IronWolf vs SkyHawk: NAS Drive or Surveillance Drive at 2 to 8TB

IronWolf vs SkyHawk: where the two Seagate sheets agree

This page reads two Seagate data sheets: DS1902.17 for SkyHawk, dated July 2021 and the older of the two, and DS1904.23 for IronWolf. The SkyHawk sheet runs from 1 to 8TB. IronWolf's sheet has a small table for 2, 4 and 6TB and a main table from 8 to 16TB, so the sizes both lines cover are 2, 4, 6 and 8TB.

At 2, 4 and 6TB the headline ratings are identical. Both sheets list CMR, both give a workload rate limit of 180TB/year, and both list a 3-year limited warranty. A footnote on the SkyHawk sheet explains its figure: SkyHawk drives are designed for always-on workloads of 180TB/year, and for higher transaction workloads Seagate points to its enterprise-class drives. So neither drive buys you more workload headroom than the other at these sizes.

That leaves the rows each sheet includes for its own job. SkyHawk's sheet describes ImagePerfect firmware, designed to ensure seamless video footage capture, and lists cameras supported. IronWolf's sheet lists drive bays in NAS terms and a dual-plane balance row. Those rows, plus transfer rate and power, are where the lines part.

IronWolf vs SkyHawk at 2, 4 and 6TB: bays, transfer and power

Power needs reading by what the drive will be doing. Idle power favours SkyHawk at every size, by 0.3 to 0.7 W. Average operating power is equal at 4 and 6TB and lower on IronWolf at 2TB, 3.1 W against 3.7 W. A drive in a recorder is writing continuously, so for CCTV the operating figure is the one that runs all the time, and on that figure SkyHawk is no cheaper to run than IronWolf at these sizes. IronWolf is faster at 4 and 6TB, 202 MB/s against SkyHawk's flat 180 MB/s, and level at 2TB.

The bay row is less tidy than it looks. SkyHawk's up to 16 applies at 4, 6 and 8TB, and drops to up to 8 at 2 and 3TB. The SkyHawk sheet also lists rotational vibration (RV) sensors at 4, 6 and 8TB and shows a dash at 2 and 3TB. If you are filling a large recorder, the smallest SkyHawk models are rated for fewer bays and carry no RV entry.

IronWolf vs SkyHawk at 8TB

At 8TB the SkyHawk is ST8000VX010: up to 16 bays, up to 64 cameras, RV sensors and 180 MB/s. IronWolf has two 8TB models on its main table, ST8000VN004 and ST8000VN002. This is the one matched size where the recorder answer changes. On average operating power, the figure that runs all the time in a recorder, SkyHawk's 5.3 W is well below ST8000VN004's 10.1 W and level with ST8000VN002's 5.3 W. At idle SkyHawk is lower than both, 3.4 W against 7.8 W and 4.0 W.

IronWolf or SkyHawk: which drive for a NAS and which for an NVR

For a network video recorder or a CCTV system, SkyHawk is the drive Seagate's sheet describes for the job: ImagePerfect firmware for video capture, up to 64 cameras on every capacity, and a 180TB/year workload stated as always-on. If you are sizing how much recording space your cameras need, our CCTV storage calculator works out the capacity from camera count, bitrate and retention.

For a NAS that stores files and backups, IronWolf is the line whose sheet speaks in NAS terms, with 1-8 bays supported, and it is the faster of the two at 4 and 6TB. We have not found a Seagate document rating SkyHawk for NAS file serving, or IronWolf for camera counts, so this page does not call either one the better choice for the other's job.

• Recorder with up to 64 cameras: SkyHawk, and at 4TB or above if the box has more than eight bays.
• Two- to eight-bay NAS for files: IronWolf.
• Running power while writing, as a recorder does: level at 4 and 6TB, lower on IronWolf at 2TB, and at 8TB lower on SkyHawk than ST8000VN004 (5.3 W against 10.1 W) and level with ST8000VN002.
• Idle power, for a box that spends long periods waiting: lower on SkyHawk at every matched size.

Two rows are missing on one side. We have not found an acoustics row on Seagate's SkyHawk data sheet, DS1902.17, so we print no noise comparison; IronWolf's sheet gives seek figures of 26, 25 and 21 dBA at 6, 4 and 2TB. The SkyHawk sheet also lists a 3-year Rescue Data Recovery Services plan, and its footnote says the plan is offered for selected regions only and to check with the reseller. We have not found a Seagate document stating whether it is offered on a drive bought in the UK, so ask the seller before counting on it.

SkyHawk and IronWolf prices on Amazon.co.uk

Each line has its own table of new listings, lowest pounds per TB inc VAT first. The SkyHawk table leaves out SkyHawk AI, a separate product on a separate sheet. Compare rows of the same capacity: a 4TB SkyHawk against a 4TB IronWolf is the like-for-like reading of this page's spec tables.

A lowest price per TB is a level and may come from a different capacity on each side, so we print no percentage between them.

The SkyHawk table can hold drives of 10TB and above. The SkyHawk sheet behind this page covers 1 to 8TB, and we have not found a Seagate sheet for the SkyHawk models above 8TB, so for those rows this page gives price and listing data only. The Recording column prints a technology only where a document ties it to the row's part number; CMR in an Amazon title is the seller's claim.

Related Seagate and surveillance pages

For SkyHawk on its own, see Seagate SkyHawk; for recorder drives across makers, CCTV hard drives. On the NAS side, IronWolf vs IronWolf Pro covers the step up from IronWolf.