WD 8TB to 14TB drives for upgrades.

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Some may find this interesting. I shucked an Easystore to get the 14TB "white label". It ended up being an WD140EDFZ. I was curious what WD drive it actually is. The R/N number is US7SAP140. Which corresponds to an Ultrastar DC H530 enterprise drive. It is a CMR drive. However somehow they lowered the RPM to 5400 from 7200. I went further, the 14TB Purple, the 14TB Red Plus and Red Pro also have the same R/N number, US7SAP140. So it appears to me, the majority of WD 14TB drives are actually the same basic drive, the Ultrastar DC H530 since they all have the same R/N. As such:

Ultrastar DC HC530 7200RPM enterprise drive.
WD Red Pro, HC530 with NAS firmware.
WD Red Plus, HC530 with NAS firmware and lowered to 5400RPM
WD Purple, HC530 with A/V firmware (currently 7200RPM)
The "White label", HC530 lowered to 5400RPM with who knows what firmware, maybe NAS as they used to put Reds in the Easystores. White labels might be HC530/Reds that were suspect in quality control so they put white label on and put in enclosure.

I did not check 8/10/12TB but am guessing might be the same. Easy enough, just find pictures of the drives and compare R/N for all models.

WD does make an SMR Data Center drive also. The Ultrastar DC HC620. The R/N is similar, one letter different, US7SA M 140 instead of US7SA P 140. The selling point on the SMR drives seems to be they use quite a bit less power than the CMR versions. Which makes sense for a data center.

So all the debate on what WD large capacity drives are good for Tivos. Purples, Reds, White labels. Seems to me they are all the same, Ultrastar HC500 series with modified firmware and RPM rates. If anyone can confirm my findings or show me I'm wrong I'd appreciate it.