CMR = Conventional Magnetic Recording.
CMR is far better than SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) for write speeds since one track can be recorded independently without having to erase and re-write multiple tracks just to update one track.

SMR = Great technology for Archival where you don’t have to rewrite data over and over again. It’s mainly designed as an archival media for writing data once and keeping it for posterity, while just reading it over again and again.

Please don’t pretend talk technology when you don’t understand them. Some hapless poor guy will see your comment and think, ah this genius says CMR is crap, so maybe it is.

WD is doing everything it can to destroy its good reputation they’ve built over the past decade with these CMR’s.

1. Head redundancy – 2 head per surface
2. Multi-track capability – drive has to be able to R/W over multiple heads at once. This means that individual
heads have to be able to servo follow their “grooves” independently through micro-piezo or similar tech.
3. Drives have to have greater degree of inspectability ( smarter SMART), survivability and serviceaility ( interchangeable electronics).
4. more emphasis on long term storage endurance
5. robustness under harsh environment ( heat cycling, humidity, acidity, vibration)
6. capacity jump would be nice