How to Read a Seagate Model Number

The overall shape

Every Seagate 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive number starts with ST, followed by the capacity in gigabytes, then a family code of one or two letters, then digits identifying the generation and variant.

Take ST4000VX013. ST marks it as Seagate. 4000 is the capacity in gigabytes, so 4TB. VX is the SkyHawk surveillance family. 013 is the generation and variant code.

The capacity digits are the easiest part and the least ambiguous: ST1000 is 1TB, ST8000 is 8TB, ST24000 is 24TB. There is no unit trickery, the number is gigabytes.

The family letters are where the useful information lives, and the generation digits are where the trap lives, because two drives differing only in those last digits can carry opposite recording technologies.

The family letters, with verified examples

These are the codes you will actually meet on consumer and NAS drives. Each example below is a model number in our verified table with its own page and manufacturer source.

The generation digits, and the trap they hide

The digits after the family letters distinguish generations and variants, and this is where a great deal of confusion originates because they are not descriptive. There is no rule that says a higher number is newer or better, and they carry no information about recording technology on their face.

The clearest example on this site is at 1TB. ST1000DM010 and ST1000DM014 are both 1TB BarraCuda drives. The first is conventionally recorded; the second replaced it and is shingled. Nothing in the number tells you that, and the product name is identical on both.

The same applies in SkyHawk. ST4000VX007 and ST4000VX013 are both 4TB. Seagate's datasheet states the first as conventional and the second as shingled.

This is the entire reason our resolver exists. The generation digits change the answer and cannot be decoded, they have to be looked up against the manufacturer's document.

Suffixes, retail cartons and OEM variants

Model numbers frequently appear with a suffix after a hyphen, such as ST1000DM010-2EP102. That trailing block identifies the carton, the firmware revision and the market it was packaged for. It does not change the drive.

For the recording question, everything after the base model number can be ignored, and our resolver strips it automatically, paste the whole label exactly as printed and it will still resolve.

Retail boxed versions sometimes carry a separate SKU entirely rather than a suffix, which is more common with Toshiba than with Seagate. Where that happens we list both and they resolve to the same answer.

The one suffix worth attention is where Seagate distinguishes sector format, for example 512e against 4Kn on enterprise drives. That does not affect recording technology but it does affect compatibility with some controllers, and it is stated in the model number on Exos-class products.

Using this when a model is not in our table

If you paste a part number and we do not have it, the decoding above still gets you somewhere useful. The capacity is unambiguous, and the family letters tell you which product line and therefore which datasheet to look for on Seagate's site.

What you cannot infer is the recording technology, and we would rather you knew that than guessed from a neighbouring model. Within BarraCuda the answer varies by generation at the same capacity; within SkyHawk two 4TB models differ. There is no safe inference.

Search it in our resolver anyway. Misses are logged and they decide which models get verified next, so an unanswered search is genuinely useful rather than a dead end.

Decoded models with a sourced recording answer

31 part numbers from the makers this guide covers where a manufacturer document states the recording technology. Each page names the document. Models not listed here are not shown to be shingled - their technology is simply not sourced yet.