WD Easystore External Discussion

Ah, didn't know that version was shuckable.
Everything is shuckable if you have the right tools :cool:.
But yeah about a year ago the essentials drives got upgraded to the WD whites as well, they were crap drives in previous years though (when the easystores still had WD reds).
 
I bought 2 of the 8tb WDBWLG0080HBK-NESN for a media plex machine I am rebuilding...They had the 3.3v short so i did the tape mod. Worked great...Silly thing is I had to buy a HUGE roll of tape for like $4 to tape about 2mm...100ft...I should just have people send me a self addressed stamped envelope and put a 4 inch piece of tape in it...

Anyway after 2 tries the tape finally lined up just right and now I have 16TB ...I might do an 8tb mirror in case I lose my drive again...
 
How reliable are the WD whites ? Are these just HGST rebadges? I'm looking at 16 of these but not sure if I should go with these or wait for hgst 7200 rpm server drives to come down in price on ebay.
 
How reliable are the WD whites ? Are these just HGST rebadges? I'm looking at 16 of these but not sure if I should go with these or wait for hgst 7200 rpm server drives to come down in price on ebay.
From everything I've read, they are the same reds with just a different label, and the 3.3v issue. Unless you have a specific need, you're better off going with these at 5400 rpm to reduce power & heat. Been running 8x 8tb of these in a raid 6 array since November 2017 without issue, seem pretty reliable to me?
 
How reliable are the WD whites ? Are these just HGST rebadges? I'm looking at 16 of these but not sure if I should go with these or wait for hgst 7200 rpm server drives to come down in price on ebay.

I wouldn't buy all of those at the same time. Spread that out over as long a period as possible. You don't want all of the drives aging at the same rate. Unless of course, you are one of the few that intend to have true backups in case of failure.
 
From everything I've read, they are the same reds with just a different label, and the 3.3v issue. Unless you have a specific need, you're better off going with these at 5400 rpm to reduce power & heat. Been running 8x 8tb of these in a raid 6 array since November 2017 without issue, seem pretty reliable to me?
what exactly is the 3.3v issue? I am just going to throw these into SATA ports and run snapraid with them.
 
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If you apply 3.3V to the drive it does not turn on. One of the 3.3V pins of the SATA power connector has been repurposed to hold the drive in a sleep mode if a high signal is applied.


Edit: more info

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/hdd-sata-power-disable-feature,36146.html
sorry so does this cause me any problems that i need to worry about if I run this in a Norco SATA backplane or in a regular desktop sata port?

I dont think I do anything fancy with power in my setups. they just turn on and run 24/7.
 
sorry so does this cause me any problems that i need to worry about if I run this in a Norco SATA backplane or in a regular desktop sata port?

I dont think I do anything fancy with power in my setups. they just turn on and run 24/7.
Most of the Norco’s are powered by molex connectors which don’t have the 3.3v line. Regardless most backplanes aren’t affected as they tend to not pass the 3.3v even if it uses sata power for the plane. One of the non-destructive solutions for getting around the 3.3v (other than the tape) is to use a molex to sata connector.
 
Most of the Norco’s are powered by molex connectors which don’t have the 3.3v line. Regardless most backplanes aren’t affected as they tend to not pass the 3.3v even if it uses sata power for the plane. One of the non-destructive solutions for getting around the 3.3v (other than the tape) is to use a molex to sata connector.
ah so if i use molex to sata power it works just fine? I think i always power my HDDs that way.

With this right?
https://www.amazon.com/Molex-Power-SATA-Female-Adapter/dp/B000YJMB5Y
 
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ah so if i use molex to sata power it works just fine? I think i always power my HDDs that way.

With this right?
https://www.amazon.com/Molex-Power-SATA-Female-Adapter/dp/B000YJMB5Y

Correct if you notice there are only 3 line colors on molex, some sata have a 4th color which is the 3.3v line (sata uses the single cable to split to the 3 pins of the respective voltage) - no 4th color from molex = no 3.3v to mess it up :).

Black - Ground
Red - 5v
Yellow - 12v
Orange - 3.3v

Most backplane manufacturers that have sata power input don’t pay for 3.3v because it’s additional cost and not widely used either.

Here’s a handy eye chart:

FFRS5RAH0OJ0VVE.gif
 
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Just make sure it's not a molded connector. Those have been known to burn.
what is molded?

My 4224 uses molex but still managed to make half of my 4 drives refuse to spin up. Covering the 3.3v pin did the trick.

i got the 4224 as well. But these 4x8TB should go into a lenovo server TS140 like server(forget the model it has the 2x4 hot swape slots).
 
Just grabbed 3 more. I'm working on setting up freenas and I've got a couple of these already with a 10tb external from before to use as a backup or two...
 
if only they didnt charge sales tax :(
They don’t in texas :), I prefer the bestbuy ones though, even with tax, makes it easy to return if the drive tests bad or it doesnt contain what I want when I check it with cdi.
What drive does this contain ?
The Elements supposedly have the same wd white drives as the easystores.
 
I just shucked my 3 new ones I bought and all were white labels but made in Thailand. I'll post more details later after I finish putting my stuff together
 
You can use crystal disk info to get the drive model before you shuck them fyi.
Yea I know. I also have HD Sentinel. I already shucked them but working on several things at once (redoing everything pretty much). I was going to post all the details from my 2 or 3 separate purchases of 5 drives in 1 post for everyones benefit after i get the time.
 
Newegg was the last holdout not charging sales tax...and even the succumbed...
adorma and B&H do? Last I checked they were sales tax-free and that was after Newegg started charging. I forget what I bought.

I specifically by stuff now that isn't sold by Amazon (individual sellers dont charge tax...for now) even if it takes 2 weeks to get here and is the same price just to screw IL out of sales tax :p
 
adorma and B&H do? Last I checked they were sales tax-free and that was after Newegg started charging. I forget what I bought.

I specifically by stuff now that isn't sold by Amazon (individual sellers dont charge tax...for now) even if it takes 2 weeks to get here and is the same price just to screw IL out of sales tax :p
Depends on the state
 
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