DatacenterDisk

WUH721816AL5205: CMR or SMR?

Not stated: we hold no maker document that names WUH721816AL5205's recording technology. We know what the drive is - a WD 16TB SAS-12G hard drive (3.5") that we track - but a recording technology printed without a source is a guess, and for RAID, NAS or ZFS use that guess is the one that matters. Check the drive's label against the maker's data sheet, or choose one of the drives below whose CMR status is sourced.

MakerWD
Capacity16TB
InterfaceSAS-12G
Recording technologyNot sourced

No seller we track has WUH721816AL5205 in stock right now. That describes today's listings only - it says nothing about whether the model is discontinued.

How to settle it for this drive

Read the model number on the drive's own label, then find WD's data sheet or product manual for that family. A document that prints WUH721816AL5205 in its own row of a recording-technology table settles the question. A family page that names no part numbers does not: we have found maker pages that list neither a part number nor a recording method, and we no longer count them as sources. A retailer listing is not a source either - it is a seller's description, and sellers repeat what other listings say.

Documented WD drives at 16TB

These WD part numbers at the same capacity do have a maker document on record. They are listed for comparison, not as an answer for WUH721816AL5205: two part numbers at one capacity can use different recording methods.

When a source turns up

When we find a maker document that names WUH721816AL5205, this page will state the answer with that document linked and the date we read it, the same way our documented pages do. Until then, the honest answer is that we do not know.

In-stock drives with sourced CMR, 16TB and up