Seagate's hard disk drive division has seen a winning streak for the last several years. Capacity ramped up faster than the competition since the 8TB models came to market. Around the same time, the company took a bold step in the feature category by synchronized platter rotation to 7,200 RPMs across the NAS-optimized product line (starting with the 6TB IronWolf). A strong roadmap featuring dual independent actuator arms and even lasers mounted to heads that heat the platters prior to writing data show Seagate doesn't plan to slow innovation.

Before we images of Austin Power's laser sharks dancing in our heads, we get to talk about the current product lines that just expanded capacities to 16TB. Seagate's three NAS-optimized series, IronWolf, IronWolf Pro, and Exos X now ship in the new capacity. Other than the label, the three series look identical and often times pricing is similar. Today we will look at what differentiates the three and then see each in action over in the native environment, over a network.