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Model: WD Elements 20TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive, Black (WDBWLG0200HBK-NESN)
Deal History
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It is $270 at WD's own website. There is also 5% casshback at a very popular website. And, WD adds in 1 extra year to the warranty, bringing it to a full 3 years.
Warranty is moot if you want to try and return the bare drive, AFAIK that's always the case.
That's why you want to watch a few videos on how to shuck without damaging the shell and keep careful track of it and any internals (mainly the SATA/power adapters).
The videos will help you figure out where all the clips are and hopefully give you some tips on how to pry the shell off without damaging the clips.
5-8 years ago, I didn't bother with the careful part and just levered the shell apart with a screwdriver. Now that hard drives are out of this world expensive (I bought 2 x 20TB Western Digital Reds retail last year for $500), I'd probably go slow with some plastic spudgers (think guitar picks).
Current hard drive prices are making me sort of depressed.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank jmr2198
It is $270 at WD's own website. There is also 5% casshback at a very popular website. And, WD adds in 1 extra year to the warranty, bringing it to a full 3 years.
It is $270 at WD's own website. There is also 5% casshback at a very popular website. And, WD adds in 1 extra year to the warranty, bringing it to a full 3 years.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank KingMongo
Quote
from offbeat
:
warranty is moot if you shuck it?
Warranty is moot if you want to try and return the bare drive, AFAIK that's always the case.
That's why you want to watch a few videos on how to shuck without damaging the shell and keep careful track of it and any internals (mainly the SATA/power adapters).
The videos will help you figure out where all the clips are and hopefully give you some tips on how to pry the shell off without damaging the clips.
5-8 years ago, I didn't bother with the careful part and just levered the shell apart with a screwdriver. Now that hard drives are out of this world expensive (I bought 2 x 20TB Western Digital Reds retail last year for $500), I'd probably go slow with some plastic spudgers (think guitar picks).
Current hard drive prices are making me sort of depressed.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank ben_r_
Quote
from RickyBobby26
:
Not necessarily. If you do it right, you could put them back. Nothing is broken. It would require you to keep the enclosure though.
Edit: just saw the other posts.
These are super easy to shuck. Solid deal, 14tb is a slightly better deal per TB
Exactly! I've probably shucked ten of these style cases and never broken anything. Just used an old credit card cut up in square pieces and inserted into the case at the right four spots. Slides right open after that.
I bought 4 used 20tb WD Ultrastar HC560's for $250 each on eBay. Bought a 5th for a spare. In this process I ultimately ended up buying 7 drivers and returning 2 because they had issues. The ones without issues were pretty much perfect. None of them had over 1000 hours. They lack the same warranty as this external drive but I'm willing to bet that I won't need that spare for many many years. No errors, did full testing of everything before install. I think they're still the better value but only if you're willing to deal with testing everything and returning if necessary. Unfortunately companies like serverpartdeals are no longer the cheap source they used to be, it got too popular. The drives have been running for a few months now so hopefully they'll continue to chug along.
Not sure if these are better than the Seagate 26tb at $249
The Seagate 26TB External uses a Barracuda HAMR drive. Now the name "Barracuda" tends to give most of us pause as well as the verrry low rated TBW, but there are some that believe that they are still rebadged Exos drives.
Whether they are rebadged Exos or Barracuda, there's not a ton of online information for those drives so there's a little bit of faith involved in going with those shucked Seagates.
Typically the WD externals are using a relabeled Red Pro, but as with all of the externals, there's always a first time that a drive inside changes.
Warranty is moot if you want to try and return the bare drive, AFAIK that's always the case.
That's why you want to watch a few videos on how to shuck without damaging the shell and keep careful track of it and any internals (mainly the SATA/power adapters).
The videos will help you figure out where all the clips are and hopefully give you some tips on how to pry the shell off without damaging the clips.
Some intel. Once you've done it a couple of times, it's super easy to open the case with a bunch of creditcards or, even better, hotel cards which are usually a little thinner. You can cut a cc/hotel card up in 2-4 pieces and you can do it blindfolded after you've got the technique down.
I usually buy at least 1 extra drive, so that if one fails in my RAID array, I can just replace it and have the array rebuild while I deal with warranty/whatever for the failed drive. That also means I have a new case available for popping a failed drive into, but check that there is no serial # on the frame — if there is, you can just keep the frames from the shucked in-use drives and throw all the other crap out if space is at a premium as it is for me.
It is $270 at WD's own website. There is also 5% casshback at a very popular website. And, WD adds in 1 extra year to the warranty, bringing it to a full 3 years.
While I don't have one and am trying real hard not to open a new line of credit for an SD, saving $10 + the sales tax per drive by using B&H's store card probably trumps the extra year for most of us.
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Curious because I don't understand, what's the point of shucking the drives and not just buying a bare drive? I could understand price but they are generally not cheaper.
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That's why you want to watch a few videos on how to shuck without damaging the shell and keep careful track of it and any internals (mainly the SATA/power adapters).
The videos will help you figure out where all the clips are and hopefully give you some tips on how to pry the shell off without damaging the clips.
5-8 years ago, I didn't bother with the careful part and just levered the shell apart with a screwdriver. Now that hard drives are out of this world expensive (I bought 2 x 20TB Western Digital Reds retail last year for $500), I'd probably go slow with some plastic spudgers (think guitar picks).
Current hard drive prices are making me sort of depressed.
Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank jmr2198
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank KingMongo
That's why you want to watch a few videos on how to shuck without damaging the shell and keep careful track of it and any internals (mainly the SATA/power adapters).
The videos will help you figure out where all the clips are and hopefully give you some tips on how to pry the shell off without damaging the clips.
5-8 years ago, I didn't bother with the careful part and just levered the shell apart with a screwdriver. Now that hard drives are out of this world expensive (I bought 2 x 20TB Western Digital Reds retail last year for $500), I'd probably go slow with some plastic spudgers (think guitar picks).
Current hard drive prices are making me sort of depressed.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank RickyBobby26
Edit: just saw the other posts.
These are super easy to shuck. Solid deal, 14tb is a slightly better deal per TB
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank ben_r_
Edit: just saw the other posts.
These are super easy to shuck. Solid deal, 14tb is a slightly better deal per TB
Whether they are rebadged Exos or Barracuda, there's not a ton of online information for those drives so there's a little bit of faith involved in going with those shucked Seagates.
Typically the WD externals are using a relabeled Red Pro, but as with all of the externals, there's always a first time that a drive inside changes.
Warranty is moot if you want to try and return the bare drive, AFAIK that's always the case.
That's why you want to watch a few videos on how to shuck without damaging the shell and keep careful track of it and any internals (mainly the SATA/power adapters).
The videos will help you figure out where all the clips are and hopefully give you some tips on how to pry the shell off without damaging the clips.
I usually buy at least 1 extra drive, so that if one fails in my RAID array, I can just replace it and have the array rebuild while I deal with warranty/whatever for the failed drive. That also means I have a new case available for popping a failed drive into, but check that there is no serial # on the frame — if there is, you can just keep the frames from the shucked in-use drives and throw all the other crap out if space is at a premium as it is for me.
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Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!