# Notes on Zoned Storage / Host-Managed SMR

*January 26, 2026* — https://jade.wtf/tech-notes/zoned-storage-notes/

Tags: hmsmr, hardware

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_Note: article date will be updated as data is updated_

## SATA Chipset Support
Based on first-hand testing...

| Works? | System | Chipset | Storage Device | OS |
|--------|--------|---------|----------------|----|
| ❌ No | Asustor AS6704T | ASM1164 | Seagate Exos X26z / ST25000NM000E | Fedora 40 IoT |
| ✅ Yes | Asustor AS6602T | Celeron/Pentium Silver SATA Controller (rev 06) | Seagate Exos X26z / ST25000NM000E | Fedora 40 IoT |
| ❌ No | Terramaster D8 Hybrid  | TDAS | Seagate Exos X26z / ST25000NM000E | Fedora 41 |
| ✅ Yes | Asustor AS6602T | Celeron/Pentium Silver SATA Controller (rev 06) | WDC DC HC680 / WSH722870ALE604 | Debian 13 |
| ✅ Yes | rando PC / 45HomeLab HL8 Backplane | LSI SAS3416 | Seagate Exos X26z / ST25000NM000E | Debian 13 |
| ✅ Yes | rando PC / 45HomeLab HL8 Backplane | LSI SAS3416 | WDC DC HC680 / WSH722870ALE604 | Debian 13 |

## Zoned storage on Fedora IoT
f2fs has a max volume size of 16TB and we have 25TB drives, so we'll use btrfs instead.

First, install btrfs:
```
# rpm-ostree install btrfs-progs && systemctl reboot
```

Second, make volume:
```
# mkfs.btrfs -m single -d single /dev/sda
btrfs-progs v6.8.1
See https://btrfs.readthedocs.io for more information.

Zoned: /dev/sda: host-managed device detected, setting zoned feature
Resetting device zones /dev/sda (93136 zones) ...
NOTE: several default settings have changed in version 5.15, please make sure
      this does not affect your deployments:
      - DUP for metadata (-m dup)
      - enabled no-holes (-O no-holes)
      - enabled free-space-tree (-R free-space-tree)

Label:              (null)
UUID:               9da51abc-3f37-47cf-8eb4-511645852b84
Node size:          16384
Sector size:        4096	(CPU page size: 4096)
Filesystem size:    22.74TiB
Block group profiles:
  Data:             single          256.00MiB
  Metadata:         single          256.00MiB
  System:           single          256.00MiB
SSD detected:       no
Zoned device:       yes
  Zone size:        256.00MiB
Features:           extref, skinny-metadata, no-holes, free-space-tree, zoned
Checksum:           crc32c
Number of devices:  1
Devices:
   ID        SIZE  ZONES  PATH
    1    22.74TiB  93136  /dev/sda
```

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