CONCLUSION

   Although using more platters could result in reduced performance levels the exact opposite has been happening for quite some time now and thus the new IronWolf 12TB hard disk drive is the fastest overall SATA model in our charts. True the performance gap compared to the 10TB model is far from large but it’s there and getting a faster drive is never a bad thing. Leaving out however the 2TB increase in capacity thanks to the extra platter everything else however remains the same including its endurance numbers (180TB/y – 1m MTBF), rotational speed (7200RPM) and cache (256MB). Perhaps what’s more interesting is that Seagate will be releasing a 14TB variant really soon so we can’t wait to see if that model will produce even higher read and write performance numbers.

   Whenever a manufacturer breaks the current storage capacity ceiling by introducing a new model prices are naturally set quite high and this is partially true with the IronWolf 12TB HDD since it currently retails for USD479.98 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 412Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Now the reason I wrote partially is because the 10TB variant had a higher price tag attached to it at launch so getting 2TB more for the same amount of money (and less) is certainly a good thing. All said and done not only does the IronWolf 12TB model offer 20% higher capacity compared to its predecessor but it’s also faster and priced more aggressively so it’s definitely worth our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (180WRL / 1 Million Hours MTBF)
- Top Of The Charts Performance (SATA)
- 256MB Cache
- 12TB's Capacity
- Temperatures / Noise Levels / Power Consumption
- Enclosure Material (Low Temperatures)
- 3 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)