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The nearline enterprise hard drives that populate every SCALE, PROTECT and FUSE system — from proven, high-volume Seagate Exos drives to the newest HAMR-based Exos M platform pushing capacity past 30TB per drive.
Open the Drive Configurator →Every Exos SCALE JBOD, PROTECT RAID array and FUSE storage server is only as good as the drives inside it. The Seagate Exos enterprise hard drives are purpose-built for exactly this role — sustained, 24/7 nearline workloads in data centres, not desktop or NAS use. They're the drives we spec into every enclosure we supply.
Two distinct drive families are currently available, built on different recording technologies:
The mature, high-volume enterprise line — X16 through X24 — using conventional magnetic recording (CMR). Capacities up to 24TB (28TB in SMR configuration), 7,200 RPM, helium-sealed, with a long field-proven reliability record.
Seagate's newest platform, using Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) to reach 3TB+ per platter. Shipping in volume at up to 32TB, with 36TB samples already going out to select customers.
The Exos X series (X16, X18, X20, X22, X24) is what most enterprise deployments are built on today — mature, high-volume, field-proven CMR drives with a long track record in hyperscale and enterprise data centres.
Exos M represents a genuine platform shift, not an incremental capacity bump. It's built on Seagate's Mozaic 3+ technology — the industry's first generally-available implementation of Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) — achieving 3TB+ of data per platter, an areal density conventional recording can't reach.
Seagate is currently shipping Exos M drives in volume at up to 32TB to major cloud service providers, with 36TB samples already going out to select customers using a 10-platter design. Compared to a 10TB Exos X10 drive being replaced in a typical data centre refresh, Seagate cites roughly 300% more storage capacity in the same physical footprint, a 25% reduction in cost per terabyte, and 60% lower power consumption per terabyte.
The temptation to use cheaper desktop or NAS-class drives in enterprise storage is understandable but risky. Nearline drives like Exos are engineered and validated specifically for continuous, high-duty-cycle operation in RAID and JBOD arrays — workload ratings, vibration tolerance in dense multi-drive chassis, and firmware behaviour under sustained load are all tuned differently to consumer drives.
PowerBalance technology in the current X-series generation reduces RAID rebuild times meaningfully compared to earlier generations — a real factor in minimising the vulnerability window during a drive replacement, when an array is running in a degraded state.
Not sure which Exos capacity or generation is right for your SCALE, PROTECT or FUSE deployment? Talk to a specialist about your requirements.
Talk to a SpecialistExos X uses conventional magnetic recording (CMR) and tops out at 24TB (28TB in SMR configuration) — it's the mature, field-proven line most deployments run today. Exos M uses Seagate's newer HAMR-based Mozaic 3+ platform to reach higher capacities, shipping at up to 32TB with 36TB samples already in the field.
Exos M uses the standard 3.5-inch enterprise form factor, so it's drop-in compatible with the same SCALE, PROTECT and FUSE chassis as Exos X drives, subject to normal enclosure and firmware qualification.
Exos X series drives carry a 5-year limited warranty as standard, backed by a 2.5-million-hour MTBF rating reflecting Seagate's field reliability data for the platform.
CMR (conventional magnetic recording) offers more predictable write performance and is the safer default for most enterprise workloads. SMR (shingled magnetic recording) configurations offer higher capacity per drive but require workload patterns and software that are well-suited to sequential writes — typically a decision made alongside your systems integrator based on your specific access patterns.
