10 TB WD100EMAZ for surveillance storage

Frankenscript

Frankenscript

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Dec 21, 2017
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Hi guys-

I know we usually use WD Purple variants, but I wound up snagging a ~$170 deal on a WD EasyStore 10TB and shucked the drive out of it. Was thinking to use it in my home theater system, but then figured the large drive would be more useful in my Blue Iris PC. I could swap out the purple 2TB drive that's in there (there's also a 4TB purple).

Is this "not optimal, but should be fine for several years" or is it a "you're asking for trouble, don't do it" sort of thing?

As I understand it, this drive is a helium filled NAS drive, 256 MB cache.
 
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Frankenscript said:
Hi guys-

I know we usually use WD Purple variants, but I wound up snagging a ~$170 deal on a WD EasyStore 10TB and shucked the drive out of it. Was thinking to use it in my home theater system, but then figured the large drive would be more useful in my Blue Iris PC. I could swap out the purple 2TB drive that's in there (there's also a 4TB purple).

Is this "not optimal, but should be fine for several years" or is it a "you're asking for trouble, don't do it" sort of thing?

As I understand it, this drive is a helium filled NAS drive, 256 MB cache.
Click to expand...

Personally I say run it. In my NAS (where I have all my files writing to constantly), I use 7200 rpm "sever drives". This whole idea of a "nas drive" or a "surveillance drive" is a new thing. To the best of my knowledge, it didnt exist until fairly recently. Yeah I guess there are firmware settings to help with the writes but I never really had trouble with server grade drives before so I went with those as they were cheaper. If I need a new one and the prices are the same then sure, I'll get a purple or whatever color the NAS drives are. But if there's a significant price difference, I don't bother.

Just my opinion though. There are others who swear the opposite.
 
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I would have no issues running that drive. I would definitely put it through a few rounds of tests to help rule out any early infancy hard drive issues.
 
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Frankenscript said:
Hi guys-

I know we usually use WD Purple variants, but I wound up snagging a ~$170 deal on a WD EasyStore 10TB and shucked the drive out of it. Was thinking to use it in my home theater system, but then figured the large drive would be more useful in my Blue Iris PC. I could swap out the purple 2TB drive that's in there (there's also a 4TB purple).

Is this "not optimal, but should be fine for several years" or is it a "you're asking for trouble, don't do it" sort of thing?

As I understand it, this drive is a helium filled NAS drive, 256 MB cache.
Click to expand...

I bought the 10TB external and shucked it, too! I’ve been using it for a few months no problem. We’ll see how long it lasts! Good luck!
 
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aesterling said:
I bought the 10TB external and shucked it, too! I’ve been using it for a few months no problem. We’ll see how long it lasts! Good luck!
Click to expand...
Hey, when I shucked mine, there was this little plastic lever thing sticking into a rubber block on the logic/power board of the enclosure, that was attached to the drive. Any idea what it is? Not needed for drive use when shucked but I may repurpose the enclosure. Wondering if it matters, and what it's for.
1d4aa0f05c9cda751d0ab7460a4c204a.jpg


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I had heard that "some WD external drives, when shucked, don't work in some computers."

Here's a video that describes the issue and the solution; apparently "pin 3" on the drive is getting power from typical SATA Power connections and disables the drive. WD doesn't like us shucking these, I guess. Anyway, two solutions are proffered in this video:



Not sure if my PC's MB would be an issue, but now that I know the cause if I see the issue, it's easily worked around.
 
I think that “plastic lever” thing just carries the light from the LED on that circuit board to the hole in the case.

I also had to cover that pin on the drive so it would power on properly. I used a section of tape from a label maker to cover it.
 
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aesterling said:
I think that “plastic lever” thing just carries the light from the LED on that circuit board to the hole in the case.

I also had to cover that pin on the drive so it would power on properly. I used a section of tape from a label maker to cover it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, particularly the light pipe thing! I didn't even think of that. I thought maybe it was some optical switch, tamper evident, so that the enclosure wouldn't work anymore if it was messed with. Duh. D1 means (light emitting) Diode 1. Thank you!

Also: Label maker tape: good idea. I don't have the standard "kaptan" tape, but may have some label stuff around. Like from the 1970s or something. :-)
 
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I did the same, but with an 8TB My Book. Here in Canada, 8tb purple drives are $300+. Shucking an 8tb my book which gives you a WD White drive, was $185.
 
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AFAIK they should be fine...I got 2x10tb enclosure on the way from Amazon to shuck and chuck into an older NAS. Being around 1/2 the price of a WD Red 10tb drive it's worth a try.
 
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How easy are the enclosures to open? I tried doing this with a 2.5” portable drive but the drive inside had some sort of proprietary board so couldn’t be used. If a 3.5” drive is different I might give it a go.
 
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IAmATeaf said:
How easy are the enclosures to open?
Click to expand...
Watch the intro (lol) then skip to around 1:15 and yes they do smell like new shoes..
 
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Shucking takes like 1 minute. Very easy to open.

I did more research on the power disable pin 3 thing. Not sure if it is relevant to my mobo/power supply yet, but if it is, I won't use the molex to SATA power adaptor workaround due to some people having fires with the adaptor connections. A better workaround is a SATA to SATA power extender with discrete wires and you snip the 3.3 V line near the L part of the adaptor. The 3.3 V line isn't used for anything in typical drives.

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Mine arrived today, found a good shucking knife, gave them a good sniff and a quick nipple rub and chucked them into the NAS. So far so good!
I am trying one in the newer DS918+ . The drive spun up ok, so did not have to do anything with the pins.
 
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Has anyone tried using them as is, not shucked? If the interface is fast enough for blue iris & it’s likely to be a red drive anyway, why even bother shucking/ plugging it into a a nas? If it dies young, WD has to warranty it.

Is there a bandwidth/processor limitation with multiple usb drives being utilized at the same time for writes?
 
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ICUatnight said:
Has anyone tried using them as is, not shucked? If the interface is fast enough for blue iris & it’s likely to be a red drive anyway, why even bother shucking/ plugging it into a a nas? If it dies young, WD has to warranty it.

Is there a bandwidth/processor limitation with multiple usb drives being utilized at the same time for writes?
Click to expand...
It's a good question. I just prefer to have it all tidy in the BI PC without external enclosures, but it should work perfectly fine as an external USB drive. The fairly cheap logic board in the external enclosure is probably more likely to fail than my motherboard SATA interface, I think, but even that chance is fairly small.

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Frankenscript said:
It's a good question. I just prefer to have it all tidy in the BI PC without external enclosures, but it should work perfectly fine as an external USB drive. The fairly cheap logic board in the external enclosure is probably more likely to fail than my motherboard SATA interface, I think, but even that chance is fairly small.

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Click to expand...


I’m experimenting with a tiny/micro form factor EliteDesk that doesn’t have room for a 3.5” drive anyway- my first drive purchased was a bare surveillance drive & a usb enclosure - even on clearance, the combination was over $100 for 5tb..

this seems cheaper & I like the idea of WD having to pay for any failed experiments.

I got a couple of brand-new-defective WD Black drives a few years back & had to pay for return shipping to Newegg, then WD left a snarky response to my bad review talking about how they “test every drive” before shipping.. at the time, they had about 30% 1-egg reviews on that model of drive because of new-defective drives.

I’m thinking I may just buy a couple & “camouflage” them in plain sight by strapping them to the inside of the lid of my cat’s litter box. If the drives fail in warranty, WD gets back the cat-box drives.. if they do survive, I can toss them and buy bigger drives... everyone wins!
 
ICUatnight said:
I’m experimenting with a tiny/micro form factor EliteDesk that doesn’t have room for a 3.5” drive anyway- my first drive purchased was a bare surveillance drive & a usb enclosure - even on clearance, the combination was over $100 for 5tb..

this seems cheaper & I like the idea of WD having to pay for any failed experiments.

I got a couple of brand-new-defective WD Black drives a few years back & had to pay for return shipping to Newegg, then WD left a snarky response to my bad review talking about how they “test every drive” before shipping.. at the time, they had about 30% 1-egg reviews on that model of drive because of new-defective drives.

I’m thinking I may just buy a couple & “camouflage” them in plain sight by strapping them to the inside of the lid of my cat’s litter box. If the drives fail in warranty, WD gets back the cat-box drives.. if they do survive, I can toss them and buy bigger drives... everyone wins!
Click to expand...
The tiny form factor ones often have the "T" variant of the processor chips. I don't recommend those. Very underpowered for many applications like ours, though they can handle a few cans worth of basic streams I would imagine.

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NAS is still rebuilding. (almost 2 days)
I have a funny feeling it will, run a 2nd check adding another 2 days when completed.
reapir status.png
 
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