CONCLUSION

   Having the ability to choose from a wide selection of hard disk drives tailored for specific uses is never a bad thing so it’s no wonder the Guardian Series by Seagate has been welcomed by millions of people around the world. Still although Seagate offers solutions for both NAS and DVR/NVR use what happens when one uses a NAS also as a NVR? Actually we happen to be using a NAS at the lab connected to a total of 4 IP surveillance cameras (others may have even more) and although we’ve outfitted it with IronWolf Pro drives would the Skyhawk be more ideal? However we also use it for file sharing and system backups for when we’re not at the lab so perhaps the IronWolf Pro is a better choice after all? Who know perhaps in the future Seagate and other manufacturers may release a drive for both NAS and NVR use (or they may point out which is best for that kind of workload) but for now it’s not really very clear as to which model is better suited for this. With that out of the way the Skyhawk 10TB is by no means the fastest HDD in our charts but it’s just roughly 5% slower compared to the Barracuda Pro and IronWolf Pro 12TB models which are leading our SATA charts so it’s still a very fast model. Our only problem during our tests was with the noise levels of the Skyhawk 10TB since it’s in the top 6 loudest hard disk drives to ever pass from our lab. It’s not a huge deal really (plus it could be just our sample but since Seagate send only one over we can’t really check) since even from 2 meters away it’s inaudible but that’s how it is.

   So how much does Seagate ask for their Skyhawk 10TB SATA III Hard Disk Drive (ST10000VX0004)? Well actually they are asking slightly less compared for example to the Barracuda Pro 10TB since currently the Skyhawk 10TB retails for USD316.92 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 312Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Of course this was somewhat expected due to their performance difference but still it’s a very good price for a 10TB drive. Once again Seagate has released a top-notch mechanical drive (performance/power consumption/features) this time aimed at consumers, professionals and even businesses (although the Skyhawk AI drive may be a better choice for business use) looking to update and/or equip their digital and network video recorders which is well worth of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (180TBW / 1 Million Hours MTBF)
- Near-Excellent Performance (SATA)
- 256MB Cache
- 10TB's Capacity
- Temperatures / Power Consumption
- Enclosure Material (Low Temperatures)

CONS

- Price (For Some)