INTRODUCTION

   It may have taken more than what we were all hoping for but finally 4k Ultra High Definition material (primarily movies) has begun to arrive in large numbers so the data storage capacity needs of many people we know are most certainly about to skyrocket. Of course as many of you are aware although we may not be getting "true" uncompressed 4k (2160p) material still compared to Full HD (1080p) the difference in data size is quite significant. Luckily with the arrival of 12TB and even 14TB hard disk drives in 2017 it has become much easier for professionals and enthusiasts alike to store their valuable data and so after already taking a look at the Seagate IronWolf and IronWolf Pro 12TB variants today on our test bench we have the Barracuda Pro 12TB model.

   Founded in 1979, Seagate is the leading provider of hard drives and storage solutions. From the videos, music and documents we share with friends and family on social networks, to servers that form the backbone of enterprise data centers and cloud-based computing, to desktop and notebook computers that fuel our personal productivity, Seagate products help more people store, share and protect their valuable digital content. Seagate offers the industry’s broadest portfolio of hard disk drives, solid-state drives and solid-state hybrid drives. In addition, the company offers an extensive line of retail storage products for consumers and small businesses, along with data-recovery services for any brand of hard drive and digital media type. Seagate employs more than 50,000 people around the world.

   The Barracuda Pro line of 3.5" hard disk drives by Seagate currently includes models in 2/4/6/8/10/12TB capacities which according to Seagate are optimized for use in desktops, home servers and/or creative professional systems (this probably means PC and MAC). The Barracuda Pro 12TB model is a helium filled drive based on perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) featuring a total of 8 platters (1.5TB in capacity each) that spin at 7200RPM and 256MB DRAM cache (2/4TB models have 128MB). Aside using PMR Seagate has also used their multi-tier caching technology (MTC) to boost random write performance and their PowerChoice technology to enable power savings. The Barracuda Pro 12TB also features a maximum sustained data transfer speed of 250Mb/s, is rated for a workload rate of up to 300TB per year (or 820GB per day at 24x7 usage), has an MTBF (mean time between failures) of 1 million hours and is covered by a 5 year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE BARRACUDA PRO 12TB

As usual we received the Barracuda Pro 12TB inside a static free bag (bulk).

Nothing new in terms of appearance since the new 12TB model is identical to the 10TB model.

The sticker at the top of the drive contains the usual information such as the drives serial number, factory roll-out date, interface, capacity, electrical requirements and installed firmware.

As usual at the rear we see a small PCB with all the modules placed on the other side for increased protection (we also see the same empty spot on the upper right corner which may one day be used for extra cache (or an SSHD model).

Four pins (probably used for firmware updates) and the usual SATA power and data connectors are located at the rear of the drive.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Thoroughly testing hard disk drives may require time and patience but that's just about it. Of course that doesn't mean that one must take it lightly, at least not when people base their decision on your results. True some choose to only use 2 or 3 benchmarking suits in order to measure the performance of a drive or drives since quite honestly most benchmarking suites do tend to agree with each other (so it's not really wrong) but we always like to take things a step further not because we have to but because we want to be almost 100% certain of the results we get and post in our charts.

     So in this kind of reviews we will use a total of 7 different benchmarking suites in an effort to bring you the most accurate results across the board. Now the only reason why i say effort is because real-world usage is not always on par with what results one gets by running several benchmarks on a drive and that's mainly because there are many variables at work from ambient temperatures to hardware configurations and even firmware versions. The benchmarking applications we use are the AIDA64 suite (former Everest Pro), HD Tune Professional (as of October 2016 we also record seek times of 3.5” drives), HD Tach RW, ATTO, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, Crystal Disk Mark 64bit and the PCMARK 7 (secondary storage suite). These benchmarking tools are the best in what they do and as you will also see later on their results more or less agree. Each test is performed a total of 6 times and then the average is recorded into the charts. Temperatures are recorded using Hard Disk Sentinel and after 45 minutes of continuous testing in a 23 degrees Celsius temperature controlled room. Finally we also use an ExTech HD600 dBA meter on each of the drives (5cm away) in order to accurately record their noise levels (during access), although if you don't turn off all system fans when doing so it's quite possible that you will never even hear the drive. The operating system as usual is a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 with every update installed up until the 19th of December 2017.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

TEST RESULTS – PCMARK 7 / TEMPERATURES / NOISE LEVELS

CONCLUSION

   Just like its predecessor the Barracuda Pro 10TB the 12TB variant is one of the fastest SATA III hard disk drives in the market today. Also thanks to the addition of an extra plate it’s actually even faster compared to its predecessor something which we also saw when we reviewed the IronWolf and IronWolf 12TB models. Now we may not see any impressive read and write performance increases in 2018 but according to Seagate thanks to their brand new Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) and Multi Actuator technologies it may not be that long before we do.

   The Seagate Barracuda Pro 12TB model counts slightly just over two months in the market and so it’s still not what we’d call affordable. However although the ST12000DM0007 model currently retails for USD499.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 550Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) it’s still one of the fastest and highest capacity drives in the market today so at least in our book this is actually normal. Top of the charts read and write performance, massive 12TB capacity and a 5 year warranty place the Barracuda Pro 12TB right next to the IronWolf and IronWolf Pro 12TB models and thus it also gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (300WRL / 1 Million Hours MTBF)
- Top Of The Charts Performance (SATA)
- 256MB Cache
- 12TB's Capacity
- Temperatures / Noise Levels / Power Consumption
- Enclosure Material (Low Temperatures)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)