Form factor, interface and rotational speed before the capacity · review
Seagate FireCuda 4 TB CMR hard drive review
A 4 TB, 7200 rpm desktop drive whose listing prints CMR in the title, a 300 TB a year workload, 255 MB/s sustained and a 5-year limited warranty plus 3 years of Rescue data recovery.
Amazon.com listed it on October 26, 2026, but no current offer passed our price check, so no price is quoted. The Amazon.com page exists, but nobody was selling the unit; a listing in that state is often a third-party import.
Models on this shelf that Amazon.com did sell on that date:
A four-terabyte internal drive in 3.5-inch form at 7200 rpm, using conventional magnetic recording, with 256 MB of cache on a SATA interface at 6 Gb/s, with a 5-year limited warranty, three years of Rescue data recovery and a part number printed in the title; described as suiting ambitious players and creative work, with workload rates of 300 TB a year for sustained full load; and a maximum sustained transfer rate of 255 MB/s.
CMR, in the title
It is the one drive on this shelf that prints its recording method. Conventional recording writes tracks side by side. The alternative overlaps them for density and rewrites neighboring tracks when data changes, which shows up as very different behavior during long writes. Publishing the answer costs the maker nothing and saves the buyer a search; the rest of this shelf leaves it out, including the Seagate BarraCuda 8 TB from the same maker.
Three hundred terabytes a year
The first bullet gives an annual duty for sustained full load. That is a figure to plan against — a rate the drive is specified for, year after year, not a total it consumes. It sits on its own line here for that reason, apart from the recovery service and apart from any statistic in hours.
Five years of warranty, three of recovery
The fifth bullet names both: a 5-year limited warranty and 3 years of Rescue data recovery. They are different undertakings. The warranty replaces a failed drive; Rescue tries to get the files back off it, which a replacement does not. The details table lower on the page says “3-Year Limited”, which contradicts the bullet. Register the drive with Seagate after purchase and the term for that serial number is shown there.
255 MB/s, and what sits behind it
A maximum sustained transfer rate is published in the fifth bullet. It is the figure that decides whether the drive or the connection is the narrower path in a given machine, and very few listings on this shelf print one at all.
Before ordering
Note that the part number in the title (ST4000DX005) differs from the one in the details table (ST4000DXZ05); both are reported here unchanged. The whole shelf is under internal hard drives.
Where it holds up, and where it stops
Strengths
Prints CMR in the title, which no other drive listing in this group does, and which is the answer that decides behavior under sustained writing
Publishes an annual workload rating of 300 TB, so the duty the drive is specified for is a figure rather than an adjective
A 5-year limited warranty and 3 years of Rescue data recovery, two different undertakings, both named
A maximum sustained transfer rate is stated, which lets the drive be compared against the link it will sit behind
Compromises
The details table says 3-Year Limited while the bullets say 5 years, so check the term against the serial number after purchase
No MTBF, no noise figure and no power draw, on a 7200 rpm drive meant to sit in a desktop
The title and the product record carry two different part numbers, and nothing on the page reconciles them
Specifications
Capacity
4 TB — printed in the title and repeated in the second bullet, in the maker’s unit and reported here unchanged
Form factor
3.5-inch — printed in the title
Height
1.03 in (26.1 mm) — given in the listing’s details table, with 5.79 × 4 in overall and 620 g (1.37 lb)
Interface
SATA at 6 Gb/s — stated in the third bullet. The title prints the same figure with a capital B in the unit, and neither form is corrected here
Rotational speed
7200 rpm — printed in the title and repeated in the first and third bullets
Cache size
256 MB — printed in the title and repeated in the first and fourth bullets, described as loading applications and files quickly
Stated workload rating
300 TB per year — stated in the first bullet, given as the rate for sustained full load. It is a specified annual duty and not a countdown to anything
Warranty length
5-year limited warranty — stated in the fifth bullet, beside 3 years of Rescue data recovery service. The details table says 3-Year Limited; the bullet is the clearer statement, and Seagate’s own registration confirms the term for a given serial
Stated MTBF
Not published on the listing — no figure in hours appears, on a page that does publish an annual workload rating
Stated acoustic figure
Not published on the listing — no decibel value appears, on a 7200 rpm drive aimed at desktop machines people sit beside
Stated idle power
Not published on the listing — no figure in watts appears in the title or in the five bullets
Amazon reference
B09SBKXNKQ
EAN
0763649173848
On Amazon.com
Amazon.com listed it on October 26, 2026, but no current offer passed our price check, so no price is quoted.
Where this unit differs
Put against the median of its own group on this site — not against every network product sold.
Cache size256 MB — printed in the title and repeated in the first and fourth bullets, described as loading applications and files quickly+300 % against the median of this group
Capacity4 TB — printed in the title and repeated in the second bullet, in the maker’s unit and reported here unchanged-50 % against the median of this group
The questions that come up before an order
What does printing CMR tell a buyer that most listings do not?
That tracks are written side by side rather than overlapped. Shingled recording overlaps them for density and rewrites neighboring tracks when data changes, which behaves differently under long sustained writes. No other drive on this shelf says which it uses; this one does, in the title, and that is the point of the line.
Is a workload rating of 300 TB a year a limit or a lifespan?
It is a specified annual duty — the amount of reading and writing the maker designs the drive around in a year. It is not a total the drive counts down from, and it is not a lifespan. MTBF is a separate population statistic and a warranty is a separate commercial term, which is why the three appear on their own lines here.
Our score
7.8/ 10
The best-published drive on this shelf, and the one that answers the question the others avoid: CMR, in the title. Add a 5-year limited warranty and 255 MB/s sustained; what is missing is MTBF, noise and power.
The buyer this one serves, among network and storage gear
A desktop machine that writes a great deal — video work, large game libraries, editing scratch space — where the recording method and the annual duty both need to be known before purchase.
What this one costs among network and storage gear
A reference exists on these Amazon stores: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States. Listed is not the same as in stock — availability changes daily.
Details checked on October 23, 2026.
Sources
Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for network and storage gear and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.
4 TB · 3.5-inch · 7200 rpm · 64 MB cache · SATA 6 Gb/s · one bullet, which repeats the title · no duty figure of any kind
A four-terabyte drive whose single bullet reprints its title word for word, publishing every mechanical figure and not one figure about what the drive is specified to withstand.
Best for: A bulk volume in a desktop machine where the drive will not be pushed hard, bought by someone comparing on figures alone and getting the rest from the datasheet.
8 TB · 3.5-inch · height not published, 26 mm (1.02 in) recorded · SATA 6 Gb/s · rotational speed not published · cache not published · 190 MB/s sustained at the outer diameter · no workload rating · no warranty · no MTBF · no acoustic figure · no idle power · 630 g (22.2 oz)
The cheapest terabyte on this shelf at $35.00 on Amazon.com on October 26, 2026, and the only listing here that states its packaging — with a 190 MB/s sustained rate and no rotational speed.
Best for: Bulk storage filled once, where sustained read speed is the figure that matters
A ten-terabyte drive from Toshiba’s Enterprise Capacity range, sold refurbished as a Dell version through Amazon Renewed with a one-year limited warranty; no workload rating or MTBF is published.
Best for: A machine that needs the most capacity per bay on this shelf, for a buyer who accepts a refurbished drive and keeps a backup elsewhere — once a US offer exists.
