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expiredcaptainguy posted Nov 20, 2025 12:36 PM

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

$170

$280

39% off
+ Free Shippingat Western Digital
157 Comments
64.9K Views
Visit Western Digital
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
+160
Good Deal
Visit Western Digital

Top Comments

KnockKnockWhosThere
93Comments
26Reputation
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
Go to Comment
Masejoer
3KComments
636Reputation
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.
Go to Comment
CrazyBuckeye
200Comments
33Reputation
I wonder if these can easily be shucked. If so, it's a good deal for some large (slow) storage for backups and such.
<edit> 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.
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157 Comments

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Nov 20, 2025 3:32 PM
482 Comments
Joined Feb 2010
PythonzNov 20, 2025 3:32 PM
482 Comments
Quote from rayb02 :
will BF have lower prices on WD? already great price
I doubt it. This is their deal price, same as it was for Prime Day.
Nov 20, 2025 3:38 PM
282 Comments
Joined Jul 2019
WiseLlama2461Nov 20, 2025 3:38 PM
282 Comments
They have the worst shipping ever. I ordered 4 internal drives from them last year and all 4 drives were loose in the bottom of the box. No foam, nothing. Not to worry though because they put some bubble wrap on top. As bad as that was, dealing with them for returns was an absolute nightmare. I recommend trying to find these deals at a store instead but in the end who knows how they were shipped as well.
Nov 20, 2025 3:39 PM
482 Comments
Joined Feb 2010
PythonzNov 20, 2025 3:39 PM
482 Comments

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

Quote from AquaLinen207 :
I always wonder why everyone is keen on shucking? Unless it's for or RAIS, what do u gain? A cleaner setup? There are generally drives at the same price/TB or less, with w 3-year warranty (not 1 that is likely voided). Plus, you can hookup a bunch of USB devices via splitter.or existing IO, but that's not the case for SATA - you'll end up needing an expansion card - which throws off the entire pricing model. Let me know peeps!
Last time I looked, I couldn't find any NAS-tier 14TB drives nearly as cheap as shucking this one. You do take some risk with the warranty, but it's super easy to shuck and the drives are great. I do run them in RAID in a ZFS pool, but that's probably true of almost anyone buying NAS drives. I bought 2 originally in 2020, and just added 2 more this year. The first 2 drives have been running pretty much 24/7 in my DIY NAS for 5 years with no issues for Plex and general photos/files backup.
1
Nov 20, 2025 3:40 PM
989 Comments
Joined Jul 2010
misterv1Nov 20, 2025 3:40 PM
989 Comments
Are these fast enough for a NVR ? Want to upgrade my 8TB USBA connected NVR to an internal drive.
Nov 20, 2025 3:42 PM
482 Comments
Joined Feb 2010
PythonzNov 20, 2025 3:42 PM
482 Comments
FYI for anyone worried about shipping issues, Amazon has these for the same price. I'd probably go that route myself for convenience of returns and the 5% back.
2
1
Nov 20, 2025 3:46 PM
127 Comments
Joined Nov 2015
ThorguardNov 20, 2025 3:46 PM
127 Comments
For those saying you need tape to block off a pin if you use an older PSU, thats because of the new power disable or whatever its called right? When i bought some recertified drives from goharddrive they included an adapter. So thats another option.
Nov 20, 2025 3:59 PM
120 Comments
Joined Mar 2020

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Nov 20, 2025 4:26 PM
37 Comments
Joined Mar 2012
hgelpkeNov 20, 2025 4:26 PM
37 Comments
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.
I shucked one with one of the pry tools that looks like a guitar pick. Had it open and out in 10 minutes tops.
Nov 20, 2025 4:26 PM
915 Comments
Joined Jul 2004
HDTiVoFanNov 20, 2025 4:26 PM
915 Comments
Quote from Pythonz :
FYI for anyone worried about shipping issues, Amazon has these for the same price. I'd probably go that route myself for convenience of returns and the 5% back.
With Amazon you lose a year on warranty but I agree that is cheapest way with 5% back with their credit card.
Nov 20, 2025 4:48 PM
64 Comments
Joined Aug 2011
rgalversonNov 20, 2025 4:48 PM
64 Comments

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

The BestBuy version of this drive is also on sale for the same price: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/w...JXTHCC7YZ9
1
Nov 20, 2025 4:48 PM
19 Comments
Joined Feb 2013
smastinNov 20, 2025 4:48 PM
19 Comments
And at bhphotovideo
Nov 20, 2025 4:51 PM
187 Comments
Joined Feb 2010
ArmoredCavalryNov 20, 2025 4:51 PM
187 Comments
Bought this last time, after shucking it wouldn't work. Found it was the pin issue as others mentioned. Easier method than using tape is to just buy a Molex to SATA power adapter. Will have the same effect of not powering the pins than the the drive the "shutdown" command that causes the problem.
1
Nov 20, 2025 4:57 PM
439 Comments
Joined Jun 2010
theagentNov 20, 2025 4:57 PM
439 Comments
Bought this same 20TB drive last BF for $249.99
Nov 20, 2025 4:59 PM
30 Comments
Joined Nov 2016
ipu42Nov 20, 2025 4:59 PM
30 Comments
Why are the sales so rarely for 16tb?

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Nov 20, 2025 5:05 PM
223 Comments
Joined Nov 2007
Kit595Nov 20, 2025 5:05 PM
223 Comments
$13.50 per TB, which isn't off from the current lowest of $10.36 (based on a comparison site, Seagate Expansion 28TB External Hard Drive HDD)

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