CONCLUSION

   As we’ve mentioned quite a few times in the past mechanical drives have finally hit their performance ceiling but that doesn’t mean manufacturers can’t squeeze slightly more read & write performance out of them and the Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V6 10TB HDD is a good example of that. Of course manufacturers always have the option of marrying such drives with a good amount of NAND flash to increase their read & write performance (at least when it comes to cached data) but since they are mostly used for data/cloud storage performance obviously comes second to capacity. Using helium instead of air inside drives in order to reduce platter friction and improve on performance, temperatures and power consumption is not something new and as a matter of fact HGST has been doing it for years (we tested their first model a few years back). It did take a little while for Seagate to release their very own solution based on it since air was more than sufficient for their past models so my guess is that they’ll be using it quite a bit with their upcoming lines as well (especially higher capacity ones since 12TB models have already been announced). In terms of endurance the Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V6 10TB HDD sports the highest numbers we’ve ever seen given to a mechanical disk drive and that should go a long way not only with professionals but primarily with Cloud services and enterprises in general.

   Enterprise HDD models always cost quite a bit and if you’ve been following our past reviews then you know this already. The Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V6 10TB HDD is also a massive 10TB drive so it couldn’t come cheap and with a current price tag set at USD444.45 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 464.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) it’s certainly not. The good news is that the Enterprise Capacity 3.5 V6 10TB drive is not really more expensive compared to the Barracuda Pro 10TB drive (roughly 20USD/Euros) and if we take into account the higher performance levels and higher endurance numbers getting the first is really a no brainer (Seagate should consider reducing the price of the Barracuda Pro to make it more appealing to consumers). So if you’re currently looking to get your hands on the fastest 3.5” 10TB HDD in the market this is the one for you and that’s also why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (500WRL / 2.5 Million Hours MTBF)
- Top Of The Charts Read & Write Performance
- 256MB Cache
- 10TB's Capacity
- Temperatures / Noise Levels / Power Consumption
- Enclosure Material / Helium Filled (Low Temperatures / Reduced Platter Friction)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (Compared To The Barracuda Pro)

CONS

- Price (For Some)