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WD 18TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive - USB 3.0, Black $507.11 + Delivery (Free with Prime) @ Amazon UK via Amazon AU

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Not as good as a past deal last year https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/612624, but $28.17/TB price point is not too bad if you missed the recent DC HC550 deal and looking for large capacity drives shucking it for NAS.

Likely to get a WD180EDFZ or WD180EMFZ from it based on comments from the previous post, which is a DC HC550 equivalent.

Tempting to get one, anyone had experience dealt with the warranty of UK stock WD Elements drives in Australia? Thanks

EDIT: Did a bit of research, a Reddit post indicates the recent WD Elements & Easystore from Amazon UK has WD180EDGZ (CMR, 7200RPM) in it.

Price Update #1: 25 Jan 2022 - $501.59 - $27.87/TB

EDIT2-Update: Received mine, It's a WD180EDGZ in it.

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.

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closed Comments

  • That's my worry warranty from UK, let's see I bought the 14TB version for $299 during 2020 Black Friday deal also a UK Amazon purchase, a lot has changed wish I kept it now πŸ‘πŸ˜

  • +1

    Yes, the 18TB Elements that I bought in November from Amazon UK came with a WD180EDGZ drive.

    • Same for me, same sale I presume.

  • Which is the better one? WD180EDFZ or WD180EMFZ or yours WD180EDGZ drive? Or much of much between all

    • It seems WD180EDFZ & WD180EMFZ are 5400rpm and WD180EDGZ is 7200RPM

      • Nice,. πŸ‘πŸ˜

      • +4

        The difference is just the the drives now report the true speed of the drive.

        Earlier red and white label drives were advertised as 5400rpm performance, despite actually being 7200 rpm (So sort of a lie). The newer drives report the actual spin speed, no actual difference in performance, making the internet pitchforks happier.

        • Why does the better spin speed not change the performance?

        • Yup, I always wondered why my WD Elements drives on USB 3 were able to transfer so much faster than my built in proper WD Red drives. Now I know why!

  • if you shuck it does it need the tape mod?

    • Anecdotal but I shucked a 16TB a few months ago and it just worked. You either need kapton tape or snap the pin. Pretty easy either way.

      • +1

        I shucked (what I believe to be) the same drive a couple months back and I didnt need to do anything with the pin (though this is also anecdotal)

    • It actually depends on both your power supply and the drive you get.

      The white drives that may require a pin mod on some PC are Sata 3.3 spec, the ones that just work are Sata 3.2 versions. Sata 3.3 changed the role of pin 3 on the connector from 3.3v to PWDIS (Power Disable Function), Basically if the drives receives power on this pin it will shut down.

      If your power supply has Sata 3.3 connectors then the drive will be plug and play (A lot of commercial backplanes just dont provide any 3.3v at all, as it is not usually used), however most consumer PC supply Sata 3.2 standard which requires the pin mod (or a molex to sata adapter). Otherwise 3.3v is constantly on for pin 3 which keeps the drive disabled.

    • Depends on the power connector that you use with your PSU and drive. If the 3.3V line is connected (all 5 wires are present on the SATA power connector and the PSU is SATA revision 3.1 or older), then it is likely you need to apply the tape to pin 3. Alternatively, just disconnect the 3.3V wire from the connector (pull the pin pin out or cut the wire, make sure to cover with electrical tape to insulate).

      If you do the pin route (non-destructive), you don't really need to use kapton tape. I've done it with electrical tape as well, just stretch it a little bit to become thinner before applying over the pin. Kapton tape is pretty cheap on eBay last I checked, so I wouldn't fear having to buy a small roll.

      • The issue with kapton is it isn't sticky. For me at least that's a problem (Silverstone raven with 5 hdd caddies that i do use)

        So far I've only shucked one drive and no problem. My psu is pretty old (6 years?)

        • Your kapton is pretty old then. I have an old roll and I had the same experience. It did not stick at all and I ended up giving up, and used electrical tape.

          I more recently purchased a new roll of kapton tape and this one sticks a lot better than the original old roll, but still worse than electrical tape.

    • +2

      Just cut the wire. By now you should have dozens of shucked drives all needing the tape mod. Cutting the wire is simple and does 4+ at once.

  • Not a bad deal as need one now, thanks.

  • +1

    i got 2 of these last special, they arrived without padding in the box so they moved around in transport.i opened one and it couldn't even end the WD tests - was just stuck - i packed the opened one and sent both back to amazon. 3 weeks later they still haven't refunded me. close to 1000bucks in limbo.

    • Do you have the tracking number for the return and contacted Amazon to follow up on the refund?
      I bought WD DC HC550 a few weeks ago and had a DOA situation. WD wouldn't honour the warranty. Contacted Amazon for return and early refund, once tracking shows return had dropped off at local depot, the refund was completed in Amazon GC in 12hours (Amazon support claimed up to 48 hours).

      • Yep 100% same happen to me for the other items I have shipped back.

        Tracking number = refund in like 3 days.

        They told me to email them the tracking number.

    • +1

      That definitely sucks. I would be chasing them up constantly until I got an answer or the refund was processed.

      Meanwhile, I had 3x 14TB ordered before Christmas arrive, a similar thing. Box damaged and the only thing in it was 3x boxes for the drives - no packing at all. Fired them up and put HD Sentinel over them, no issues at all so they went in the NAS.

      Last week I got a refund notice from Amazon - the export fees had been reduced, returning $27.70 per drive to me. Hit my credit card on Saturday, so somewhat happy with that.

    • You did raise a return ticket and it was approved before you sent it back using Amazon's label, right?

      • yeah i called them and got the return authorised. the drop off point didn't give me any paperwork at all. i rang them up as soon as i got home (first return ever) to ask if i was meant to get a receipt - they said yes - having said that, amazon said it was scanned in the computer at the time of dropoff so that checked out. i just got off the horn to them, the package is in the States and they said after 30 days i'll get automatic refund (??) unless they process it earlier.

        i think i'll be ok, but just weary of buying again as i actually think workers are pi$$ed off with the co. so they're not packing stuff right..

  • Hmmm, Amazon UK are dodgy. Take ages to shipped and they send you the wrong item.

    • Amazon US does the same. Took them 1week+ to ship hard drive.

  • When I ordered one of these from the Black Friday sales, it was shipped just a paper bag with no padding (in the original box too but that definitely doesnt do much in the way of padding, especially for an international shipment). I got lucky and mine still seemed to work fine, but just a heads up that the same might happen to you!

    • Mine arrived the same way, also shipped me the wrong drive (10TB model) so I sent it back, had to wait 3 weeks for the refund too.

    • Can confirm mine arrived in paper bag last time and again this time! Same seller so not surprised really. What's funny is I ordered a small $30 cushion for a chair and that came in a large box full of padding alongside this $500 hard drive in a paper bag.

      Working so far!

  • +3

    I do need a hard drive still but given this is quite a bti more than it was <12 months ago, I'm going to hold out a bit longer… hoping for something in the circa $450-$460 range.

    • +1

      They were 460ish for black Friday. I need another and am waiting too.

      • Dropped to $501.59 today… hmm

  • How noisy are these drives (in their enclosures, not shucked)?

    I need a new drive to connect to my Mac media centre & don't want to be able to hear it!

    • Given I've got a dying drive here, I've given up and ordered the local Amazon AU 10TB version for $334 ($324 with 3% discounted GC).

      Hope it's quiet!

  • ummm where the Seagate deals at?

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