• expired

WD 16 TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 $408.09 Delivered @ Amazon UK via AU

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$25.20 /tb > now $25.47 $25.56 /tb [price increased slightly]
Lowest price for a while, though AUD has gone up a little recently

Any thoughts on this shucked vs an internal for nas?
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B089S33PR3/ (WD Gold)
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08NWF1X6P (HC 550)

https://diskprices.com/?locale=au

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.

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closed Comments

  • +1

    Thanks for sharing. Prices getting better.

    • +3

      Prices getting better

      [price increased slightly]

      ???

  • I believe these are white label HC550 with different firmware making them 5400rpm.

    • +1

      Mine report as being 7200 rpm

      • the older ones have wd golds which are definitely 7200rpm

  • +3

    HC550 and WD Gold are better drives, will last longer and will have less errors on average (there is always a chance any drive can fail in some way). Your need for data assurance would be a good guide on what drive to consider buying.

    And before ‘I run XX white drives, dont waste money on datacenter drives’ comments, if white drives were as reliable as datacenter drives then all datacenters would buy them instead of datacenter drives to save money.

    • +6

      Regardless, all hard drives will fail, it’s your backup strategy I.e. 3-2-1 that’ll save ya.

      I’ve got a few of these white label shucked in my NAS with an offsite backup to backblaze.

    • Not really, datacenters are buying drives at a much higher volume and will be getting much better prices, and shucking/warranty headaches just cost too much.

    • Those white drives could literally say "this is a gold drive" and your statement is still incorrect for the reasons that Billy states. Why would a data centre void their warranty and spend money paying people to remove drives from a plastic case.

      • I didn't write about shucking at datacenters. I wrote about using white drives. A datacenter could approach WD and ask to purchase white drives. So you and Billy are writting about a whole different thing to me.

        I'll add, Cheapcuda is spot on.

        • White drives are just about marketing. They only exist because the company makes other drives cheaper by doing it in bulk, then on some of the excess drives, they change the firmware and the sticker to sell the same drive cheaper to the really price sensitive. Backblaze would already be getting cheaper bulk buy pricing.

          • @rygle: I dont work for WD. So now I am curious if white drives are not drives that were made on HC or red (for some capacities) production line but failed some sort standard. Yet passed enough tests to be deemed eligible for another market but need to use different firmware to work within acceptable ranges. Alike the reason for Ryzen 5700X existence: binning. In a mass production line different labels and different firmware is extra cost. If there is absolutely no difference between the white drives and HC (or red for some capacity) then why incur the extra cost? Just put a HC drive without a label into an enclosure, it would be cheaper.

            • @g1: They're all the same drives - what differs between them is the firmware, the support, and the warranty. This is why they're all priced differently and the whites are cheapest. Data centres need support and warranty !

              Nobody knows if binning is in play - it absolutely could be, but we just don't know. Or the drives really could be the same except for the firmware.

      • @adam159 "Why would a data centre void their warranty and spend money paying people to remove drives from a plastic case."
        Careful… there are zealots on here who don't appreciate the cold hard logic that you put forward in your valid argument here ;-)

    • And before ‘I run XX white drives, dont waste money on datacenter drives’ comments, if white drives were as reliable as datacenter drives then all datacenters would buy them instead of datacenter drives to save money.

      That's typically reserved for extreme supply disruption events, like when Backblaze had to resort to shucking after the floods in Thailand in 2011. (However I doubt they would resort to the same now, as they have much better relationships with vendors these days.)

  • Not bad, I got an 18tb for $480 about 6 months back. Though did have to buy 2 as losing 18tb of data is not fun.

    • +1

      Putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad strategy but 2 baskets is expensive.

      • +1

        Sadly 1.5 baskets isn't a thing

        • Wouldn't 1.5 baskets be three drives in RAID5 ?

        • Local basket+cloud basket is the way to go

          • @Neology: Local + cloud is cost plausible, given blackblaze is like AU$10/mo for unlimited local attached storage. That gives you a break even of around 4 years (compared to purchasing a second drive). Given hard drives have a higher chance of failure in the first few years, this is actually a viable option.

            • +1

              @turtlesinmypants:

              Backblaze Online Backup is not designed to be used as offsite data archival or offsite storage for data that will not be retained on the licensed computer.

              There are many caveats with the personal backup product. It nukes old files that you deleted off your PC, it nukes external files if you don't plug in the drive often enough, etc.

              If you tried to store 16TB on there, I'm guessing they might get a little pissed and tell you to use B2, which is like USD$5/TB (not including downloads).

        • erasure coding, my friend. 1.25 baskets ;)

      • +1

        Why make generalisations on what this person is storing? For all we know the data he is storing could be readily available on the internet and may not be mission critical. I always laugh at people lecturing others over their data storage strategies when they have no idea what they use it for.

  • https://www.amazon.com.au/16TB-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBFBE…

    Worth waiting for this to drop in price?
    Just want type C :)

    • No. That's 2x8tb. Those raided drives have no real benefits as the hardware and software is bleh. And you've twice as many drives that can fail. Price usually doesn't move on them either. They're just junk.

      Mind you, there is hardware encryption on the elements drive enclosure that cannot be turned off, only bypassed by shucking.

      Whatever you do.. Know what you're buying.

      Personally i run the elements in their external case but have a second drive offsite for backup. Wd is so cheap vs Seagate that i run all same manufacturer and model but at least the backups are on different batches and i grill them on hd sentinel first.

      • there is hardware encryption on the elements drive enclosure that cannot be turned off

        Did you mean to say the 'my book' enclosure? I though the elements series didn't have that problem.

        • I meant elements but could be wrong.

    • Actually terrible $/tb for two 8TB drives, even if they are guaranteed to be WD Red CMR drives. (Well, I'm not sure about Reds anymore, but they do say raid optimised…)

      Camelx3 shows that the price has remained roughly around that level for quite a while as well.

      It's kind of approaching NAS unit prices, but with none of the actual NAS features. (Not that you would want to purchase a WD branded NAS unit, given the repeated "I don't know who wrote this code but I don't think they were paid enough" security vulnerabilities I've seen popup in the last few years.)

  • Decent price

  • is that the normal price?

    • You could check camels

  • Can these be shucked?

    • I've shucked this exact drive before

      • Is it easy? how long did it take?

        • 2 mins - check YouTube.

    • Actually these can to shucked in 10-30 seconds.

      1. To get the cover off, wear socks or use a towel to cover the vent sides.
      2. Place the drive on the ground between your feet pressing the vent sides only. (Front of drive pointed up)
      3. Pull the front of the cover up.
      4. Push drive out of frame and undo the screws.

      P.S. Getting the plastic cover off takes 2 seconds.

      • socks 4 shucks :)

  • Says currently unavailable

  • How to shucked these in 10-30 seconds.

    1. To get the cover off, wear socks or use a towel to cover the vent sides only.
    2. Place the drive on the ground between your feet pressing the vent sides only. (Front of drive pointed up)
    3. Pull the front of the cover up.
    4. Push drive out of frame and undo the screws.

    P.S. Getting the plastic cover off takes 2 seconds.

    • Will the clips break?
      Worried about keeping them for rma if worst case

      • No clips have broken for me yet 6 drives all good.

        P.S. the plastic wrap over the cover seems to give better grip.

  • +1

    Price gone up to $430.94

    • Back down to $408.09

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