HUH721212ALE600 - CMR or SMR?

CMR

The WD Ultrastar DC 12TB (HUH721212ALE600) uses CMR recording.

Verified against: WD Ultrastar DC data center drives · Checked

What this means for you

Conventional recording writes tracks side by side without overlap, so a write never forces the drive to rewrite neighbouring data. That makes the HUH721212ALE600 safe for every use including RAID, ZFS, a NAS, and anything with sustained random writes. A rebuild or a resilver on this drive behaves the way the array expects, which is the whole reason the distinction matters. There is no recording-technology reason to avoid this drive for any workload.

Specifications

Model numberHUH721212ALE600
BrandWD
FamilyUltrastar DC
Capacity12TB
Form factor3.5"
Rotational speed7200 RPM
Cache512 MB
Recording technologyCMR
Workload rate
Warranty5 years
StatusCurrent
Replaced by

A dash means the manufacturer does not state that field for this exact model. We leave it blank rather than filling it from a retailer listing.

We track this drive - live price
Ultrastar 12TB SATA HUH721212ALE600
$349.99 · $29.17/TB
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Related models

Other Ultrastar DC capacities
HUH721010ALE60010TBCMRHUH721212ALE60112TBCMRWUH721414ALE6L414TBCMRWUH721816ALE6L416TBCMRWUH721818ALE6L418TBCMRWUH722020BLE6L420TBCMRWUH722222ALE6L422TBCMRWUH722424ALE6L424TBCMR
The same capacity from other makers
ST12000DM00112TBCMRST12000VE00112TBCMRST12000VN000812TBCMR
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Frequently asked questions

Is the HUH721212ALE600 CMR or SMR?

It is CMR. That comes from WD Ultrastar DC data center drives, which is WD's own documentation for this exact part number rather than a capacity-level summary or a retailer listing.

Can I use the HUH721212ALE600 in a NAS or RAID array?

Yes. Conventional recording means a write never forces neighbouring tracks to be rewritten, so rebuilds and resilvers behave normally. There is no recording-technology objection to this drive in an array, check the workload rating and warranty for your duty cycle separately.

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