OK, I admit it. I bought one of these from Amazon Warehouse, "Excellent condition, packaging marked." I needed to replace an aging Hitachi 3 TB "bookcase" external HDD which was making noises like an old steam engine on its way out. This drive was easy to set up - I connected it to a port in my notebook dock - and I had no problems in partitioning the drive and setting up backups to it. it's extremely quiet, quite fast, and is a much smaller package (for a 3-1/2" drive) than the old 3 TB external drive its replacing. I've been running error checks and data comparisons since buying it about 2 months ago, and I've had no problems of any kind. When the drive arrived, I could not actually see anywhere that the packaging was defaced, and everything inside appeared to be unopened. The Warehouse price was a considerable saving over the "new" price, and I wasn't quite sure what I might receive. In any case, everything works, and works well. This was an excellent value purchase, especially for a large external drive. I try to stick to brand name drives, and WD drives have always given good service. This was a great deal all around, and this drive is compact and quiet. If they had another one at this price, I'd probably buy it for my other workstation. Certainly I'll be keeping an eye out. Two thumbs up.
UPDATE FEB 1, 2023: My original review stands as is; the drive has worked, quietly and flawlessly since buying it in 2021. I partitioned the HDD, approximately "2/3 Data & 1/3 Backup" and that's worked out well. I've only needed to restore from Backup once, but it was seamless and all worked as it should. Around the end of November 2022, I bought a second one of the same model "Desktop" external HDD. It's also partitioned, and the data storage is from a newer machine at full USB 3.0 speed. I can say (happily) that there are no problems. Both of these drives are extremely quiet, run very cool, and do the job they're intended for. These are not a substitute for a "shirt pocket" 2.5" USB-powered portable external drive - just the fact that each has a separate AC power supply makes them "stay put" devices. Incidentally, unlike some AC adapters I've known, the adapter supplied with each of these runs very cool, as they should. They also (miracle of miracles) have the AC connector arranged so that the adapter will sit at a 90-degree angle from a 110VAC outlet or most power bars, which means that they don't cover up other AC outlets. It's a simple thing, but very much appreciated. I purchased my 2nd of this model HDD during the "Black Friday" sale, so the price was 15-20% lower than "list" - finding something you need anyway, and then on sale is a bonus. The elderly Hitachi 3 TB drive mentioned in my original review has retired, although I check its functioning about once a month, since it holds documents that might still be needed. It did yeoman service and for its time, was at the higher end of the technology pool. That said, both of these WD 6TB (actually about 5.8 TB) drives are smaller, quieter, cooler, and have much faster i/o than the earlier generation unit. They do come with a high-grade data cable, but it's only about 1 metre/3ft. long. Should you need more length, it's well worth the small extra investment to buy a high-quality data cable, rather than "cheapest." I try to keep cable lengths as short as is practical, since there is a measurable loss of data transfer speed when a long cable is used. Fortunately, not a problem in this case. I have no hesitation in giving this unit 5 stars - I liked the performance of my first purchase that I bought another - admittedly for a specific job, but still excellent in all respects. This is not the cheapest drive available, but the cost is money well spent. Five more stars.
| Hard Drive | Mechanical Hard Disk |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
| Brand | Western Digital |
| Series | WD Elements |
| Item model number | WDBWLG0180HBK-NESN |
| Hardware Platform | PC, Mac |
| Product Dimensions | 13.49 x 4.8 x 16.59 cm; 1.23 kg |
| Item dimensions L x W x H | 13.5 x 4.8 x 16.6 Centimetres |
| Colour | Black |
| Flash memory size | 18 TB |
