equipment. Put another way, “Caveat Emptor,” as they say, is in full effect.

In conclusion, the Seagate Exos M 30TB is more than just a high-capacity drive with an equally high-capacity asking price. Instead, it is a veritable powerhouse that seamlessly combines technological innovation, operational efficiency, and excellent performance. So for organizations of any size, that are looking down the barrel of the gun called “exponential data growth”… the new Exos M offers a firm foundation capable of scaling to meet the evolving demands of the modern Enterprise environment. Just be aware of its (pardon the pun) laser-like focus on the Enterprise environment and satisfying the needs of Enterprise customers. Do that, and it is a spectacular drive that hints at an even brighter future for HAMR.