Don't get Shingled by SMR

A cautionary tale:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/04/caveat-emptor-smr-disks-are-being-submarined-into-unexpected-channels/


Buyer beware~that 2TB-6TB "NAS" drive you've been eyeing might be SMR

Hard drives were already bad at random access I/O~but SMR disks are worse.


Storage vendors, including but reportedly not limited to Western
Digital, have quietly begun shipping SMR (Shingled Magnetic
Recording) disks in place of earlier CMR (Conventional Magnetic
Recording) disks.

SMR is a technology that allows vendors to eke out higher
storage densities, netting more TB capacity on the same number
of platters or fewer platters, for the same amount of TB.

Until recently, the technology has only been seen in very large
disks, which were typically clearly marked as "archival". In
addition to higher capacities, SMR is associated with much lower
random I/O performance than CMR disks offer.

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A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433