WD 12 TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive $304 + Delivery (Free with Prime) @ Amazon UK via AU
CamelCamelCamel.
@HunterBargainHunter: Warranty, 2 years on these external drives compared to 3+ years for internal Reds/Golds/HGST Ultrastars
Some think WD are binning drives that fail to meet the standards for Red/Gold/Ultrastar and to save waste sell them at lower standards as white label drives.
Perfect for cod
Seriously GRR. Couldn't get my NAS set up right for 2 years and the project stalled for 2 years (I had kids.. no time).
Just tried all three seagate 12tb ironwolf drives from the project this morning. ALL THREE flake out and disconnect/reconnect after writing anywhere from 10-100gb. I've tried a different sata port. I'm currently punishing a WD red on the same port with no trouble too. Anything I'm missing? Anyone in perth that can give these a bash on your pc just to make sure for me (this pc has always been flaky)?
12tb is maybe just enough, I'm thinking about this deal, but where's the WD 16tb external already?! I won't touch the damn seagate 16tb deal after this.
Whilst you may have been unlucky with a bad batch of Ironwolfs, I'd say there's clearly the common factor of your NAS setup and whether there's something else causing an issue. Either way though, if they're Ironwolfs and it's not because of user error or your other hardware, you should've gotten some decent warranty with them and I'd be calling up Seagate to rectify this.
Thats why I'm asking to test on another pc in case its a mobo compatibility issue or something.
The nas was a standard synology 918+ and the drives power on hours is less than 200
They were bought in two batches but not far apart.
The other common factor is shipping of the drives. One huge padded envelope wrapped around. Not as bad as it sounds but not great either.
Have had plenty of HDDs shipped like that without issues. The seagate box Amazon use however for bare drives? No good. WD have a box of around the same size, but instead of the drive being supported by cardboard, they use moulded plastic each side. Never had an issue with that. What you want is something that provides support so they don't move around, but that can also absorb any shocks. A crumpled up padded envelope with the HDD in the middle stuffed in a cardboard box does that reasonably well.
Any system log as to why they disconnected? Anything in the SMART log?
anyone had theirs shipped yet ?
Nope and I ordered a few hours before the deal was posted. Last order from the US took 4 days to ship, but then only 4 days to be delivered.
Ok thanks. I ordered 4 on Sunday so was just wondering how long it takes.
Cheers
I ordered on the 16 July and it still didn't arrive (expedited international delivery).
It did reach Australia on the 13 August (Melbourne), then shipped to Sydney, now waiting for Australia post to ship it back to Melbourne for delivery.
@johnmelb: interestingly, I ordered another item from Amazon UK today and it was just marked as shipped … so I reckon they dont have stock maybe and ship as stock comes in due to great price and high demand.
Yes, earlier today
thanks …. mine still being processed … hopefully it will ship soon …
let us know when you receive yours pls ! cheers
Receive by date is 19 Sep…
@Omarko: I wouldn't stress - the last order I got from Amazon UK shipped on the 8th and arrived on the 13th, so once it's moving it shouldn't take long to get to you. Although that is to metro Sydney
@aragornelessar: I got a notification from From Amazon C/O APG that my package is prepared, I assume its the drives so whilst its still not showing as shipped, it might already be moving along ?
@Omarko: Cant say how long it would take to get that stage - I was just going by the last tracking trail I had that showed shipped to delivery.
@Omarko: Just hope that it’s not shipped with DPD. They’re really slow and they pass off the parcel to auspost who is also very slow. The last item I bought was shipped on 28th of July and only received today. Nearly a month!
@Omarko: looks like the shipping notification email was for another item I bought from Amazon UK … my HDDs are still marked as not shipped. I contacted Amazon customer service and check in on the status of the order, they couldnt tell me anything, just said to wait until it ships. Very strange.
@Omarko: it finally shipped, with DHL … interestingly, its coming from Poland according to the DHL tracking. est delivery 4th Sep.
fingers crossed they get here all ok an in one piece.
@Omarko: Just quick update, got the delivery today. Box was quite beat up and squashed so hoping none of the drives got damaged.
Is this a better deal than the Seagate 10TB/12TB drives that were on here recently? Either in a shucked or non-shucked context? Are the disks typically found inside more well regarded?
Wow, very slow processing. Still hasn't been packed for shipping after a week.
Why would it ? There's plenty of time left in the delivery window.
When you ordered the drive they stated ~3 week delivery. It's likely to be another week before it ships.
Yeah…thats not slow.
Guys, if I purchase 2 are they ok to run 24/7 in a raid 1 config? They will be left as is in the enclosure, just looking at building at NAS with my Raspberry Pi.
Not outside of the use case they are presumably sold for. They have vents on the top and bottom relying on natural convection to cool, but with very short rubber feet, not much space for air to be drawn in the bottom. Wouldn't be hard to build a base with a fan to blow air up through them though. An 80mm fan would fit between the rubber feet so that the case and fan are fully isolated. 80mm not wide enough to fully cover two though. Could also pull air through the top vents. Running a full data life scan in the case, mine were sitting at 49deg. Wouldn't expect a typical home NAS to be hitting a drive sustained for 20 hours like that though, so temperatures should be much lower.
If you wanted to get fancy, use the Pi's GPIO to output a 25khz PWM signal to control the fans based on the HDDs reporter temperature. HDDs sitting idle, fans off, hit them hard on a hot day and fans ramp up. Should also be able to use a couple of interrupts to get the fans speed to if you wanted. Could do the same thing standalone with a cheap arduino nano clone and a DS18B20 digital temp sensor or similar.
49c is absolutely fine for a hard drive though - I wouldn't start to get concerned until it reaches the upper 50s.
Obviously it's winter right now, if your house is 10c warmer in the summer, then your drive temps will also be higher 👍
Threshold for Seagate is actually 55deg. WD appears to be 100deg, although it does log the maximum temperature. But yes I agree, 49 is Ok, but as you say, bound to be higher in summer.
Price increased to $310.97, still cheaper than via US though which is currently $337.74.
Ordered mine on the 16th scheduled delivery is 26th via UPS
So mine just arrived. Is it normal for hard drives from Amazon to be delivered in retail packaging? There is no protection whatsoever.
If you order 2+ come together in a larger box, if you are lucky with enough air pouches to stop them shifting around. Single drive, wouldn't surprise me. Order a bare 3.5" and they come in the manufacturers non-retail packaging, which for WD is similar, same plastic each end like these. Seems to work well in terms of absorbing shocks whilst stopping the HDD from moving around. Guessing cheaper to save on shipping whilst risking the odd DOA return rather than spending more on shipping with less DOA.
Mine has always come in a retail box in another box. There’s never any bubble to keep it from sliding inside the box. Never had a DOA drive before.
Mine arrived with the the shipping sticker on the actual retail box. How odd.
I've had that happen on a non-IT item from Amazon US a couple of years back. I complained about it (got a credit) and haven't experienced it since - everything's been in a box with bubble/air pocket things in them now. Could've been a coincidence, but can't say. Hard drives I've bought in the last few months have definitely arrived within another box though
@aragornelessar: Follow up - just got mine, and it arrived within another box. No air pockets this time though, just some scrunched up paper as buffer.
Yep - last 2 i have ordered from Amazon have come like that. Doesnt fill you with the greatest confidence, however mine have both been fine.
My order is stuck since 18th Aug with status “ Shipping information received by APG” no update after that. Is this normal ? Or shall I contact amazon?
It would have been quicker to contact Amazon than post here?
Done that… got apologies and extension of Prime membership
I just ordered 1 from the UK. Sounds like it will be a WD120-EMFZ.
Does anyone know if this has aggressive (8 seconds) head parking? If so, is there a way to disable it at the firmware level. I'm running a gen8 microserver (using Win Server 2016) and the disk will behind the onboard raid so I can't run a tool like CrystalDiskMark to set the APM level to 255.
Done heaps of reading, and the technical guys on /r/datahoarder seem to think its a HGST drive, so I'm wondering if anyone has tried Hitachi Feature Tool or wdidle3.
The various DOS manufacturer tools should do the trick, most of them fix the setting in the drive when you change it.
Do this before you add the drive to the RAID.
They're all on UltimateBootCD along with a zillion other hard drive tools - instructions are on their site to make a bootable USB from the .iso image.
.
Cheers, will try that when it arrives and report back what I find.
I don't mind if the head parking is set to 60 seconds as apparently if you totally disable it, the firmware moves the heads slightly every 5 seconds and is reportedly quite loud. The drive is only for media storage, but a 8 second timeout is ridiculous for anything imo.
The actual setting is a number from 0 to 255, where 255 is zero power savings of any kind.
So you'll have to experiment !
Most of the drives I've seen use a default of 128 - so you can usually choose to increase or decrease the power savings from the default…
EDIT : also you might have to connect the drive to a basic NONE AHCI port for the DOS tools to detect it (depending on your motherboard). A "Legacy IDE" setting in your BIOS will do the trick to make your SATA ports work in DOS if the tools can't see your drive.
@Nom: Thanks for pointing out about the AHCI mode. Forgot about that. I will be checking on my P67 system, so should be easy to change temporarily.
@Nom: Got the hard drive today. Shucked it and got a WD120EMFZ. Chucked it my personnel system and the 'Feature Tool (IBM/Hitachi)' worked to show the APM level. The level is set to 164 which is good enough for me. It should park the heads aggressively at that level.
I couldn't change the APM with that tool, it just said unsupported.
@flagger: Do you run HD Sentinel to keep an eye on your drive health ?
That has a setting to adjust the APM at program startup - so even if you can't set it permanently, it does the job if you set HD Sentinel to run at Windows startup.
@Nom: I just installed HD Sentinal, but the APM option is greyed out for my 12TB drive. Unsure if it's because the drive is sitting behind a B120i raid controller, or if HD Sentinal just can't set the APM on these drives at all.
I did see HD Sentinal has a option to hit a disk periodically to a drive to prevent head parking, but I could just write my a application of my own to do that. I am just going to leave it as it is for now anyway.
just curious, has anyone used these as shucked drives with HW RAID controllers like M5015 or 9260-8i ? They currently recognise my 4TB SATA drives ok and I saw from other posts they can also see 8TB drives but cant find any forum posts if anyone tried these larger 12,14 or 16tb drives with them.
Run badblocks on them via a Dell H200 (LSI 9211-8i) no problem. Flashed with IT firmware though.
sorry, what does that mean ? as in its reporting bad blocks on that card ? can you please elaborate? thanks
badblocks is a program to test storage devices for bad blocks.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Badblocks
Means that the 12TB bare drives were recognised fine when connected via SAS->SATA cables connected to a Dell Perc H200 SAS card (LSI 9211-8i). Once again though, IT firmware, not HW RAID. Further to just being recognised, I was able to run badblocks which writes then reads every sector of the drive multiple times.
Oh yeah, think first time I had them connected via an IBM SAS expander since I was testing it at the time before removing it since didn't need to connect more than 8 drives. So shouldn't be a problem connecting 16 of them to an 8i card via an expander.
The last size-limit for drives was 2TB - if you have a card that works with 4TB drives then 99.9% of the time it will work with any size drive upto the next size limit
https://tldp.org/HOWTO/Large-Disk-HOWTO-4.html#:~:text=ATA%20Specification%20(for%20IDE%20disks,136902082560%20bytes%20(137%20GB).
Just got my hard disk(s) today and currently going under HD sentinal re-initialisation. My disks are WD120EMFZ for those curious.
Got mine in Perth today, had bought 2 and arrived in outside Amazon packaging with some scrunched up paper. Have shucked one and WD120EMFZ as well. Worked straight away in my Synology D918+ and didn't have to do the 3 pin trick.
The other one was DOA, but likely also a WD120EMFZ as seems from the same batch. Amazon allowing a refund (on return) but won't replace, have to buy a new one at the higher price then contact them to price match only once shipped? Never done that before (so seems weird).
Hoping another price drop pops up soon…
That's not good. Did you have to return all the way to the UK or to locally?
US stuff I've returned, you get a postage label for US via NSW. Just drop off at a parcel point location, gets sent to NSW, then forwarded to US.
Now think the refund doesn't start till it is delivered to the final country, but the two returns I've done, I complained and got a refund earlier. First time, checked under my orders/returns, return status and it wasn't showing jack. 2nd time I figured out if you go to returns on the page footer and then more returns, you get an extra button for tracking. Showed the item had left the NSW facility some days prior, then nothing.Asked whether the refund should be initiated after it was returned to NSW or only after it was forwarded to the final destination since it wasn't clear. Didn't really get an answer, but once again they did put the refund through.
I'd assume UK is similar. Oh yeah, last one, weirdly got a second item delivered notification, which I think coincided with it arriving in NSW. Same as the original notification after it was actually delivered. You'd think a company as large as Amazon would have better processes.
I've done 2 returns to US too - direct to US: Drop off at parcel point, asked for receipt but they couldn't provide any (it wasn't necessary, but I also couldn't see any confirmation in Amazon that I dropped it off).
For both those items: refund didn't come, so had to chat with Amazon and then refund was processed immediately.
Both those items still say "Return started" "Your refund will be processed when we receive your item." (this was on my own account, return was done in June - and status is still not updated).
@johnmelb: Mine shows the same, but if you click on returns on the footer rather than returns and orders under your account then an additional button shows up for tracking which actually shows tracking for your parcel point return. For me this shows the item was delivered to Las Vegas US. Also if you click order details, it shows a full refund, yet still nothing on Refund/Return status.
Oh yeah, both times when they scanned my return they said I'd get an email, but nothing unless you go to the trouble of finding the tracking which will does show "Package received by carrier".
https://www.amazon.com.au/spr/returns/history
Both times I contacted support and they issued a refund. System just isn't clear. Why the tracking shows up under returns history, but not orders and returns I don't know and how return status isn't updated despite the order details showing a full refund I don't know either.
@rhangman: Mine don't show up in the history anymore.
I don't see any additional button showing up when I search via "Returns & Replacements" and then search for order #.
I've not seen "Package received by carrier" (and I regularly checked the "View Return/Refund Status" via the app when I returned both items).
System is indeed not clear (and not consistent). For one of my returns, the order is updated with quantity 0 (the other order says quantity 1).
Maybe there's tracking for higher value items? My items were only $100 and $70.
For the 1st return I waited +/- 4 weeks and then queried the status. For the 2nd return, I contacted after a week or 2 to get my refund.
@johnmelb: Says returns from the last 2 months, so wouldn't expect something from June to show.
Under orders and returns I get buttons for:
"View return label & instructions", "View Return/Refund Status", "Write a product review" and "Archive order".
Where as under returns history I get:
"View Return and Refund Status", "Print Mailing Label", "Track Package", "Write a product review".
Be real nice if the tracking was reflected in the refund status.
@rhangman: Maybe next time I'll check there.
Or even better: I don't have to check it because everything is fine :-)
There are still a lot of improvements that can be done. Including to make it consistent with the app too.
In the app I have: "Buy it again", "View return label & instructions", "View Return/Refund Status", "Write a product review" and "View order details"
On the website:
"View return label & instructions", "View Return/Refund Status", "Write a product review" and "Archive order".
Via "Returns & Replacements" and then search for order #:
"Details " (as drop-down) and "Print Mailing Label" (In these details I see " Quantity: 0 " for one order)
In the amazon chat (for return of the first order), they did say "It seems like there's some delay with refund".
For the second return they said "Upon checking the details, I see there is delay in return of the item."
I do have to say that I didn't need to try and explain too much. They did try to refund to gift card twice, I replied that I preferred the original payment method. And that was it.
All in all, they don't try to make the process more painful than it needs to be.
(I'm considering to take a yearly amazon prime subscription, after my free Stan is finished.)
Have to return to the UK, also i have to pay for return postage costs, of which i will only get refunded AU$32 once they process the refund.. not turning out to be a good deal for me.
They only going to process refund once item received and tested. so buyer beware this deal in future.
Are you a prime user?
Edit: I just read the T&Cs:
Does it cost to return my items?
Prepaid labels (only for items sold by Amazon US)
If the reason for return is the result of an Amazon error or a faulty item, or if we have agreed to bear the return shipping costs, no return shipping fee will be deducted from your refund.
If the reason for return is not the result of an Amazon error or a faulty item, or if we have not agreed to bear return shipping costs, a return shipping fee of $24 for items sold by Amazon US will be deducted from your refund amount. If the total value of the item(s) you have returned using a single pre-paid label is less than $24 for items sold by Amazon US, there will be no refund for that return.Self-ship label
If the reason for return is the result of an Amazon error or a faulty item, or if we have agreed to bear the return shipping costs, when the returned item(s) are received by us, your refund will automatically include $32 in return shipping fees. If your reasonable return shipping costs exceed $32, you will need to Contact us before shipping the item and provide evidence to us to substantiate the reasonable costs incurred for which you will be reimbursed.
If the reason for return is not the result of an Amazon error or a faulty item, or if we have not agreed to bear the return shipping costs, you are responsible for paying the cost of return shipping. Return shipping costs will not be reimbursed for that return. This does not apply to items that are returned because they are faulty.
My returns were both to US - I might stick with US deals then.
You might want to contact amazon support and ask them to provide a reference shipper that can return for $32 or ask them to approve a higher amount before you pay/ship.
You can quote their terms: If your reasonable return shipping costs exceed $32, you will need to Contact us before shipping the item and provide evidence to us to substantiate the reasonable costs incurred for which you will be reimbursed.
@johnmelb: Prime user, so this sucks even more. Australia Post quote is around $67, so just about to contact Amazon about this because especially if they want to see the item before refunding me.. well i'm in the most isolated city in the world and we have really restricted flights! xD
I've bought twice from the US for the 12tb on the most recent deals but so far none of those have reached me, one order lost in Sydney and the other lost in the Netherlands, so i took a shot that the UK mail would be more reliable, and to its credit it arrived this time and ahead of the expected 9th Sept delivery. I buy other stuff (not through Amazon) regularly from the UK and their Royal Mail is better than Australia Post.
I had earlier today read the T&Cs for global Amazon returns and going to stick to buying stuff from UK Amazon i don't mind not binning if it doesn't work out. This is one of the most laborious exchanges I've ever done with Amazon and thats including the glass measures i sent back 6 times because they would send them loose in only a padded envelope (including the one time they marked it as fragile, and put that label on the inside of the envelope and no handling warnings on the outside…)
@Oreostar: You may have a leg to stand on with Consumer Law. You're paying Amazon Australia, not UK.
You are entitled to recover reasonable postage or transportation costs from the business if the product is confirmed to have a problem, so keep your receipts.
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees…
@Oreostar: In case anyone interested how this ended up,
mailed back through Australia Post today, postage $67 and an hour of my life (not to mention the time spent talking with Amazon Customer service).
Amazon have refunded me the cost of shipping directly to my card, also offered it as a gift card balance.
Still have to wait for its receipt and check in the UK before i get refund for the item.
@Oreostar: Forgot to mention - the paperwork that Amazon give you is not enough, you will need to fill out an additional customs declaration.
In regards to a replacement item, you aren't offered a replacement, its refund only. However Customer support said that if i want to repurchase the item they will price match it after you buy it (so buy first then contact them for a refund fo the price difference). To be honest, not really keen to do this again and going to wait for a US deal.
I've never looked closely before, but is the ship from address usually "Amazon Returns"? Was cutting up the box for this shipment for recycling and noticed that address on the waybill. I did do a surface test and confirm I did get what I ordered so not too concerned at the moment but was curious… Amazon Returns sounds like it's the returns warehouse (which could very well be the same as the distribution warehouse)
Mine the same
Think just the only one place they have as a mailing point, since the address is on Amazon Way with no numbers. Makes sense that if anything wasn’t deliverable they want it delivered there.
I sent a support request to WD support to request an AUS adapter. It arrived today and I'm surprised they sent a whole new power brick and usb cable. Cool.
I received my 4 drives, schucked them and they are happily working on my M5014 HW Raid controller in RAID-5 config.
btw, for power, I just got a cable like this one : https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PC-Server-4-Pins-IDE-Molex-1-to-…
it is already wired so it does not provide 3.3V power so no need for taping the pins or modding PSU cables etc …
All WD120EMFZs?
yes
Still no sign of mine. Only “it’s being prepared” since 21 Aug…
Price back down to $317.81, not too bad. US is up slightly to $325.73.
@rhangman: yes but I guess if WD make a profit on the whole external, software and enclosure, why can't we buy this drive bare bone for less.
perhaps dedicated NAS drives have a different set of QC processes and warranty details, or simply more markup.
I am just guessing