WD's 10TB Elements External Hard Drive Is Down To $160

(Image credit: WD)

Western Digital's Elements external hard drives have been popular for what seems like an eternity, and the 10 TB version has now seen a price drop down to $160 on Amazon. This makes it an extremely affordable way to get yourself tons of external storage, so if you're in the market: put this external hard drive on your shortlist.

The WD Elements 10 TB external HDD connects to your system with only USB 3.0 and doesn't come with any other fancy tech. You can jump up to the 'My Book' variant to get access to WD's software suite that helps you manage automatic backups as well as password protection with hardware encryption, but truth be told, you can achieve the same thing using Windows' built-in tools such as BitLocker.

WD Elements 10 TB External HDD: Was $180, Now $160.
At 1.6 cents per GB, WD's Elements Desktop external hard drive is a storage bargain. What more do you want?
View Deal

Of course, do be sure to avoid storing mission-critical copies of your data on an external hard drive only - the point is to use it as a backup or for storage of non-critical data that you can afford to lose, though you could always just buy two of them, periodically keep the second unit synced up, and then store it away at a remote location or a fire-safe.

Given that Amazon hasn't listed the WD Elements Desktop 10 TB as a 'savings' deal, we suspect that this price is here to stay.

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Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware news on all components and peripherals.

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9 Comments Comment from the forums

jimmysmitty

It still blows my mind how cheap space is with magnetic storage and how for some reason NAND storage always finds a way to stall in getting close to the same $/GB.

For $160 best you can do is about 1TB and for a really good drive you are looking at 512GB for $160, minus sales of course.
Reply
mdd1963

I routinely use Crucial's MX500 in 500 GB/1 TB trim for laptop upgrades at $65 and $105, respectively...

(I'm referring only to standard 2.5" SATA prices, of course)

I do often dream of a 2 TB 970 EVO at only $149... :) (My poor 500 GB 960 EVO is just not as spacious as it once seemed)
Reply
zachacox

Or, instead of using it as a USB3.x external, shuck the drive and attach it to an internal SATA port.

Unless I missed it, or things have changed in the six months since I bought one, the drive inside is actually a WD RED NAS 5400rpm drive.

There is just one hitch, though. To use it outside of its factory enclosure, you need to do one of a few tricks to prevent the drive from receiving the 3.3v power signal from the SATA power connector. You can mask the pins on the power connector on the drive itself, or, much easier, use a MOLEX connector, or a SATA-to-MOLEX adapter. Otherwise, the drive will not spin.

Also, I have no idea whether this voids any warranty on the drive.
Reply
USAFRet

zachacox said:
Or, instead of using it as a USB3.x external, shuck the drive and attach it to an internal SATA port.

Unless I missed it, or things have changed in the six months since I bought one, the drive inside is actually a WD RED NAS 5400rpm drive.

There is just one hitch, though. To use it outside of its factory enclosure, you need to do one of a few tricks to prevent the drive from receiving the 3.3v power signal from the SATA power connector. You can mask the pins on the power connector on the drive itself, or, much easier, use a MOLEX connector, or a SATA-to-MOLEX adapter. Otherwise, the drive will not spin.

Also, I have no idea whether this voids any warranty on the drive.
I don't know about the WD's, but I know the equivalent Seagate drives are easily shuckable.
Couple of months ago, I bought an 8TB external, $140.
Pop the case open, standard 8TB Baracuda, with regular SATA connections. No messing around with the pins or Molex.
It is now in my NAS box.
Reply
jimmysmitty

zachacox said:
Or, instead of using it as a USB3.x external, shuck the drive and attach it to an internal SATA port.

Unless I missed it, or things have changed in the six months since I bought one, the drive inside is actually a WD RED NAS 5400rpm drive.

There is just one hitch, though. To use it outside of its factory enclosure, you need to do one of a few tricks to prevent the drive from receiving the 3.3v power signal from the SATA power connector. You can mask the pins on the power connector on the drive itself, or, much easier, use a MOLEX connector, or a SATA-to-MOLEX adapter. Otherwise, the drive will not spin.

Also, I have no idea whether this voids any warranty on the drive.

This absolutely voided the warranty. While its a pretty standard drive the serial number is probably, in their system, tied into the enclosure. The moment you pull it out its like taking apart a TV to fix it. Sure you can do it but taking it apart voids the warranty.
Reply
drivinfast247

jimmysmitty said:
This absolutely voided the warranty. While its a pretty standard drive the serial number is probably, in their system, tied into the enclosure. The moment you pull it out its like taking apart a TV to fix it. Sure you can do it but taking it apart voids the warranty.
Does the warranty cover data recovery in the event of a drive failure? If not, not really a big deal.
Reply
USAFRet

drivinfast247 said:
Does the warranty cover data recovery in the event of a drive failure? If not, not really a big deal.
Warranty never covers data, unless you pay extra for it. And your own backup is THE way to protect your data.
But a free replacement drive is not a bad thing.

Having said that, I accepted the small possibility of physical drive fail, and shucked the Seagate, as mentioned above.
Reply
drivinfast247

Reviews on Amazon aren't the greatest. Looks to be a "WD white label" model.
Reply
Tex61

WD Elements and EasyStore (at Best Buy) are 5400 rpm white label drives.

I've owned several for 1 yr plus and have had no problems with them.

Shucking is easy. Many videos on YouTube on how to shuck the drives.

Shucking obviously voids the warranty. However, if you keep the enclosure (and do not damage it when shucking), you could put the drive back before sending back to WD. If done correctly, not sure they could tell the drive had been removed from the enclosure.
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