PSA: Western Digital Changed the drives in Elements Enclosures!

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silmarian

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Sep 22, 2020
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I have been collecting 10TB WD Elements external hard drives to build a 5 drive NAS. I purchased several in the spring and early summer, some of which got given out with 2 remaining. I purchased 3 more in mid-August. I have finally gotten around to building the NAS. The two older drives are not visible in BIOS. The M/B is a 3rd Gen Intel. Neither can the LSI 9211-8i HBA in IT mode. I have swapped all connections and nothing.

Working model is WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0
Non-Working model is WD100EMAZ-00WJTA0

-S
 
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Spartacus

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May 27, 2019
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I have been collecting 10TB WD Elements external hard drives to build a 5 drive NAS. I purchased several in the spring and early summer, some of which got given out with 2 remaining. I purchased 3 more in mid-August. I have finally gotten around to building the NAS. The two older drives are not visible in BIOS. The M/B is a 3rd Gen Intel. Neither can the LSI 9211-8i HBA in IT mode. I have swapped all connections and nothing.

Working model is WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0
Non-Working model is WD100EMAZ-00WJTA0

-S
Have you tried the 3.3v mod or using molex to sata adapters? (if you’re unfamiliar, if the 3.3 V power line has power on some of these drives it sends it into a sleep state, you have to cover up that pin or use Molex to Sata power adapters that don’t pass the 3.3 V power)
 
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silmarian

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Sep 22, 2020
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Have you tried the 3.3v mod or using molex to sata adapters? (if you’re unfamiliar, if the 3.3 V power line has power on some of these drives it sends it into a sleep state, you have to cover up that pin or use Molex to Sata power adapters that don’t pass the 3.3 V power)
I happened to have some molex to sata adapters and that worked. Thank you.
 

Spartacus

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May 27, 2019
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Sweet, you can either clip the 3.3v lines, keep using those adapters, or use some kind of thin tape to tape over the pin (I recommend kapton tape).
 
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squirrelslikenuts

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Mar 30, 2019
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If you're referring to short transfers behalving that way, its likely due to it using the drive cache and then switching to writing to the platter directly.
I don't see this behavior in other drives proclaiming to be NAS or enterprise.

I will have to test more.

See the bench speeds. Guess what drive is the EDAZ.

I have 3 of these and they all do the same thing, none of my 7 EZAZ helium drives or my 2 Genuine Red 8tbs do this.
 

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squirrelslikenuts

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Mar 30, 2019
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Sweet, you can either clip the 3.3v lines, keep using those adapters, or use some kind of thin tape to tape over the pin (I recommend kapton tape).
EZAZ-11TDBA0 requires tape hack (unless you are using it in a server backplane) or alternatively (what I do) is a use a Sata->Molex adapter that is missing the orange wire.

EDAZ- 11TA3A0 DOES NOT require tape hack
 

Spartacus

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May 27, 2019
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I don't see this behavior in other drives proclaiming to be NAS or enterprise.

I will have to test more.

See the bench speeds. Guess what drive is the EDAZ.

I have 3 of these and they all do the same thing, none of my 7 EZAZ helium drives or my 2 Genuine Red 8tbs do this.
Hmm yeah I wouldn't expect to see that in any drive on a benchmark test desktop or enterprise.

Not sure why those are so jittery but without a larger test bed it could be why they’re putting those in the shells.

It’s been rumored for years those drives that go in these failed some aspects of QA but did meet others. Perhaps this is finally a revision that has some kind of performance issues when shucked.
 
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squirrelslikenuts

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Mar 30, 2019
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Edit: That said I cant speak for the EDAZ, I haven't tested them directly, their EMAZ counterparts at 70% full currently average about 130MB/s for me when running a parity check over 15 hours.
EDAZ (air) and EZAZ (helium) push ~140 MB/s at 70% full - in my testing.

But the EDAZ run hotter and louder.

I have returned all my EDAZ drives nad have exclusively 8TB EZAZ helium drives and Genuine Red 8TB's.

In order of performance the EDAZ actually are the best, although their curv has more jitter. Reds are next, followed by helium EZAZ.
 

squirrelslikenuts

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Mar 30, 2019
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What does RPM have to do with it being enterprise or desktop? There are varying rpm models for both.
Uh.....https://www.45drives.com/products/hard-drives/why-we-recommend-enterprise-class-drives.php

Yeah, there sure is alot of low rpm enterprise drives out there............
 

Spartacus

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May 27, 2019
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Uh.....https://www.45drives.com/products/hard-drives/why-we-recommend-enterprise-class-drives.php

Yeah, there sure is alot of low rpm enterprise drives out there............
So first 45 drives is just one of many storage solutions, that list is just their recommended drives, its no where near an all encompassing list of available options.
That said, my quote noted there were varying rpm models, not that there were plentiful.
And I do see varying RPM recommendations that corresponds with my that, do you see or not see something I don't?
 

iii

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Oct 16, 2020
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If 100 MB/s is not fast enough, then the choice should be (SATA) SSD, not necessarily an Enterprise HDD, which do not guarantee minimal data transfer speeds, afaik. Enterprise HDD have 7200 RPM or more rotational speeds, but that is a guarantee only for noise and power consumption. ;)

Backblaze has always followed the policy of buying the cheapest HDDs they can find, their business model is successful enough, and they are open about the failure rates of the HDDs they use:





I have been collecting 10TB WD Elements external hard drives to build a 5 drive NAS. I purchased several in the spring and early summer, some of which got given out with 2 remaining. I purchased 3 more in mid-August. I have finally gotten around to building the NAS. The two older drives are not visible in BIOS. The M/B is a 3rd Gen Intel. Neither can the LSI 9211-8i HBA in IT mode. I have swapped all connections and nothing.

Working model is WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0
Non-Working model is WD100EMAZ-00WJTA0
-S
Bare drives from external enclosure not showing up in the OS has happened to me a few times, what solved it was to delete all existing volumes or partitions on them and format them again new (Quick Format is enough) while in USB mode (or while they are still in the enclosure), and while using the OS you will use them as bare drives in later on. Then you connect them on in SATA mode, and know where you stand.

It is also strongly recommended to keep the SATA to USB interface circuit board that you find in the external enclosure, precisely for these situations, and for that reason to open the plastic enclosure as carefully as possible. There are YouTube "dismantling" videos for every plastic enclosure model. Some of them are boring and not really helpful, but you get to see how the enclosure is build, you realize how to open it and how to not damage the drive inside and the circuit board when you open it (which always require tools and some brute force).
 
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