WD 12TB Elements Desktop Hard Drive, USB 3.0 - WDBWLG0120HBK-NESN
Price has just dropped again, little bit cheaper than last time as well.
Edit 30/7: Now $336.64 from $350.60
CamelCamelCamel.
Pretty easy, should only take you a few minutes.
I have one of these from when it was last on sale. Easy to shuck. I found a WD120EMAZ inside. Amazon will deliver this as just the WD box without any sort of additional packaging or padding. I recommend running the drive through a full write + read surface test to check integrity before you dump any data onto it.
Follow this guide to shuck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QApvLyorr3g
But take some care when pushing out the rubber cushions so that you don't break off any of the small tabs holding them in place.
i use these shuckers in my unraid server and run preclear for 3 cycles to make sure they don't have any bad sectors, the last ones i checked were 10tb and took about 51Hrs per cycle so my guess is around 58-60Hrs per cycle
Is this drive fine for NAS? I am also keen to do same. I have an unraid box and a synology.
@jeeg: should be most people on r/datahoarder always posting when they go on sale in the us and uk, they seem to think they are oem red drives or theory that the WD120EMFZ is a firmware-locked 14TB Ultrastar DC HC350
@jeeg: Yes. See previous posts and/or check YouTube for shucking instruction videos. Take note that you need to insulate the 3.3V pin on the drive's power connector.
@jeeg: It should go in the Synology box just fine without any need to modify anything. In a desktop PC that has a power supply that complies with SATA 3.1 or earlier you'll need to stop the 3.3V from being sent to pin 3, by insulating the pin or cutting a wire, or using a molex > SATA adapter.
I use HDTune (WWindows program) to do a full scan of newly purchased HDDs for bad sectors. It takes about 1 hour per GB. It makes you realize that 12 GB really is a lot of data.
and 12 TB is even more!
Hi, what program do you recommend to put the drive through a full write + read surface test?
Any guide that is using prying tools is doing it wrong. That is how clips are broken. You literally stand it on its rubber feet, grip the top grill section applying pressure down to clamp it onto the table, and pull/slide the sides frontwards.
Source: Me. After following the 'guides' I did one which resulted in broken clips. I then looked at how the clips work and then did the next 3 tool free.
Thank you all kindly! I'll give it a go :)
Well there we go. Learnt a new term today. Very cool.
I bought one of these a few weeks ago. No power pin issues in my Silverstone 5 in 3 Bay.
Run your full write and read test BEFORE you shuck it.
Once you shuck it, make sure you are aware that you need to insulate the 3.3V pin on the drive's power connector.
The 3.3V pin thing isn’t a given, I’ve never had to do that.
What's the reason for this?
Some HDD makers don't like their "external" drives being shucked so they make them disable themselves if voltage is present on the 3.3V pin (the USB enclosure obviously doesn't power it).
Technically it's because they support a newer SATA spec (3.3/3.2+ - Feb 2016) which includes the PWDIS feature. It's not intentionally screwing up things for shuckers it's just that their USB enclosures also comply with the newer spec. The same feature will be on drives intended for enterprise use in some situations (it allows the server to hard reset the drive without someone having to power down the whole server or unplugging the drive).
Most desktop power supplies don't support the newer spec and just power the 3.3V pin all the time even though SATA drives haven't ever used it.
@PR0r: It should fail safe by just not powering the drive on. Molex > SATA cables are the least 'hacky' but you need to be careful that you have a crimped one instead of a molded one as some of the molded ones have been known to short out and cause fires…
In a NAS with a backplane (eg Synology) you don't need to do anything as they just don't supply the 3.3 V in the first place.
Alternatively coving the pin is simple enough.
https://youtu.be/1YqMn1pCRd8?t=128
As part of SATA Specification 3.3, the pin that carried 3.3V to the drive was reassigned to instead Power Off the drive when voltage is applied to it. This is used in enterprise environments to remotely power off/power cycle drives.
If you shuck it well without damaging it, then it should be easy to reassemble for warranty.
What software you guy's using to test the drives?
badblocks on Linux
Windows?
I use HDTune but it is not free. It has a per block display in the "Error Scan" tab. It also included speed tests and SMARt information. You can pause the error scan and even tell it where it start from (if resuming from a previous boot). URL is: https://www.hdtune.com/
are these helium-filled?
There was a 10TB on sale recently that was mentioned in the comments to be air-filled, fairly sure they don't make 12TB air-filled but just want to be sure?
Everything above 10TB is helium filled for now.
It's not physically possible with current technology to make a drive as dense as 12 or 14 TB CMR, without helium, AFAIK.
Amazon Prime Day is this Wednesday. Would be best to wait I'd say and see if the price drops again.
Prime Day has been delayed to either September or October (depending on what news site you read) and there's no guarantee there will be good deals this year so any bargains that come up now may not be replicated anymore down the track..
Yes, I agree. I read that Amazon Prime Day has been pushed back and may not go ahead this year since sales during COVID have been going gangbusters for Amazon (globally). As in previous years, there will always be much speculation and this year will be no different.
Have 2 of these in my Synology shucked and they have been fantastic.
what synololgy have you got? Reason I ask is that I'm looking to buy a NAS
edit - just read the comment below DS-918
Seen two variants of this drive in the Easystore 12TB, WD120EMAZ (no pin mod required) and WD120EMFZ (pin mod required). Other than random theories on reddit about binned drives (14TB, enterprise grade, 7200RPM, platters disabled etc) I couldnt really discern what the differences are with these drives.
Don’t know how accurate that is. Both of mine are EMFZ and they didn’t require any pin mod when sucked into my DS-918
Your NAS is probably using a Molex - SATA power cable it doesnt have 3.3V on the pin in question. Two workarounds, Little piece of tape on the pin on the drive if you want to use the PSU cable on your PC (Kapton tape mod) or Molex - SATA power cable (wire mod).
Most NAS's have backplanes but yeah, they don't supply 3.3V so no mod needed.
$50 more for the 14TB @ $415 https://www.amazon.com.au/WD-Elements-Desktop-Drive-WDBWLG01…
Don't forget Cashrewards !
That’s $63 more…
Yep - price per GB is almost the same if you really need the extra space 👍
But you use up less drive slots. Usually the higher GB it is, the more expensive it is.
14TB not showing as available any more.
I've ordered two of these, both times there was a WD120EMAZ inside, and required the 3.3v sticky-tape mod before it worked as internal drives for me. No biggie though!
Not negging the deal but this has been $350-355 all through covid except when it goes out of stock temporarily. Lowest price of $341.
yes, as i've noted in earlier deals OzB has become a place where everyone posts a 'bargain' when the price fluctuates - getting a little difficult to work out what a deal is and what is simply an 'average' price with a little price fluctuating due to exchange rate/supply etc.
Agreed $341 is a bargain the costs above this are different levels of being ripped of as ultimately this hardware comes down in price over time.
I purchased it at $341 in May.
Yeah i mean some are genuine bargains, but some are literally 'back in stock'.
Things will eventually re-settle….. hopefully in time for my Ryzen 4000 upgrade ;)
3% is the difference between a bargain and getting ripped off?
Price fluctuation isn’t $100 off… $10 here and there fair enough. Yesterday you couldn’t get it for less than $460 today it’s $350, seems a bargain to me and the number of clicks on it shows people agree.
I only bought it with the cashback at 5%, making it to $336-337 if it tracks. Not sure if amazon cashback for pc will continue as it's a limited time cashback, so I just bought it.
Its still a decent buy IMO for $336 given current market conditions.
But i still have so many memories of pre-covid pricing on HDDs. E.G. I grabbed an 8TB Seagate for $137 on Amazon. 8TB's were constantly around $200. And 10TB Seagate Bara Pro drives in the external bays were often $230-250ish.
Sigh i long for the 'old days' of last years black friday :D
Amazon changed their affiliate scheme to now offer cashback on these categories, so both Cashrewards and Shopback have followed suit.
It won't be "temporary". It will last as long as Amazon keeps these affiliate rates the same.
If they remove it afterwards, then they are pocketing the full cashback without paying it out to you.
I bought one from Amazon US Via AU last week but it is still not shipped. for those who have bought before, how long did it take for yours to ship?
Sometimes 8-10 days. When it does ship though it will only take a few days to come
It tells you on the order page…
I ordered one yesterday and my order page says
Ordered Friday, 10 July
Arriving 10 August
so don't expect it any time soon 👍
!mike82
I have purchased these twice and both were delivered in under 10 days. Just be aware these units may be fulfilled and shipped from anywhere in the USA. One arrived in the original WD packaging with Amazon tape labels stuck all over it and the other came in the usual Amazon carton with airbag stuffing inside.
My track record with Amazon AU's Global store purchases is 100% okay, although the last leg can be a disappointment with AusPost's shenanigans.
last time i ordered the 10tb's i purchased 1 and it arrived in just WD box, then later that arvo i ordered 2 more they turned up in a amazon box, before that all my single order's have just been WD box with a sticker on it
The last lot of these I got were delivered via DHL, who were fairly brisk for the last leg but just dumped the thing in the middle of my (shared) driveway without bothering to come to the very easy to access front door that wasn't any further away. (And yes, was home all day).
Why does Amazon US skimp on packaging? Is it only recently or has it got something to do with covid? I remember I bought two of the 10TB separately last year and on both occasions they did use an outer box with airbag stuffed inside.
when i bought my 10tb's that was late last year
The $250 10TB ones from the UK were a much better deal. Mine's in Germany as of last tracking.
Also I don't have experience with the 12TB whereas my current 10TB element have been rock solid so far. I've only had a couple of WD drives go bad but had a slew of the 3TB and 4TB Seagates die on me a few years back as well as a portable 2TB drive and that's put me off completely. Use to be a massive Seagate fan.
I store a lot of photography and video. (No not pr0n).
$275 after UK shipping but yeah, those were a bargain. Sad I missed it by just 10 minutes.
WD is always the best when it comes to hard drives. Seagate drives fail 3x as often as WDs according to Backblaze.
Wasn't always that way. My 8 yo 2nd gen i7 is still going strong with the original drives.
My first and last experience with Seagate was in 2008 when one failed on me after 6 months use. Bought a WD drive to replace it and it still works 12 years later.
I have 9 of these in my UNRAID setup and all have been rock solid so far, easily shuckable, no need for any pin blocking at all in my 5in3 or using cables
i need another 2 of these but im broke.. fml..
The one selling in Amazon UK is a real bargain: https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-WDBWLG0100HBK-EESN-Elements-Desk…
Per TB this is actually cheaper. $29.66 for the UK 10TB and $29.30 for this 12TB.
Comes up as 204 pounds for me, how is that a bargain?
I recall reading on Ozbargain that you can request a AUS power adapter? Can't remember if Amazon or Western Digital supply this?
Mine just shipped yesterday via DPD international, never heard of this courier before.
Sorry guys I'm not so cluey - what's the shuckability rating on this?