Seagate SKYHAWK AI ST18000VE000 User manual

100872006, Rev. A
November 2020
Standard 512E model
ST18000VE000
ST18000VE002
ST16000VE002
ST12000VE001
SATA Product Manual

© 2020 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved.
Publication number: 100872006, Rev. A November 2020
Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Spiral logo are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. SkyHawk AI, PowerChoice and
SeaTools are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or one of its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries. The FIPS logo is a cer-
tification mark of NIST, which does not imply product endorsement by NIST, the U.S., or Canadian governments. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of Seagate Technology LLC.
Call 877-PUB-TEK1 (877-782-8351) to request permission.
When referring to drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes. Your computer’s operating system may use a different
standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus will not be available for data storage.
Actual quantities will vary based on various factors, including file size, file format, features and application software. Actual data rates may vary depending on operating environment
and other factors. The export or re-export of hardware or software containing encryption may be regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (for
more information, visit www.bis.doc.gov), and controlled for import and use outside of the U.S. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications.
Document Revision History
Revision Date Pages affected and Description of changes
Rev. A 11/19/2020 Initial release.

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 2
Contents
Seagate® Technology Support Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.0 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1 About the Serial ATA interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.0 Drive specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Specification summary tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Formatted capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.1 LBA mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Recording and interface technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Start/stop times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Power specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5.1 Power consumption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5.2 Typical current profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5.3 Conducted noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5.4 Voltage tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5.5 Extended Power Conditions - PowerChoice™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 Environmental limits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.6.1 Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.6.2 Humidity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.6.3 Shock and Vibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.7 Acoustics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.8 Test for Prominent Discrete Tones (PDTs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.9 Electromagnetic immunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.10 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.10.1 Annualized Failure Rate (AFR) and Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.11 HDD and SSD Regulatory Compliance and Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.11.1 Regulatory Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.12 Corrosive environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.13 Reference documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.14 Product warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 3
Contents
3.0 Configuring and mounting the drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.1 Handling and static-discharge precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2 Configuring the drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.3 Serial ATA cables and connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4 Drive mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4.1 Mechanical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.0 Serial ATA (SATA) interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.1 Hot-Plug compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.2 Serial ATA device plug connector pin definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.3 Supported ATA commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.3.1 Identify Device command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3.2 Identify Device Data log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.3 Device Statistics log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.3.4 Set Features command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.3.5 S.M.A.R.T. commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 4
For Seagate Product Support, visit: www.seagate.com/support
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For Firmware Download and Tools Download for Secure Erase, visit: www.seagate.com/support/downloads/
For information regarding online support and services, visit: www.seagate.com/contacts/
For information regarding Warranty Support, visit: www.seagate.com/support/warranty-and-replacements/
For information regarding data recovery services, visit: www.seagate.com/services-software/recover/resources/
For Seagate OEM and Distribution partner and Seagate reseller portal, visit: www.seagate.com/partners
Seagate® Technology Support Services

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 5
www.seagate.com Introduction
1.0 Introduction
This manual describes the functional, mechanical and interface specifications for the following:
Seagate® SkyHawk® AI Serial ATA drive models.
These drives provide the following key features:
256 MB data buffer.
7200 RPM spindle speed.
Full-track multiple-sector transfer capability without local processor intervention.
High instantaneous (burst) data-transfer rates (up to 600MB per second).
Native Command Queuing with command ordering to increase performance in demanding applications.
PowerChoice™ for selectable power savings
Perpendicular recording technology provides the drives with increased areal density.
SeaTools™ diagnostic software performs a drive self-test that eliminates unnecessary drive returns.
State-of-the-art cache and on-the-fly error-correction algorithms.
Support for S.M.A.R.T. drive monitoring and reporting.
Supports latching SATA cables and connectors.
Top Cover Attached motor for excellent vibration tolerance
Worldwide Name (WWN) capability uniquely identifies the drive.
NOTE Seagate recommends validating the configuration with the selected HBA/RAID
controller manufacturer to ensure use of full capacity is supported.
Table 1: Models
Standard 512E models
ST18000VE000
ST18000VE002
ST16000VE002
ST12000VE001

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 6
www.seagate.com Introduction
1.1 About the Serial ATA interface
The Serial ATA interface provides several advantages over the traditional (parallel) ATA interface. The primary
advantages include:
Easy installation and configuration with true plug-and-play connectivity.
It is not necessary to set any jumpers or other configuration options.
Thinner and more flexible cabling for improved enclosure airflow and ease of installation.
Scalability to higher performance levels.
In addition, Serial ATA makes the transition from parallel ATA easy by providing legacy software support. Serial ATA
was designed to allow users to install a Serial ATA host adapter and Serial ATA disk drive in the current system and
expect all of the existing applications to work as normal.
The Serial ATA interface connects each disk drive in a point-to-point configuration with the Serial ATA host adapter.
There is no master/slave relationship with Serial ATA devices like there is with parallel ATA. If two drives are attached
on one Serial ATA host adapter, the host operating system views the two devices as if they were both “masters”on two
separate ports. This essentially means both drives behave as if they are Device 0 (master) devices.
NOTE The host adapter may, optionally, emulate a master/slave environment to host software
where two devices on separate Serial ATA ports are represented to host software as a
Device 0 (master) and Device 1 (slave) accessed at the same set of host bus addresses. A
host adapter that emulates a master/slave environment manages two sets of shadow
registers. This is not a typical Serial ATA environment.
The Serial ATA host adapter and drive share the function of emulating parallel ATA device behavior to provide
backward compatibility with existing host systems and software. The Command and Control Block registers, PIO and
DMA data transfers, resets, and interrupts are all emulated.
The Serial ATA host adapter contains a set of registers that shadow the contents of the traditional device registers,
referred to as the Shadow Register Block. All Serial ATA devices behave like Device 0 devices. For additional
information about how Serial ATA emulates parallel ATA, refer to the “Serial ATA: High Speed Serialized AT Attachment”
specification. The specification can be downloaded from www.serialata.org.

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 7
www.seagate.com Drive specifications
2.0 Drive specifications
Unless otherwise noted, all specifications are measured under ambient conditions, at 25°C, and nominal power. For
convenience, the phrases the drive and this drive are used throughout this manual to indicate the SkyHawk AI Serial
ATA drive models.
2.1 Specification summary tables
The specifications listed in the following tables are for quick reference. For details on specification measurement or
definition, see the appropriate section of this manual.
Table 2 Drive specifications summary
Drive specification ST18000VE000
ST18000VE002 ST16000VE002 ST12000VE001
Formatted (512 bytes/sector)* 18TB 16TB 12TB
Guaranteed sectors (see Section 2.2)
Heads 18 16 12
Discs 9 8 7
Bytes per logical sector 512
Bytes per physical sector 4096
Recording density, KBPI (Kb/in max) 2321 2426
Track density, KTPI (ktracks/in avg.) 480 436
Areal density, (Gb/in2 avg) 1155 1028
Spindle speed (RPM) 7200
Internal data transfer rate (Mb/s max) 2833
Sustained data transfer rate OD (MB/s max) 260 250 240
I/O data-transfer rate (MB/s max) 600
ATA data-transfer modes supported PIO modes 0–4
Multiword DMA modes 0–2
Ultra DMA modes 0–6
Cache buffer 256MB (262,144KB)
Weight: (maximum) 670g (1.477 lb)
Average latency 4.16ms
Power-on to ready (sec) (typ/max) 23/30
Standby to ready (sec) (typ/max) 23/30
Startup current (typical) 12V (peak) 2.0A
Voltage tolerance (including noise) 5V ± 5%
12V ± 10%
Operating drive temperature*
(Drive Reported Temperature) 0° to 65°C
Non-Operating temperature –40° to 70°C (Ambient Temperature, see sections 2.6.1 and 2.13)

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 8
www.seagate.com Drive specifications
*See Section 2.10, "Reliability" for rated MTBF device operating condition requirements.
Temperature gradient (°C per hour max) 20°C (operating)
20°C (nonoperating)
Relative humidity*5% to 95% (operating)
5% to 95% (nonoperating)
Relative humidity gradient 20% per hour max
Altitude, operating –304.8 m to 3,048 m
(–1000 ft to 10,000+ ft)
Altitude, nonoperating
(below mean sea level, max)
–304.8 m to 12,192 m
(–1000 ft to 40,000+ ft)
Operational Shock (max at 2 ms - typical) 50 Gs
Non-Operational Shock (max at 2 ms - typical) 200 Gs
Linear Random Operating Vibration 5–500 Hz: 0.70 Grms
Random Rotary Operating Vibration 20–1500Hz: 12.5 rads/s²
Linear Random Non-Operating Vibration 2–500 Hz: 2.27 Grms
Drive acoustics, sound power (bels)
Idle 1.8 (typical)
2.0 (max)
During periods of drive idle, some offline activity may occur according to the
SMART specification, which may increase acoustic and power to operational levels.
Performance seek 2.6 (typical)
2.8 (max)
Nonrecoverable read errors 1 sector per 1015 bits read
Annualized Failure Rate (AFR)*0.44% based on 8760 POH
Maximum Rated Workload*Maximum rate of <550TB/year
Workloads exceeding the annualized rate may degrade the drive MTBF and impact product
reliability. The Annualized Workload Rate is in units of TB per year, or TB per 8760 power on
hours. Workload Rate = TB transferred * (8760 / recorded power on hours).
Warranty To determine the warranty for a specific drive, use a web browser to access the following web
page: www.seagate.com/support/warranty-and-replacements/.
From this page, click on the “Is my Drive under Warranty” link. The following are required to be
provided: the drive serial number, model number (or part number) and country of
purchase.The system will display the warranty information for the drive.
Load-unload cycles 300,000
Supports Hotplug operation per
Serial ATA Revision 3.3 specification Yes
Drive specification ST18000VE000
ST18000VE002 ST16000VE002 ST12000VE001

Seagate SkyHawk AI Serial ATA Product Manual, Rev. A 9
www.seagate.com Drive specifications
2.2 Formatted capacity
*One GB equals one billion bytes when referring to hard drive capacity. Accessible capacity may vary depending on operating environment and formatting.
NOTE LBA Counts for drive capacities greater than 8TB are calculated based upon the
SFF-8447 standard publication. ftp://ftp.seagate.com/sff/SFF-8447.PDF
2.2.1 LBA mode
When addressing these drives in LBA mode, all blocks (sectors) are consecutively numbered from 0 to n–1, where n is
the number of guaranteed sectors as defined above.
See Section 4.3.1, "Identify Device command" (words 60-61 and 100-103) for additional information about 48-bit
addressing support of drives with capacities over 137GB.
2.3 Recording and interface technology
ST models Formatted capacity* Guaranteed sectors Bytes per logical sector
ST18000VE000
ST18000VE002 18TB 35,156,656,128
512E
ST16000VE002 16TB 31,251,759,104
ST12000VE001 12TB 23,437,770,752
Interface Serial ATA (SATA)
Recording method Perpendicular
Recording density, KBPI (Kb/in max) (18TB model) 2321
Recording density, KBPI (Kb/in max) (16TB & 12TB models) 2426
Track density, KTPI (ktracks/in avg) (18TB model) 480
Track density, KTPI (ktracks/in avg) (16TB & 12TB models) 436
Areal density (Gb/in2avg) (18TB model) 1155
Areal density (Gb/in2avg) (16TB & 12TB models) 1028
Spindle speed (RPM) (± 0.2%) 7200
Internal data transfer rate (Mb/s max) 2833
Sustained data transfer rate (MB/s max) (18TB model) 260
Sustained data transfer rate (MB/s max) (16TB model) 250
Sustained data transfer rate (MB/s max) (12TB model) 240
I/O data-transfer rate (MB/s max) 600 (Ultra DMA mode 5)