Performance: 39 out of 40
As with its predecessor the X22 the X24 generation of Exos are some of the fastest 7,200rpm hard drives you can buy. Equally important they are some of the most reliable with multiple layers of ECC redundancy baked right into their firmware. Needless to say, that is a one-two punch that is hard to argue with.
Technological Innovation: 17 out of 20
Ten platters combined with 2.4TB per platter data density may on paper be ‘only’ an incremental increase over the X22, but we are now getting in the realm of data bit size that best measured in nanometers. So increasing capacity, reducing power per TB, while keeping reliability at the same level does require some extremely advanced low-level technology tweaks… and precision. So while we do have to ding the Exos X for once again not giving us HAMR/MAMR it is hard to argue with the amount of abilities Seagate has baked into their latest and greatest Exos X series.
Build Quality & Warranty: 19 out of 20
Near-line storage is all about reliability. It is all about being able to handle random parking and unparking demands. It is all about Total Cost of Ownership (which does include RMA downtime) and here is where the Exos excels… and why Seagate is still number one and everyone else is an ‘also ran’ in the Enterprise market.
Value: 17 out of 20
Can you get cheaper Exos models via opting for earlies generations? Of course you can. Those earlier X18 and X20s are indeed going to be this and next years ‘budget’ option for Enterprise Big Data. That is not even up for debate. However, can you get equally fast or cost effective options by looking at lower density / early generations? No. No you can not. Yes. On paper the past couple generations all have the same maximum sequential speed. However, these new big bois start out faster, stay faster longer, and do not get ‘slow’ even when at filled to capacity. Mix in basic math of 9 watts divided by 24 is always going to be better than 9 divided by 18/20/22 and the value will be variable depending on what you prioritize most: cost per drive or TCO. We lean more towards the latter than the former but feel free to take off 5 points if you are in the sub-pallet purchase order size.
Final Score: 92% / 92 out of 100
If one was forced to summarize the entire Exos series in one word, that word would have to be ‘consistency’. Since their inception that is what Seagate has aimed to deliver, and consistency is what Enterprise buyers have come to expect from this near-line storage centric series. Thankfully, the X24 generation does indeed live up to expectations – and then some. Once again Seagate’s Exos series has raised the bar on what a single 7200RPM SATA hard drive can do. Just like we expected it to. Now if they would only give Enterprise buyers free data recovery services and we would be truly happy.
