WD Elements

[glennd]

Does anyone know what model hard drive Western Digital put in their Elements range?

 

[Larry Sabo]

Just guessing, but I'd bet it's a Blue--Elements being their bottom-of-the-line external drive. Every one I've opened has been a Blue.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

I would assume blue as well. We only use WD My Passport Ultra's.

 

[glennd]

Just guessing, but I'd bet it's a Blue--Elements being their bottom-of-the-line external drive. Every one I've opened has been a Blue.

I thought that might be the case. It's cheaper to buy a WD Elements 3TB than it is to buy a bare WD Black 3TB drive. The reason I ask is I'm looking for more storage for customer backup images. Do I get a cheaper Elements desktop drive or a bare black drive and put it in the dock? I reckon I know what the answer is

 

[Larry Sabo]

WD Blues are not all that reliable in my experience, but that's hardly a valid statistical sampling. BackBlaze's reliability report for 2015 is not complimentary for WD 3TB drives. Personally, I'd get a generic enclosure or inexpensive NAS/RAID enclosure and install Toshiba drives. They are more reliable than WDs, for the models tested by BackBlaze. Excessive handling with a dock can risk physical head damage if you drop/bump the drive.

 

[glennd]

WD Blues are not all that reliable in my experience, but that's hardly a valid statistical sampling. BackBlaze's reliability report for 2015 is not complimentary for WD 3TB drives. Personally, I'd get a generic enclosure or inexpensive NAS/RAID enclosure and install Toshiba drives. They are more reliable than WDs, for the models tested by BackBlaze. Excessive handling with a dock can risk physical head damage if you drop/bump the drive.

Nor my experience. I reckon at least half of the laptop drives I replace are 3 year old WD Blues. My backup drives don't get handled that much. They live in a protective case on the shelf and occasionally get plugged into the dock to do an image.