# Is HAMR CMR or SMR? The Direct Answer for HDD Buyers

> HAMR can be CMR or SMR. A drive described as Mozaic HAMR CMR uses heat-assisted magnetic recording and a conventional track layout. A HAMR SMR product would still use heat-assisted media but arrange tracks in a shingled layout. Always verify the exact model rather than translating “HAMR” into a CMR/SMR answer by itself.

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## Primary source
- [Is HAMR CMR or SMR? The Direct Answer for HDD Buyers](https://cloudzat.com/is-hamr-cmr-or-smr/index.md): Clean Markdown version of the full Cloudzat guidance.

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