[DEAD] WD reds 4/8TB $90/$200 via shucking - update, 8TB reds now $180, 4TB deal looks dead.

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keybored

Active Member
May 28, 2016
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Perhaps on BF/CM... there may also be a parallel Visa Checkout or a Masterpass deal to knock off a few more bucks.
 

Serhan

Member
Sep 22, 2017
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I gave it a shot and bought this at 179. Unfortunately after I opened the case, I realised that the model # is MGBJRC so it is missing the letter K. Inside the case, there is a WD80EMAZ. It is made in Taiwan and the label is pure white, has a cache of 256K but I have no idea what kind of a drive this is. It definitely is not a WD Red though:(
 

BLinux

cat lover server enthusiast
Jul 7, 2016
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I gave it a shot and bought this at 179. Unfortunately after I opened the case, I realised that the model # is MGBJRC so it is missing the letter K. Inside the case, there is a WD80EMAZ. It is made in Taiwan and the label is pure white, has a cache of 256K but I have no idea what kind of a drive this is. It definitely is not a WD Red though:(
Well, I guess the WD red deals are truly over now... Glad I got the 26 that I got, all WD reds.
 

fossxplorer

Active Member
Mar 17, 2016
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Oslo, Norway
Thanks for pointing out. I also bought some last month, still not opened up. I guess i should check and if it's refurbished and not showing 0 hours, return it?

I gave it a shot and bought this at 179. Unfortunately after I opened the case, I realised that the model # is MGBJRC so it is missing the letter K. Inside the case, there is a WD80EMAZ. It is made in Taiwan and the label is pure white, has a cache of 256K but I have no idea what kind of a drive this is. It definitely is not a WD Red though:(
 

fossxplorer

Active Member
Mar 17, 2016
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Oslo, Norway
from: 8TB WD easystore USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for 169.99 08-25-2017
"his is really late but I wanted to add this here in case someone comes by.

I bought 9 drives. 6 are the EFAX 256MB Cache Thailand models with red labels, and 3 are the EMAZ 256MB Cache Thailand models with white labels.

After testing them all, I want to make sure this point is loud and clear:

The white label EMAZ 8TB drives are NOT refurbs,
they ARE red drives,
they DO have TLER, and
they DO have 256MB cache.

Just because they have white stickers doesn't mean jack, so people need to stop spreading misinformation. What I think happened was WD got wind of everyone buying them up to shuck so they wanted to make sure the drives were visually easy to distinguish from the retail drives, and thus, they get white labels now. Doesn't matter what line they are from - Red, Blue - bare not-for-retail drives destined for external enclosures are being white labeled now."
 
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Serhan

Member
Sep 22, 2017
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I found out that these Wd80EMAZ's do not spin unless you disable the 3v pin on sata power. I guess WD does not want us to use these easily on a nas unit.
 

Craash

Active Member
Apr 7, 2017
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I found out that these Wd80EMAZ's do not spin unless you disable the 3v pin on sata power. I guess WD does not want us to use these easily on a nas unit.
Found it out as in discovered it yourself, or found something that pointed you that direction?

Is it repeatable on more than one drive?
 

Serhan

Member
Sep 22, 2017
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Found it out as in discovered it yourself, or found something that pointed you that direction?

Is it repeatable on more than one drive?
I found out myself trying to get this drive recognised by my nas. Unfortunately I have only one of these drives, hence I am unable to confirm if all have the same issue.
 

fossxplorer

Active Member
Mar 17, 2016
554
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Oslo, Norway
That's valuable information you've shared @Serhan
I've checked mine 4 Thai drives and they are 3 x MGBCJRCK + 1x MGBJRCJ.
I wonder if'll get any issues powering up after shucking (can't test since the disks are still in US and needs to be shipped to Europe).
 

Serhan

Member
Sep 22, 2017
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That's valuable information you've shared @Serhan
I've checked mine 4 Thai drives and they are 3 x MGBCJRCK + 1x MGBJRCJ.
I wonder if'll get any issues powering up after shucking (can't test since the disks are still in US and needs to be shipped to Europe).
Mine is a MGBJRC manufacured in July 2017. It does not have a K or a J at the end so I think it is a different drive. I simply cut the 3v pin of a molex cable and it is working fine for two days now.
 

fossxplorer

Active Member
Mar 17, 2016
554
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Oslo, Norway
I see. Remains too test mine when they arrive at some point.
One possible reason could be as you state, WD doesn't want us to shuck and use it in a NAS setup. It's gonna create issues when there are backplanes involved where group of ports get power supplied through a single molex connector from the PSU/PDU. I'm not interested in cutting av cable off my SM servers :)

It's a bit sad that if this will prove to be a problem for any future buyers of these drives. :(
 

Craash

Active Member
Apr 7, 2017
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Hi,
my apologies again!
I was not able to drive to the border last weekend as i had to take of sick kids :(
This weekend i have to attend a wedding, but i promise you to drive over next weekend. Probably a weekday.
I'll compensate with an additional WD RE enterprise 2TB drive in the package!
Thanks.
o_O Was this supposed to be a PM, maybe?
 

Craash

Active Member
Apr 7, 2017
160
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After the observation @Serhan made, I think I'll pass at $179. I'd take another shot at $159, but until some additional reports come in on if they will work in a normal NAS bay or not, I'm out.
 

Harry P. Nyce

Harry P. Nyce
Sep 27, 2017
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https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-eas...-3-0-hard-drive-black/5792401.p?skuId=5792401

I purchased two of these WD Easystore 8TB during a $179 sale a while back, got lucky and they were the 256MB cache version, unfortunately the very first one i purchased was only the 128MB version. I have shucked matching two WD80EFAX and have them in a single mirrored ReFS Storage Space running under Windows 10 Professional. I was eager to test out Storage Spaces using ReFS, but am unsure if i'll continue down this path. Not being able to present ReFS partition to my ESXi has boxed me in.

Crystal Disk Info of those two drives -- Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I've left the single 128MB cache version still in its case for external backups, but i believe it to also be a properly labeled WD Red, as are the two which have been shucked. I'm happy to provide any further proof. I was considering picking up a couple more to build a proper FreeNAS storage server with 5 x 8TB. I'd be curious to find out a larger sample size regarding the label situation.
 

BakCompat

New Member
Dec 11, 2013
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EDIT: attached screencap of inline testing via Spearfoot's previously posted script. I had originally started SMART testing manually, but once I found the script, I aborted all the manually started tests (hence the notation of aborted test in #2 position for each disk) and ran the script, although I changed it to test blocks in groups of 256 instead of the default 64. At current %'s, one complete write test seems to finish in just under 24 hours.

Hey, just wanted to share my experience with y'all down here in Deep South Texas. I purchased one of these 8tb drives early in the week, and sure enough it was the Red WD80EFAX model which goes for $280 on it's own. I stuck it in a box and ran a few disk diags on it to make sure it was good. So I went to a different Best Buy today and they had 2 on the shelf. Grabbed them and asked cashier if she had any more in stock. She said 6 total. Ok, I bought them all and came home. I just shucked them to verify. All 6x are WD80EFAX Ladyboy Editions with 256mb cache. I didn't get any General Chow editions with 128mb cache. All were labelled as MGBJRCK on the underside of the box.
Manufacture dates are:
08 JUN 2017
08 JUN 2017
05 JUL 2017
05 JUL 2017
05 JUL 2017
05 JUL 2017

Quick disk benchmarks on Win7 using BurnInTest randam data + random seeking average current speeds were 172-196 MB/sec. So figure about 180 MB/sec average.

Next step is to find enough hardware to cobble together another box so I can boot them into FreeNAS and start running disk checks.

Total cost at the $179 retail price with tax came out to $1169.40 so each individual drive cost $194.90 with tax.

Amazon Prime currently has the same model drive at $198.99 so it would be 'free' shipping, but no guarantee I would get all Ladyboy editions. Some General Chow models might make it in there...

So.. while the 256mb cache won't really matter for a media NAS, it would be useful for the 7th unit that I have in my desktop to replace the aging 1tb Black drive in it. I'm upgrading from 6x 2TB Green drives (with LCC firmware mod) that didn't have TLER, so it's not a big deal. In large arrays, better to get cheaper disks than buy top quality units, at least for home use where budget tends to matter more.

Serial #s blacked out just in case...
REDs.jpg6x Ladyboy Testing.jpg
 
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