WD Elements 5TB Basic Portable Storage 2.5" USB 3.0 External Hard Drive - test and review

[@UltimateDIY]

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[@daystars-den]

Yes I did subscribe buddy ;.)

[@RingZero]

I use 3 of these in a ZFS pool and they perform very well for the last 18 months, Would highly recommend them to others. Thanks for this video.

[@UltimateDIY]

Nice 👍🏻

[@marcse7en]

I have one. Just as I suspected, these drives are SMR. I understand that SMR drives should be Trimmed and not Defragmented (I use Smart Defrag). I wanted to run a Surface Scan, but it would take a WEEK to run the test! I'm a big WD fan, but I'm disappointed to learn that the drive has the USB port soldered on to it, and cannot be used outside of the case! 👎 EDIT: The rotational speed is quite low on this drive, at 4,800 RPM, but it still perfoms quite well for an SMR drive. I've just started using Windows 11, and when renaming files you don't have to dig around in drop down menus. Simply select the rename icon at the top of the menu! (There are also cut, copy, and delete, etc) My drive is definitely 4,800 RPM.

[@UltimateDIY]

Thanks for this info 👍🏻

[@StepDoku]

WD Elements or mostly all WD drones have soldered ports unlike Seagate which are more like plugged in

[@marcse7en]

@@StepDoku The only problem is Seagate drives are the work of Satan! 👎🤣 ... "Satangate" 🤣

[@enduzzer]

Technically, it's not a SATA III drive. Inside, there's no SATA interface present at all but a USB connector soldered directly to the PCB of the hard disk. Even the lable states "5TB USB". This drive cannot be used internally or cannibalised out of the enclosure to be used independently as a SATA drive elsewhere. When the built-in USB connector goes bad, it will be very difficult to extract and rescue the files contained within the drive.

[@UltimateDIY]

Ah, really? I hate this sort of thing. It litteraly stops you from reusing either case of hard drive and introduces more failure modes.

[@enduzzer]

@@UltimateDIY Seagate's Basic 2.5" external enclosures (and other portable models of the brand) use conventional interfaces (SATA). The drive can be shucked or swapped, utilized elsewhere (there's a USB daughterboard attached to the SATA connector). I'd go for Seagate instead of WD.

[@UltimateDIY]

There we can probably also find the size difference reason.

[@Jonsoar]

I have the 4 TB version of this. I formatted it to the FAT32 system and now it shows that only 55% of the total space is available for use. Can I undo the format to another format to give more space? I using a Linux Unbuntu system.

[@UltimateDIY]

It's not about undoing the formatting. Something was set wrong. The partition most likely. You need to use a partitioning software to make sure all space is allocated.

[@FreakyDudeEx]

its not that its less than 5TB... its more of the actual difference between TeraBytes and TebiBytes.... its a whole load of problems with how storage is marketed and how our OS actually reads the storage size.... they didn't lie with the 5TB... its just the OS reads the size differently....

[@UltimateDIY]

Yes, I learned about this after making the video. They should start using the correct units TB vs TiB.

[@daystars-den]

Hello, So I have a very important question before I purchase the 5 tb version. Can I install programs on it? Can I install games on it? or is it mainly just used for storage? please let me know! thank you.

[@UltimateDIY]

Hello. You can install stuff on it, but they might load a bit slower.

[@daystars-den]

@@UltimateDIY Thank you for quick reply! I will subscribe now my friiend!

[@UltimateDIY]

Welcome and thanks 👍🏼

[@daystars-den]

@@UltimateDIY I like you. you come from India buddy?

[@UltimateDIY]

Romania 🇷🇴

[@dinoatcharterdotnet]

I'm doing editing in Final Cut Pro on a WD Elements Portable HDD. How should it be formatted? I heard ExFAT is bad.

[@UltimateDIY]

I have no idea. I use the drive for long time storrage.

[@Fokky.]

ntfs

[@AbhishekPal-hf3oi]

I get tiking sound today i bought this today and i get tiking sound and write speed 1.5mb/s speed isit good or bad. Or item r defective.

[@UltimateDIY]

It is defective. Probably bad sectors.

[@kingnevermore25]

I am new to external hard drives. Is it necessary to “safely eject” every time before turning off my PC?

[@UltimateDIY]

Yes, it is. It is making sure all the data has been written to the drive and shuts it down.

[@kingnevermore25]

@@UltimateDIY So i need to eject my hard drive every single day before turning off myPC? But when i do that and when i turn my PC back on the hard drive is gone. I need to unplug it and plug it back in in order for it to show.

[@UltimateDIY]

No! You only eject it if you want to remove it while the pc is on. But if you shut down the pc with it connected, it also gets shut down, no need to eject it.

[@kingnevermore25]

@@UltimateDIY Oh so it stays on constantly and the only time i want to safely eject is if i want to mess with my hard drive physically? Other than that i just shut down my pc normally without ejecting anything?

[@UltimateDIY]

Exactly 👍🏻

[@SlackHoffman]

Hi 👋 how do I wipe my WD elements basic hard drive back to brand new? I use Mac OS

[@UltimateDIY]

Hi. Sorry, but I have no idea on mac.

[@PartTimeLaowai]

Mine failed after some 100-200 hours of combined occasional backup service; only a clicking noise and could not be recognised by Windows. Trying different USB ports, cables, computer etc made no difference. Will never buy their 2.5" drives again 👎 Having said that though, I have found WD's 3.5" HDD range (both SATA-connected as well as their desktop drives that internally use 3.5" HDD's) to be extremely reliable; my daily-used computer's WD 3.5" internal drive is still going strong after 5+ years! 👍

[@UltimateDIY]

That is quite a premarure fail. This could indicate it had a manufacturing problem.

[@PartTimeLaowai]

​@@UltimateDIY That's my theory too. Googling "WD SE elements review" shows quite a few reports of premature failures.

[@hariranormal5584]

@@PartTimeLaowai I recently got this drive so, I'm concerned for the amount of reviews I am seeing that they fail, I have the 3T model. mine does come with an 2Y warranty though, but that does not include any kind of data recovery service.. but meh, I will be sure to not have data solely depend on that.

[@PartTimeLaowai]

@@hariranormal5584 For irreplaceable stuff like personal photos and videos I never take chances, especially as data storage is so cheap now, and backup to a 2.5" portable HDD, a 3.5" external desktop HDD, and an external SSD.

[@hariranormal5584]

@@PartTimeLaowai I already had to bear some pain for the investment of this.. ;-; With that said, I have an 1T drive from 2016 which still works like a charm, for me, I just put data on it and just let it sleep in the drawer. I just want cold storage for what it's worth. If it fulfills that, that's more than enough, that however was an HGST drive and I think that specific model too was a reliable one

[@rushabhrdj2315]

It needs external power supply?

[@UltimateDIY]

No.

[@elektron2kim666]

The computer count in 1024 parts for 1000s or bits.

[@UltimateDIY]

You mean about the 5TB that is not actually 5TB? About that, I know, but the hdd also has space set asside for realocating bad sectors and other things. But then, they should not call it a 5TB hdd, but a 4.5TB hdd. As a buyer I'm interested in what I can use.

[@elektron2kim666]

@@UltimateDIY Yes. The sellers or the sales department could be more honest. I think we deal with 2 different types of people in that... Sales people survive on small lies and the engineers really can't.

[@UltimateDIY]

Yup, 100% agree with you! 👍🏻

[@serbanvictorandrei5021]

@@UltimateDIY crede-mă și eu mi-am luat nu m-am plâns niciodată de el este bun compact exact pentru nevoile personale mergi undeva cu el vrei să îți pui ceva pe el muzică programe Își face treaba nimic de spus vitezele sunt destul de bune acceptabile L-am cumpărat de pe eMAG România un produs care își merită banii

[@UltimateDIY]

Dap, pare sa fie foarte ok 👍🏻

[@Kiss__Kiss]

Portable.. Duhhh.. LOL Awesome.. We have a couple of these for our consoles(Xbox/PlayStation).

[@UltimateDIY]

They are really useful arround the house 👍🏻

[@rushabhrdj2315]

Does it supports android phones ?

[@UltimateDIY]

I have no idea about that.

[@chris_topher1984]

these are garbage, i had the same 5tb one and it was never abused or moved and it failed after two and a half years of use. they get hot in those tiny enclosures, it's better to get a bigger 3.5 inch if you are going to use hdd, they are less prone to failure and less fragile.

[@UltimateDIY]

I am still using it as backup without problems. If you use it for more intensive tasks, yup, this is not ideal, but at current prices, I would go for an ssd.

[@chris_topher1984]

@@UltimateDIY i was using it for intensive tasks, definitely. i've migrated over to ssd for most things, I can get 2tb SSD drives for $80 around here. the other day i bought an 18tb western digital easystore for only $199. i was amazed at how cheap that was. it's actually only 16.4tb usable space, but still well worth the price for backup purposes.

[@UltimateDIY]

That really was cheap 👍🏻