WARM: WD 8TB Elements EXT HD USB 3.0 $139 ( Amazon USE HardOCP Affiliate )

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SixFootDuo

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Blues really? I didn't know they did any of these with blues. Thanks for the tip.
 
Actually almost everybody is reporting getting white labels in these now.

I’ve followed threads in various forums and yet to see anyone end up with a blue drive.

Also same price without tax at b&h photo if you are not in NY.
 
jmilcher said:
Actually almost everybody is reporting getting white labels in these now.

I’ve followed threads in various forums and yet to see anyone end up with a blue drive.

Also same price without tax at b&h photo if you are not in NY.
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I thought I had read that as well that's why I was surprised.
 
jmilcher said:
Actually almost everybody is reporting getting white labels in these now.

I’ve followed threads in various forums and yet to see anyone end up with a blue drive.

Also same price without tax at b&h photo if you are not in NY.
Click to expand...



I went and took a look and it appears it's the 6tb's that are Blue drives. So I could be wrong.

What's better a white label or blue label?

Thanks for the update to the tread guys.

Still a good price for an 8TB.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I went and took a look and it appears it's the 6tb's that are Blue drives. So I could be wrong.

What's better a white label or blue label?

Thanks for the update to the tread guys.

Still a good price for an 8TB.
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Excellent price.

It’s been bouncing on this price and as low as 129 a few times.

I recall buying a few last year that had reds in them for 129 each.

I checked the reddit data hoarder mega thread again. You will likely receive a white, probably not a red, and blues were not shipped in these enclosures.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I went and took a look and it appears it's the 6tb's that are Blue drives. So I could be wrong.

What's better a white label or blue label?

Thanks for the update to the tread guys.

Still a good price for an 8TB.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the white label drives were simply unbranded versions of other WD / HGST drives. The reason these first came onto the scene were because of the insanely high value of being able to buy WD MyBook (and other external models including Elements. However, the MyBooks that were specifically made for BestBuy were the original starting place for this) external HDDs, "shuck" them out of the enclosure, and have a high end 8TB storage drive enclosed. At one point certain model numbers of externals made it highly likely to be actually filled with a WD Red labeled drive, but there was also the potential to get a "white label" drive that didnt have any particular visible branding. However, white label drives were essentially WD Red drives in specification (sometimes, they required a tape mod to the 3.3v pin because of using an older version of the SATA power spec and/or you could just use the molex power instead). Guides sprung up to help users catalog and identify the "real" features of which external products, the likelihood of the internal drive's model, and what its specs would be. For instance, white labels made in Thailand were likely to have 256mb of cache while those with China manufacture were 128mb; both however were very close to WD Red drives otherwise.

As this continued over the sale events (especially black friday) over a year or two, it became clear that branded Red drives were less and less and white label ones had wider specs. For instance, there was a time it was thought that certain white labels were varied in WD Red spec or in fact were closer to downclocked HGST He8 / He10 models running at 5400rpm, thanks to CrystalDiskInfo finding the Helium indicator bit on certain drives! Last I checked, there had never been WD Blue - their basic consumer level general use drive branding - spec white labels in these, as opposed to the NAS-targeted storage of the WD Red or HGST helium line which would be preferable between the two. Perhaps things have changed but I'm to understand that for storage use, white labels with Red//HGST specs would be preferable to those with WD Blue specs.
 
RanceJustice said:
My understanding is that the white label drives were simply unbranded versions of other WD / HGST drives. The reason these first came onto the scene were because of the insanely high value of being able to buy WD MyBook (and other external models including Elements. However, the MyBooks that were specifically made for BestBuy were the original starting place for this) external HDDs, "shuck" them out of the enclosure, and have a high end 8TB storage drive enclosed. At one point certain model numbers of externals made it highly likely to be actually filled with a WD Red labeled drive, but there was also the potential to get a "white label" drive that didnt have any particular visible branding. However, white label drives were essentially WD Red drives in specification (sometimes, they required a tape mod to the 3.3v pin because of using an older version of the SATA power spec and/or you could just use the molex power instead). Guides sprung up to help users catalog and identify the "real" features of which external products, the likelihood of the internal drive's model, and what its specs would be. For instance, white labels made in Thailand were likely to have 256mb of cache while those with China manufacture were 128mb; both however were very close to WD Red drives otherwise.

As this continued over the sale events (especially black friday) over a year or two, it became clear that branded Red drives were less and less and white label ones had wider specs. For instance, there was a time it was thought that certain white labels were varied in WD Red spec or in fact were closer to downclocked HGST He8 / He10 models running at 5400rpm, thanks to CrystalDiskInfo finding the Helium indicator bit on certain drives! Last I checked, there had never been WD Blue - their basic consumer level general use drive branding - spec white labels in these, as opposed to the NAS-targeted storage of the WD Red or HGST helium line which would be preferable between the two. Perhaps things have changed but I'm to understand that for storage use, white labels with Red//HGST specs would be preferable to those with WD Blue specs.
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Good info and exactly spot on.

I stopped buying them last year when the chance of getting a red was about none.

I have a few 8tb red 256’s from a few sales ago, and decided to not play the lottery since that’s what I wanted.

But if you aren’t specifically lookin for a red, and just need cheap bulk storage this works.

Also, keep your enclosure. Warranty is valid as long as it’s put back in the original enclosure.

Some people on reddit claimed the warranty was valid with just the drive and not the enclosure, as it’s based on serial number. But ymmv

You can thank new laws stating warranty stickers are basically not worth anything.
 
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