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frontpagecaptainguy posted Nov 20, 2025 12:36 PM
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frontpagecaptainguy posted Nov 20, 2025 12:36 PM

Western Digital Elements USB 3.0 External Hard Drive: 20TB $270, 14TB

+ Free Shipping

$170

$280

39% off
Western Digital
127 Comments 34,577 Views
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Deal Details
Update: This very popular front page deal is still available.

Western Digital has Western Digital Elements USB 3.0 External Hard Drives on sale as listed below. Shipping is free.

Available:Thanks to Community Member captainguy for sharing this deal.

Features:
  • High-capacity add-on storage
  • Fast data transfers
  • Plug-and-play ready for Windows PCs

Editor's Notes

Written by jimmytx | Staff
  • About this Deal:
    • Please see the original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.

Original Post

Written by captainguy
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Update: This very popular front page deal is still available.

Western Digital has Western Digital Elements USB 3.0 External Hard Drives on sale as listed below. Shipping is free.

Available:Thanks to Community Member captainguy for sharing this deal.

Features:
  • High-capacity add-on storage
  • Fast data transfers
  • Plug-and-play ready for Windows PCs

Editor's Notes

Written by jimmytx | Staff
  • About this Deal:
    • Please see the original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.

Original Post

Written by captainguy

Community Voting

Deal Score
+124
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Top Comments

Masejoer
2894 Posts
608 Reputation
It has nothing to do with the ATX PSU age or type. If you plug it into anything that provides power to the 3.3V pin, the drive will stay powered down. This is used to allow systems (typically backplanes) to disable or enable drives by controlling that one pin. If you plug these straight into an ATX power supply, which always provides a constant 3.3V to the power-disable pin, then the drive will stay "off."

People get around this by:

A) Using a Molex to SATA adapter when attached directly to a power supply, since Molex 4-pin doesn't have 3.3V to begin with.
B) Using it in enclosure that controls the power-disable pin correctly (or rather, doesn't have 3.3V and that pin just floats).
C) Using it in a server chassis that controls, or doesn't support, the power-disable pin. My servers have backplanes that are powered from 4-pin Molex connectors, and have no separate 3.3V regulator, so they could never send 3.3V if they wanted to. Just 12V and 5V on different pins.
KnockKnockWhosThere
79 Posts
26 Reputation
As many others have mentioned, yes you can. There are numerous guides on how to shuck them. There is also a community led Google doc that says which PSU models need the 3.3v mod.

Not sure if this is the most up to date version:
https://docs.google.com/spreadshe...A/htmlview
kenoarto
213 Posts
22 Reputation
why do I not believe this?

126 Comments

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Nov 20, 2025 12:41 PM
171 Posts
Joined Aug 2019
CrazyBuckeyeNov 20, 2025 12:41 PM
171 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank CrazyBuckeye

I wonder if these can easily be shucked. If so, it's a good deal for some large (slow) storage for backups and such.
Answering my own question, from what I can tell these enclosures have WD140EDGZ drives in them, and they can be shucked and used without the enclosure.
2
Nov 20, 2025 12:51 PM
1,367 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
fordhamdudeNov 20, 2025 12:51 PM
1,367 Posts
Quote from CrazyBuckeye :
I wonder if these can easily be shucked. If so, it's a good deal for some large (slow) storage for backups and such.
Answering my own question, from what I can tell these enclosures have WD140EDGZ drives in them, and they can be shucked and used without the enclosure.
They absolutely can, but you need to disable one of the pins with kapton tape.
Nov 20, 2025 01:04 PM
1,048 Posts
Joined Aug 2010
TwiceOverNov 20, 2025 01:04 PM
1,048 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank TwiceOver

Quote from fordhamdude :
They absolutely can, but you need to disable one of the pins with kapton tape.
Only on some hardware. I pretty much exclusively use shucked drives and have never had to use the tape.
2
Pro
Nov 20, 2025 01:11 PM
3,029 Posts
Joined Nov 2005
BrainDoc
Pro
Nov 20, 2025 01:11 PM
3,029 Posts
Quote from fordhamdude :
They absolutely can, but you need to disable one of the pins with kapton tape.
I'll add that I've never needed to do that with these. I just shuck the drives (about a 3 minute process) and stick them in my NAS.
Nov 20, 2025 01:16 PM
320 Posts
Joined Dec 2008
rayb02Nov 20, 2025 01:16 PM
320 Posts
will BF have lower prices on WD? already great price
1
Nov 20, 2025 01:18 PM
83 Posts
Joined Aug 2013
AngrynapkinNov 20, 2025 01:18 PM
83 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank Angrynapkin

It's depends on the PSU you use or if your backplane supports these without having to use the tape.

I have a seasonic platinum 750w I think and I need to use the tape but my old server case with the backplane didn't.

I also only use these for my UnRaid server shucked. If you don't want to do the tape you can get adapters so I wouldn't worry about it.
2
Nov 20, 2025 01:54 PM
191 Posts
Joined Apr 2016

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Nov 20, 2025 02:28 PM
527 Posts
Joined Nov 2014
StreetJediNov 20, 2025 02:28 PM
527 Posts
This is what you data hoarders (like myself) have been waiting for. Yes, this is shuckable.

Same price at:
BestBuy
Amazon
Newegg
Adorama

https://www.westerndigital.com/pr...p1=3938566
Nov 20, 2025 02:39 PM
213 Posts
Joined Aug 2007
kenoartoNov 20, 2025 02:39 PM
213 Posts
Quote from timur38 :
Last year I bought 3 hard drives from westerndigital store and they all were DOA.
why do I not believe this?
2
2
Nov 20, 2025 02:45 PM
191 Posts
Joined Apr 2016
timur38Nov 20, 2025 02:45 PM
191 Posts
Quote from kenoarto :
why do I not believe this?
Order and see yourself. Mine were shipped with zero padding with ups ground delivered which took like 7 days.
7
Nov 20, 2025 02:50 PM
79 Posts
Joined Feb 2019
KnockKnockWhosThereNov 20, 2025 02:50 PM
79 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank KnockKnockWhosThere

Quote from CrazyBuckeye :
I wonder if these can easily be shucked. If so, it's a good deal for some large (slow) storage for backups and such.
Answering my own question, from what I can tell these enclosures have WD140EDGZ drives in them, and they can be shucked and used without the enclosure.
As many others have mentioned, yes you can. There are numerous guides on how to shuck them. There is also a community led Google doc that says which PSU models need the 3.3v mod.

Not sure if this is the most up to date version:
https://docs.google.com/spreadshe...A/htmlview
5
Nov 20, 2025 03:06 PM
215 Posts
Joined Oct 2004
GelOhPigNov 20, 2025 03:06 PM
215 Posts
Quote from TwiceOver :
Only on some hardware. I pretty much exclusively use shucked drives and have never had to use the tape.
All shucked drives in all my synology NAS machines. Current one is a DS1019+. Never taped a pin. I am curious as to what hardware needs a taped pin...
Nov 20, 2025 03:17 PM
2,350 Posts
Joined Feb 2014
elefante72Nov 20, 2025 03:17 PM
2,350 Posts
Quote from timur38 :
Last year I bought 3 hard drives from westerndigital store and they all were DOA.
Obviously you needed to tape them.
8
Nov 20, 2025 03:30 PM
11 Posts
Joined Oct 2025

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Nov 20, 2025 03:31 PM
325 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
FrostyDNov 20, 2025 03:31 PM
325 Posts
Quote from GelOhPig :
All shucked drives in all my synology NAS machines. Current one is a DS1019+. Never taped a pin. I am curious as to what hardware needs a taped pin...
Any NAS is going to handle this scenario fine. It's desktop computers that are more likely to have compatibility issues.

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