WD80EFZX - CMR or SMR?

CMR

The WD WD Red Plus 8TB (WD80EFZX) uses CMR recording.

Verified against: Western Digital internal client HDD recording technology - SMR drives by capacity (7 July 2020) · Checked

Sources disagree on this model

An earlier Red Plus generation. WD's current data sheet does not cover it, so only the recording technology is stated here.

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 WD80EFZX 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 numberWD80EFZX
BrandWD
FamilyWD Red Plus
Capacity8TB
Form factor3.5"
Rotational speed
Cache
Recording technologyCMR
Workload rate
Warranty
StatusDiscontinued
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
WD Red Plus 8TB WD80EFZX
$437.99 · $54.75/TB
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Related models

Other WD Red Plus capacities
WD20EFZX2TBCMRWD20EFPX2TBCMRWD30EFZX3TBCMRWD40EFZX4TBCMRWD40EFPX4TBCMRWD40EFZZ4TBCMRWD60EFZX6TBCMRWD60EFPX6TBCMRWD80EFZZ8TBCMRWD80EFPX8TBCMRWD80EFBX8TBCMRWD101EFBX10TBCMR
The same capacity from other makers
ST8000VX0048TBCMRST8000VX0108TBCMRST8000VN0048TBCMR
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Frequently asked questions

Is the WD80EFZX CMR or SMR?

It is CMR. That comes from Western Digital internal client HDD recording technology - SMR drives by capacity (7 July 2020), 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 WD80EFZX 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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