Very timely - Following the installation of standard Baracuda drive 3 weeks ago, I noticed latency write time very quickly reached ridiculous levels > 220ms. Some googling revealed that the cheaper end are now SMR drives (this was 8Tb). It was returned for a refund and replaced with an IronWolf version, now under same workload write times 10ms.
It is ridiculous that this change is far from clear, although I eventually found something buried in a spec sheet, that with more research brought me to the SMR conclusion, this was found only after a lot of digging.
It is deceitful that this is not clear upfront. But lots of people dont want these drives (most tech heads) and so the manufacturers ARE hiding it (in different ways).
This if false advertising, I would not expect to buy a Mustang and then find Ford swapped the engine for a tiny power plant inside with the excuse of "oh, you didn't notice the small print buried in the middle of the brochure"