Performance: 40 out of 40.
The IronWolf Pro 18TB is about as fast as you are going to find outside of exotic, Mach.2 type drives. Nine 2TB platters backstopped by (still) excellent hardware is just peerless… or at least will be until the Exos X18 lands (“Any Day Now™”).
Technological Innovation: 18 out of 20
On the one hand two terabytes of capacity on a single platter is awe-inspiring. That is the very epitome of technological innovation. On the other, that is about all that has been improved. Sure, the firmware is better than last gen’s… but that is to be expected. That is not being innovative that is just smart business practices 101. As such, the latest gen IronWolf Pro does miss a step or two compared to previous generations. Still great, but not the slam dunk success it could have been.
Build Quality & Warranty: 18 out of 20
As with its predecessors, the IronWolf Pro series may be classified by Seagate as a Small/Medium Business storage line, but it really does skirt the very edge of Enterprise build levels. Mix in a five-year warranty and we seriously do not know how Seagate was able to get the price as low as they did.
Value: 18 out of 20
The value of this drive really is better than one would think if just quickly glancing at the asking price. Yes, it is a six-hundred-dollar drive. It is also the fastest 7,200rpm drive we have ever seen. It also offers a great 5-year warranty. It also offers 18TB of storage capacity… and does all that while still having a MSRP $30(ish) less than what the IronWolf Pro 16TB demanded when it was launched. That is one potent, and multi-layered, argument in its favor. Counteracting all that is simple: it still a $600 hard drive with a price per TB ratio noticeably higher than smaller (and older) IronWolf Pros come with. So if you want the best, expect to pay a bit of premium for it. Not much, but a bit of a premium.
Final Score: 94 out of 100
When you combine an increase in performance, an increase in capacity, with a decrease in MSRP… well you really have to look hard to find something to be outraged over. Yes, there is a lot more ‘recycling’ going on than probably should be. Yes, it still is $600. Yes, it will be awhile before production ramps up far enough for 2TB to trickle down to lower priced models. The fact remains that the facts speak for themselves. This drive’s performance is only matched by its capacity. So if you want the best, be prepared to pay a reasonable premium for it.
