Identical model WD Elements External HDDs are different?

[OgreVorbis]

I'm kind of annoyed cause I needed another 2TB external HDD for more backup redundancy. I went on ebay and got the same exact model number WD elements (from the same year or +- 1 year). I did that on purpose instead of just buying a new one. I'm anal about having two of the same things.

Well, they are very different. The new one I got is twice the thickness, much heavier, and has the labels printed instead of engraved.

I'm suspecting I might have gotten a bigger drive with more platters in it? Or maybe it's just a thicker enclosure with some padding inside?

 

Has anyone opened any of these WD elements external drives and found different drive models inside the same model drive enclosures?

I'm mad cause this drive is only 4% formatted in like half an hour (slow format for safety). Seems like shiet performance. I'm gonna do a benchmark between both of the drives once this is done. If they are different, then I'm probably going to look into making my own external drive (never done it before, but I assume just buy the best 2.5 inch HDD and get a generic enclosure).

[BondiBlue]

It would help if you could post pictures of the two drives as well as their model labels. 

[Budget DIY]

My old Kingston HyperX 240 gb SSD came with an external enclosure. Was nothing special, and you would be able to fit any other random SSD inside. So your idea of "making your own" should probably work just fine. (sold the enclosure, to recoup some of the moneys, buyer had their own no-brand SSD to put inside this fancy external enclosure)

[Bitter]

There's an Elements desktop and an Elements portable drive. It sounds like you had the portable and then bought a desktop version. Look more closely at the model numbers, they won't be the same on the products, but it's possible the seller miss-listed the model in the ebay sale in which case you can send it back as item not described for a refund, contact the seller if that's the case.

[OgreVorbis]

23 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

It would help if you could post pictures of the two drives as well as their model labels. 

You can see from the attached photos that the drives are the exact same model. One is about half height of the other, but it doesn't show accurately in the photos. I actually went through ebay listings that had drives with the last two characters different and avoided them. The serial numbers are different of course, but still, WD should not be marketing two different drives under the same model number. This is corrupt business!

Take a look at the drive info to see how different they are. Didn't get around to a benchmark yet cause it just finished formatting after 20 hours!!!

 

Here's the crappy drive:

--------------- SeaTools for Windows v1.4.0.7 ---------------
5/7/2023 3:11:48 PM
Model: Elements 25A1
Serial: WX91E664KUU0
Firmware: 1012
Identify - Started 5/7/2023 3:11:48 PM
Identify - Started 5/7/2023 3:23:33 PM
Model: Elements 25A1
Serial: WX91E664KUU0
Firmware: 1012
Model Number: WDC WD20NMVW-11EDZS7
Serial Number: WD-WX91E664KUU0
Firmware Revision: 01.01A01
Drive Capacity: 2.00 TB / 1.82 TiB
Max LBA: 3907029167
Cache Size: 8 MB
Power-On Hours: 23
Drive Temperature (C/F): 32 / 90
WWN: 50014EE20E9883FB
Sector size (Logical/Physical/Allignment): 512 / 4096 / 0
Rotation rate: 5200 RPM
Form factor: ----
Specification Supported: ACS-2
Encryption Support: Not Supported
Security Mode: Supported
SMART: Enabled
Host Protected Area features: Not Supported
Advanced Power Management: Enabled
Download Microcode: Segmented
Identify - Started 5/7/2023 3:24:12 PM
Short DST - Started 5/7/2023 3:30:40 PM
Short DST - Pass 5/7/2023 3:32:57 PM
Short Generic - Started 5/7/2023 3:33:25 PM
Short Generic - Pass 5/7/2023 3:35:56 PM

 

Here's my old good one (the thin drive)

--------------- SeaTools for Windows v1.4.0.7 ---------------
5/7/2023 3:52:03 PM
Model: Elements 25A1
Serial: WXF1E88H2VNE
Firmware: 1014
Identify - Started 5/7/2023 3:52:03 PM
Model: Elements 25A1
Serial: WXF1E88H2VNE
Firmware: 1014
Model Number: WDC WD20SMZW-11JW8S1
Serial Number: WD-WXF1E88H2VNE
Firmware Revision: 01.01A01
Drive Capacity: 2.00 TB / 1.82 TiB
Max LBA: 3906963631
Cache Size: 128 MB
Power-On Hours: 982
Drive Temperature (C/F): 25 / 77
WWN: 50014EE2BB605E08
Sector size (Logical/Physical/Allignment): 512 / 4096 / 0
Rotation rate: 5400 RPM
Form factor: 2.5 inch
Specification Supported: ACS-3
Encryption Support: Not Supported
Security Mode: Supported
SMART: Enabled
Host Protected Area features: Not Supported
Advanced Power Management: Enabled
Download Microcode: Segmented, Deferred

 

I looked up the crappy drive and it's a 5200 8MB cache green drive, while the other is 5400 128MB cache blue drive. Clearly there is also twice as many platters in it. I think this is BS. Western Digital should not be getting away with just throwing random different drives into cases with the same model number.

[BondiBlue]

12 minutes ago, OgreVorbis said:

You can see from the attached photos that the drives are the exact same model. One is about half height of the other, but it doesn't show accurately in the photos. I actually went through ebay listings that had drives with the last two characters different and avoided them. The serial numbers are different of course, but still, WD should not be marketing two different drives under the same model number. This is corrupt business!

 

I looked up the crappy drive and it's a 5200 8MB cache green drive, while the other is 5400 128MB cache blue drive. Clearly there is also twice as many platters in it. I think this is BS. Western Digital should not be getting away with just throwing random different drives into cases with the same model number.

This is exactly what I suspected. The "crappy" drive is simply an older version. It looks like that one was made in 2017 while your good drive was made in 2019. There's nothing wrong with WD updating the product over time by incorporating a better part (in this case the drive itself). 

 

At the end of the day you bought a drive that was sold as an entire product, not a bare drive, so the specific model of drive inside doesn't really matter as long as it meets the specifications listed on the packaging it was sold in. I don't see an issue here. It's just two different versions of a product, and the newer one is the better one. 

 

If performance is a concern I'm not sure why you'd choose drives like these for backups, and I don't understand why you'd buy an old one from eBay. This is especially true for reliability. 

[OgreVorbis]

10 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

This is exactly what I suspected. The "crappy" drive is simply an older version. It looks like that one was made in 2017 while your good drive was made in 2019. There's nothing wrong with WD updating the product over time by incorporating a better part (in this case the drive itself).

Sure, but if the product contains a drive of a completely different model, then the product itself should not have the same model number. You know, like you don't buy a version of the same CPU which has 16x less cache, but the same model number. I don't see how someone couldn't agree with this?

 

Quote

If performance is a concern I'm not sure why you'd choose drives like these for backups, and I don't understand why you'd buy an old one from eBay. This is especially true for reliability. 

I know what I'm doing here probably seems a little odd, so let me explain...

I am capturing and backing up VHS tapes on an old Windows XP system (needs the AGP port for the best capture device I could find). I wanted a drive that I could ensure would work with the 2TB MBR partition in XP. I also may have to convert to MBR instead of GPT. So I decided it would be best to get an older drive (of the same era as my other one). Turns out it's even older I guess. I can maybe still use it, but I need it fast cause the VHS is completely uncompressed until it goes to my Ryzen comp for final render. Yes, I could just use a network drive, but I decided I want to keep the uncompressed footage too and need more space.

Anyway, now you should understand that I am not stupid and have a very specific use case for this drive.

(Oh yeah, and I don't want an SSD because I want the data to remain intact on a pretty long term basis. For the final renders, I might use M-Disc, but HDD is best for now.)

[kokosnh]

The „crappy one” WD20NMVW-11EDZS7 is CMR 4 platters 8 heads 15mm

the „good one” WD20SMZW-11JW8S1 is SMR 2 platters 4 heads 7mm 

 

I think you are mistaken about which is good, and which is bad.   

[BondiBlue]

10 minutes ago, OgreVorbis said:

I know what I'm doing here probably seems a little odd, so let me explain...

I am capturing and backing up VHS tapes on an old Windows XP system (needs the AGP port for the best capture device I could find). I wanted a drive that I could ensure would work with the 2TB MBR partition in XP. I also may have to convert to MBR instead of GPT. So I decided it would be best to get an older drive (of the same era as my other one). Turns out it's even older I guess. I can maybe still use it, but I need it fast cause the VHS is completely uncompressed until it goes to my Ryzen comp for final render. Yes, I could just use a network drive, but I decided I want to keep the uncompressed footage too and need more space.

Anyway, now you should understand that I am not stupid and have a very specific use case for this drive.

Oh no, I don't think you're stupid, I just didn't know the full context. Both of these drives should be fine for that use, as long as the eBay drive is quick enough. 

11 minutes ago, OgreVorbis said:

Sure, but if the product contains a drive of a completely different model, then the product itself should not have the same model number. You know, like you don't buy a version of the same CPU which has 16x less cache, but the same model number. I don't see how someone couldn't agree with this?

I see what you're saying, but that's not quite how drives like this are marketed. This might not be the best analogy, but think of a car. We have Car A from Manufacturer F. All Car A vehicles are the same with no options. The 2017 Car A has a certain design, and it has a decent, but not super quick engine inside. A couple years later Car A is updated, and now we have the 2019 Car A. From the outside it looks mostly the same, with a few slight differences here and there, but under the hood we've got a much more powerful engine. Both cars are still called Car A, but the specific information about their engine peformance ratings is different on each of their window stickers. That's basically what happened here. WD used one drive in an older revision of the WD Elements, and later they used a faster drive in a different revision. If the speed ratings are different then that should be mentioned on the packaging, but they're still both WD Elements. One's just newer and better. 

 

I do agree that it should be made more clear to the buyer which version is which (with a revision number, part number change, etc.), but unless the packaging lied about the speed of the drive that was in that package there isn't really an issue here. 

[Blue4130]

13 hours ago, OgreVorbis said:

Sure, but if the product contains a drive of a completely different model, then the product itself should not have the same model number. You know, like you don't buy a version of the same CPU which has 16x less cache, but the same model number. I don't see how someone couldn't agree with this?

 

 

But as long as it reaches the minimum advertised speeds, then it doesn't matter what drive they use. You are buying the "elements" drive, not the casing with x drive inside. That's why they don't list what drive is used. They can use whatever drive hits the ad loints.

[flibberdipper]

5 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

But as long as it reaches the minimum advertised speeds, then it doesn't matter what drive they use. You are buying the "elements" drive, not the casing with x drive inside. That's why they don't list what drive is used. They can use whatever drive hits the ad loints.

Fun fact to tie into this: For my server, I ended up buying 3 8TB easystores and shucking them. Two of them are 5400RPM (or 5640RPM, I can't remember) and the last one is 7200RPM. They all perform the exact same, all of the bare drives have the same exact model number, and none of them are the nice helium drives, yet the slower drives are significantly quieter and SIGNIFICANTLY cooler running. That 7200RPM drive is louder than both of the 5000whatevers combined, and probably louder than at least one or two of the 6TB Red Plus's thrown in there as well, not to mention the fact that it runs about 10C hotter which is going to be a problem come summer.

 

But WD gets away with it because they're all "7200RPM class" drives.

[NobleGamer]

Let me say the one thing that I don't think anyone has clearly responded with:

 

If anyone wants to ensure a certain level of performance of an HDD or ensure that they get more than HDD with matching specs, then buying the bare drive is the only way to guarantee that, followed by whatever enclosures you may or may not want for the drives.

 

Otherwise, you are stuck with whatever vague claims there are about external drives' performance.  The main upside is that external drives are cheaper than most equivalent bare drives and you don't have to separately buy an enclosure.

 

Note I said HDD and not SSDs.  Some SSD makers have changed some internal parts (controllers or even NAND flash types) without changing the model number - It doesn't happen literally all the time, but its happened just enough that its not an isolated incident.