4TB Seagate IronWolf NAS hard drive gets a 33% price cut at Newegg
Hard drives remain one of the most affordable ways to add terabytes of storage to a PC, server, or NAS, particularly where speed isn't a priority. The 4TB Seagate IronWolf (ST4000VN006) hard drive is currently $187 (was $280) at Newegg.
This is a standard 3.5-inch SATA hard drive that can be installed in a compatible desktop, workstation, server, or enclosure. What you get over a basic desktop drive is hardware and firmware designed to cope particularly well with continuous operation and multi-drive NAS environments.
It offers CMR recording, a 5400 RPM spindle speed, 256MB cache, and SATA 6Gb/s interface. It's rated for 24/7 operation and workloads of up to 180TB per year. Seagate's AgileArray technology is designed to improve reliability and RAID performance in compatible multi-bay systems.
This Seagate IronWolf HDD provides 4TB of CMR storage, a 5400 RPM spindle speed, 256MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s connectivity, 24/7 operation, and a 180TB/year workload rating.
In his 4-star review of the 8TB model (ST8000VN004), our expert Mark said: "IronWolf drives feature CMR technology and AgileArray firmware, ensuring smooth RAID performance, reduced vibration, and efficient power management. The 180TB per year workload rating, the RV sensors, the three-year warranty, and the bundled Rescue Data Recovery Services have all persisted as defining features of the consumer tier."
Flexibility is a huge part of the HDD's appeal. Its standard 3.5-inch SATA interface means it can provide conventional storage in compatible PCs and other systems, and its NAS-specific features are particularly handy when it's running continuously or alongside other drives.
CMR recording means it's well suited to sustained writing and RAID environments, and the 180TB/year workload rating makes the drive better equipped for heavier storage duties than a typical everyday HDD.
You also get Seagate's IronWolf Health Management on supported NAS hardware, which can provide drive-health monitoring and recommendations. Seagate includes three years of Rescue Data Recovery Services as well, although availability varies by country.
For more options, take a look at our roundups of the best desktop and laptop hard drives and best NAS hard drives.
Newegg has slashed the price from $279.99 to $187, a $92.99 saving, equivalent to roughly 33%. This isn't the lowest price we've ever seen for the ST4000VN006, which has sold for considerably lower in the past (it was $169.99 in May of this year), but it's still a solid offer.
You need plenty of inexpensive storage for files that don't require SSD speeds. 4TB gives you a decent room for photos, videos, backups, documents, games, and other large collections.
It's an even stronger fit if that storage finds its way into a NAS. IronWolf drives are designed specifically with always-on and multi-bay environments in mind, so you can use this as an ordinary storage drive today without ruling out a NAS or home-server role later.
You need high-speed primary storage for Windows, applications, or workloads that constantly move large amounts of data. A 5400 RPM mechanical drive can't compete with an SSD for speed so its strengths are capacity, and continuous operation.
4TB might also be too small if you're filling a NAS with a limited number of bays. A four-bay system populated entirely with 4TB drives will give you just 16TB of raw capacity before accounting for RAID, so larger drives could make more sense depending on your personal needs.
This is a 5400 RPM mechanical hard drive, so will be good to use for bulk storage, backups, media libraries, servers, and NAS duties rather than something where a speedy SSD would be a smarter choice.
If you are buying it specifically for a NAS, check the manufacturer's compatibility list for the drive before ordering. Compatibility between a particular NAS enclosure and individual drive models shouldn't be assumed.
Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.
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