Over 1,000,000 Hard Drives Benchmarked
Whilst they may at first appear to be merely a jumble of numbers and
letters, the hard drive model names used in our charts have a lot of
meaning behind them. This page aims to deconstruct and explain the
naming convention used by the different HDD manufacturers.
This reference was gathered from various resources, the information provided
may contain possible errors or omission.
Examples: Enterprise - ST500MX001A Desktop, laptop and CE - ST500DX001
| ST |
Brand - 2 letters |
| 500 |
Capacity - 2-4 digits |
| MX DX |
Segment - 2 letters |
| 001 |
Attributes - 3 digits, non-intelligent |
| A |
|
| Retail Internal 8 to 11 digits | Retail External 9 to 12 digits | Retail NAS 9 to 12 digits |
| ST AA 0000 000 | ST AA 0000 000 | ST AA 0000 000 |
Reference: http://www.seagate.com/files/staticfiles/docs/pdf/marketing/st-model-number-cheat-sheet-sc504-1-1102us.pdf
Example: ST3500620AS
| ST | This is a Seagate drive |
| 3 |
The physical size of the drive: |
| 500 | Capacity in GB. This drive is 500GB |
| 6 |
Size of the cache: |
| 20 | Identifier, unknown meaning. |
| AS |
Interface: |
Reference: http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=204763&Hilite=model
Example: WD6400AAKS-75A7B0
| WD | This is a Western Digital Drive |
| 6400 | Drive capacity, meaning changes depending on the next part of the name. This number should be interpreted such that the final digit is after the decimal point: 6400 = 640.0 |
| A | Capacity/Form Factor: |
| A | Brand: |
| K | Drive RPM / Cache Size: |
| S | Interface: |
| - | Everything following the dash was only meant for in house use by Western Digital, as such this is little information on the meanings of these values and the following information may not be entirely accurate or complete. |
| 75 | Vendor Code |
| A | A = Unkown |
| 7 | Unkown |
| B | Unkown |
| 0 | Firmware version or generation |
References: http://www.wdc.com/en/library/2579-001028.pdf http://forums.storagereview.net/index.php?showtopic=22131
Example: HDS728080PLAT20
| H | This is a Hitachi Drive |
| D | Product Family: |
| S | Series prefix: |
| 72 | Speed, expressed in Revolutions Per Minute (rpm): |
| 80 | Top capacity available for a particular drive release: |
| 80 | Model capacity for this specific drive: |
| P | Unique code |
| L | Height: |
| AT | 16 = Ultra 160, 68 pin |
| 2 | Feature Code assigned by business unit (e.g., cache buffer size) |
| 0 | Unique code |
Reference: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/newnum.htm
Example: IC25N040ATCS04-0
| IC | Stands for Internal Code, can be taken to mean an IBM drive. |
| 25 | Form factor: |
| N | Height: |
| 040 | Unique code |
| AT | Interface: |
| CS | Unique code |
| -0 | Unknown |
Reference: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/modnum.htm
Example: MHV2160BT
| M | Fujitsu Drive |
| HV | Product Generation Counter |
| 2 | Form Factor: |
| 160 | Capacity in GB |
| BT | Interface: |
Reference: http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/support/how-to-read-models.html
Example: SSDSA2SH064G1
| SSD | Product Type Designator: SSD = Solid State Drive |
| SA | Bus Architecture: |
| 2 | Form Factor: |
| S | Product Technology Type: |
| H | Performance: |
| 064G | Density: |
| 1 | Product Generations: 1-9 Generations |
Example: CTFDDAC128MAG
| CT | Brand: |
| FD | Product Family: |
| D | Drive Interface: |
| AC | Drive Form Factor: |
| 128 | Drive Density: |
| M | NAND Flash Type: |
| AG | Product Family: |
Example: CSSD-F120GB2
| CSSD | Brand: |
| F | Product Series: |
| 120GB | Drive Density |
| 2 | Drive Form Factor: |
Example: OCZSSD2-2VTXEX200G
| OCZSSD | Brand: |
| 2 | Drive Form Factor: |
| 2 | Product Generation:< |
| VTXEX | Drive Family: |
| 200G | Drive Density: |
High End
Best Value
Drive Mega List
Info to Decoding