Mighty_Miro_WD

Hi @Stergios and welcome to LinusTechTips! The PSU should be able to power up the SSD easily since storage components are not power demanding in particular. You can check how much wattages the particular SSD will require in the specsheet of the drive, but usually it's between 2W and 5W. In short, you shouldn't have any issues. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @Fr0sty22! You should be able to access the old drive and be able to reformat it in Disk Management once it's properly connected to the motherboard. However, I'd suggest to run a diagnostic check on the HDD before using it so you can be sure that the unit is healthy. There are quite a few tools available for that purpose, but I personally would prefer the use the manufacturers one since it will be tuned to the specific firmware of the drive. It should be available in the official website of the manufacturer, like Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for WD drives which you can download from here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=eJWzDl Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Yes, you will be perfectly fine using the drive for these purposes. As for the reliability, I have 3 at home, the oldest one being almost 5 years old and they're all working great. If you happen to have any issue though you can always contact our support and seek for assistance (or write me here ). http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Z57GZi

Hi @Dogsparky! The main difference between these drives are in the firmware they have, but you can go with either WD Blue or WD Red and they both will do the job. The Blue drive is a regular everyday drive that is most commonly used for regular computing, light gaming and workloads and combined with SSD. It is fully capable to run most games as well as many programs for editing or programming. WD Red is indeed designed specifically for RAID environments and NAS devices and it is tuned and optimized for 24/7 performance, RAID arrays and up to 8-bay NAS systems. However, I've seen a lot of people using it for backups, stable secondary storage and in streaming builds. As for the suggested WD Black and it will also fit, but having in mind that it's meant for performance it will be kind of an overkill to use it for backups. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

You can get a NAS HDD and it will work just fine in your PC although it's meant for NAS devices. The main difference between the two is in the firmware, for instance WD Red has additional features such as TLER that reduce the chances of a drive dropout or data corruption. Furthermore, I have seen a lot of people using WD Red as a backup or a secondary storage unit in streaming builds.

Hi there. Since you're going to use a SSD as a primary drive I would suggest to get one WD Black and one Blue drive because of the different features each of these will give you. For instance, having in mind that WD Black is performance oriented drive with a build-in dual-core CPU (which makes it a good option when it comes to multitasking) I would use it as a main HDD for games and non-demanding software, while WD Blue will be a good option for a mass storage drive (movies, music, pics, files, etc.) and backups from the SSD. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @SammyGoad! You can get a SSD and it should do the job. As for a specific cloning software, a lot of manufacturers offer free tools. For instance, if your HDD is WD, you can use Acronis True Image WD Edition - I have personally used it a lot of times and had no issues whatsoever. Here's a link you can download it from: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vnvG7J Furthermore, there is a KB article with detailed description of the process you can use as well: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=jLczmL Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @Eggman02 I agree with @ARikozuM - if you're going for a desktop then a dual storage configuration of SSD and HDD will suit far better than a single hybrid drive. That's because SSHDs have specific architecture that makes them a considerable option for laptops and devices with only one drive slot. Basically a SSHD blends HDD capacity with SSD speeds by mixing rotating platters and a small amount of flash memory on a single drive. As a result, a hybrid drive only has a certain amount of fast storage (cache) for commonly accessed files, which means that the files within this cache are accessed at SSD speeds while the rest are accessed at standard HDD speeds. The biggest con however is that with the SSHDs you have no control over what the SSHD stores in its cache - the drive uses a built-in algorithm to determine which frequently used files it will cache. So unless you're going to use the same file very often you won't see a big deal of benefit. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @Zilar! Yes, there will be absolutely no problem based on the fact that you use hard disks from different brands. It also won't matter if there are old or new - each one of them will be recognized as separate storage location. However, having in mind what the exact specs of the drives are there could be only one potential complication though - if you plan to setup a RAID because you will be limited by the size of the smallest and the speed of the slowest drive in the array. For instance, if you decide to do that you will have a 500GB RAID 0 (for instance) running at the slower drives speed. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @coolmrschill! If it was for a secondary storage drive I would personally go with a standard HDD rather than a hybrid drive. Basically a SSHD blend HDD capacity with SSD speeds by placing traditional rotating platters, and a small amount of high-speed flash memory on a single drive. So basically a hybrid drive only has a certain amount of fast storage (cache) for commonly accessed files, which means that the files within this cache are accessed at SSD speeds while the rest are accessed at standard HDD speeds. Furthermore, the biggest con is that with the hybrid drives you have no control over what the SSHD stores in its cache - the drive uses a built-in algorithm to determine which frequently used files it will cache. So unless you're going to use the same file very often you won't see a big deal of benefit. Since you want to run games from there you may get a slight increase in the loading times for some of them, but in general once the mentioned cache gets full there won't be any difference. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @GamingDevilsCC! Unfortunately, it's a bad sign when the HDD doesn't appear in BIOS at all - it means that the PC is not recognizing the unit. So at this point you may try to plug it in another computer if you want, like mckendry1011 suggested, and if it's not showing there it will be best to look for a replacement unit, or if the hard disk is still under warranty - to contact the manufacturer support and RMA it so you can get a new unit. On the other hand, if you have important information you want to retrieve, you can try to extract it with some software, but IMO it will be better to consult with a data recovery specialist and see if he/she will be able to help you get the data back. Usually the manufacturers have data recovery partners listed in their official website, so you can check there and see if there is one near you. For instance, here are the WD partners: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=qD6fyN Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hi @Sphio! Since the SSD is not recognized in BIOS there are few basic troubleshooting steps you can try in this situation: Try a different SATA and SATA power cable. Plug the drive in a different SATA port of the motherboard. Lastly, if none of the above fixes the issue, test the HDD on another PC. In case none of these help, then it will be best to contact the manufacturer support and arrange a RMA. Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hi mate! IMO making a fresh installation is a better option than cloning because it will basically ensure that no junk, redundant and temp files get cloned to the destination drive. Furthermore, you will void any potential complications related to the cloning process. I've cloned quite a few drives, so each time it's different and pretty much every case stands for itself in a way, like @DrMacintosh wrote. There's one WD KB article describing the whole process with Acronis True Image WD Edition which you can check if you want since it shows what the cloning steps basically are: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=eqdMrH Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hi @DotoreN! If the games are on your WD Blue then I'd suggest to keep the recording on the Green one because IMO it's better to have one hard disk that you play from and another to record to. Of course, if your recording has a good frame rate for your settings, then you can record on the Blue one, but if there are any lags or issues (this could happen if the recording program, the game you're recording and the recorded videos all coming from the same drive ) with the videos then it will be better to keep them on the third HDD instead. Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hi mate! Yes, you should be able to do that and access the data on the HDD. I'd only suggest to make a backup of the information stored on the HDD before that just in case so you can have it on another location. However, do have in mind that you won't be able to run the most of the programs and you will have to reinstall them. That's because some programs don't rely on much if anything outside of their directory, they can still run after the OS is installed on the other drive. Others however make registry changes and links itself to DLL's and other necessary bits all over the OS, which they can't fine without the registry entries in place. Hope this helps and best of luck!

OK, now we know for sure that the drive is healthy. Did you try to format it via CMD too? If you did what happened? If not, then you can try to do it by following these steps: Open CMD, type diskpart, press Enter. After that type list disk, press Enter. Type select disk X (where X is the number your drive shows up as), press Enter and type clean, press Enter. After that type create partition primary, press Enter, type format quick fs=ntfs, press Enter, type assign letter=F (or the letter you want to assign to the drive), press Enter and lastly - type exit.

Hi @dad69! You can try to rescan in Disk Management and hopefully the HDD will appear. You can follow this KB article on how to do that: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786898(v=ws.10).aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396 In case it doesn't work, since the hard disk is recognized in BIOS can you run a test on it with the WD diagnostic tool Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and see what the results will be? You can download it from here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=cxYLOe Let us know how it went.

Hi @codrx! At this point I agree with the others that the best thing you can do is to run a diagnostic test on the HDD and see what the results will be. You can use some third party software to do that, like the one @Husky suggested, but IMO it will be best to check if the drive manufacturer provides its own tool to do that, so if you want go in the official website and look if such one is available. For instance, WD has Data Lifeguard Diagnostics: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=BDwZDD Run the tests and let us know how it went. If you want, upload some screenshots so we can take a look as well.

Hi @TheSportkid24! I'm sorry to hear about the issues you're having with the HDD, I know this could be a terrible experience... What I'd suggest first is to try move your data in another way - via Linux Live CD. In order to do that just follow these steps: Download/burn the ISO image to a CD or USB. Change the boot order to the media you burned the Linux on. Once it loads, you could try and mount the drive (or if Linux can read it, it will mount by itself) and see if it is recognized. In case it is - transfer the data. You can check this Ubuntu KB article for more information if you want: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD Once the data is safely removed and baked up on another location run a test on the drive with Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and see what the condition of the HDD is. If you want you can run an extended test in this situation because the software will try to automatically fix anything wrong it finds, but do have in mind that since the drive is 3TB this test could take some time. Here's a link where you can download the software from: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=R0PkbE Hope this helps and let me know how it went.

You're welcome! For a portable external drive you can take a look at WD My Passport Ultra, which was suggested by @Crunken, or WD Elements. They both are very good and reliable drives, and the only difference between them is that the first one is hardware encrypted and password protected while the first one is not. As for the maximum capacity, WD Elements comes with maximum available storage space of 2TB while WD My Passport is up to 4TB. Here's a link you if want to take a look: WD Elements - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vtkvmq WD My Passport Ultra - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=J6nXMK Cheers!

Hi there. If you want you can take a look at WD Wireless Pro. The drive is a mixture of a portable HDD, a NAS, a router and a SD card reader. It has a SD card reader from which you can upload pics directly on the drive with button that automatically copies/cuts the content of the SD card onto the drive itself with one press. Also, it has an USB 3.0 port that will allow you to transfer large .RAW images and an additional USB2.0 port which allows you to either charge another device or connect an additional drive to it. Here's a link if you want to check it out: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=rik5Eb Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @8-Bit Ninja! It's not necessary to create a RAID if you have more than one drive in your PC - you can set them up as two separate storage locations, meaning that indeed you can use one drive for games and the other for mass storage data (game saves, films, music, etc.). However, if you decide to create an array at some point do have in mind that all the drives included have to be formatted first, which means that all the data will be removed. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @Evann!You should be able to set the two drives in RAID, but keep in mind that you'll be limited by the slower HDD in terms of speed which is why it's recommended to create an array with two identical drives. Also, since this type of array doesn't offer any redundancy (meaning that if one drive fails all the stored data will be lost) I'd suggest to make a solid backup strategy or set them as two separate storage locations.Hope this helps and best of luck!Cheers!

Hi mate! As the others said you can access and use the mass data stored on the HDD but you won't be able to run most of the software installed on it. In short, some programs (like notepad++ for instance) are made to be self-contained and don't rely on much if anything outside of their directory, they can still run after the OS is installed on the other drive, while others make registry changes and links itself to DLL's and they should be reinstalled. As for removing the OS from the HDD, as long as the boot order in BIOS is correct the system will boot from the SSD. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Hi @Palmee! WD Black will give you faster loading times since its firmware is optimized for performance. On the other hand, WD Blue drives are great for everyday usage and it should work just fine for gaming, so if you want you can go with this HDD instead. Also, do have in mind that your FPS will stay completely unaffected and the only benefit from a faster drive would be your loading times. This will be beneficial for open-world games and MMOs for instance. Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.