TL;DR: ST4000VX013 is SMR as opposed to ST4000VX007, which used to be CMR.
Here are the main differences (which, by the way, are all due to the new drive being SMR)
- Seagate ST4000VX007 will soon be EOL , replaced by ST4000VX013.
- ST4000VX007 was CMR, ST4000VX013 is SMR.
- SMRs need to have a higher cache, so the 013 will have a 256MB cache, compared to the 64MB cache of the 007
- Max Sustained Transfer Rate is lower on the 013 SMR.
Everything else remains the same including RPM, warranty, Data Rescue etc.
In case you didn't know - with SMR you get a larger drive that's great for archiving (write once read many), or with intermittent writes (so the drive has some idle time to reorganize the tracks between data accesses). Traditionally, CMR has been thought to be better for surveillance purposes compared to SMR, unless Seagate has changed something under the hood to compensate for the inherent SMR problems. One thing is for sure: they didn't hide the fact that this is an SMR drive - unlike others, it's clearly stated on the spec sheet.
