WD 20TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive, USB 3.0 external hard drive for plug-and-play storage - WDBWLG0200HBK-NESN

I purchased this drive in January of 2020. I bought mine with a 10 terabyte capacity. In terms of portability, it does require A.C power so keep that in mind when you are traveling. However, if you are somebody that needs to have access to a large amount of data or have space for large amounts of data at any given time, then you really cant do much better than this drive. For the price, you are getting a great value with these drives. From disassembly videos, it seems that most of this elements contain Western Digital Red drives. To buy just that hard drive (at an equal storage size as an Elements) it is actually cheaper to buy the Elements than it is to just buy the Red hard drive with no enclosure. When doing data transfers, the drive is fast. Ive gotten nearly a true 5gps transfer speed when copying large files. If I had to guess, I would say the drive inside runs at about 5400 or 5600 rpm. While its not as fast as 7200 or an SSD drive, im guessing that it will have a longer longevity than faster hard disk drives. The only time the slower rotation speed becomes a bother is when you havent accessed the drive for about a half hour. It seems to have an idle mode where it is on standby. When you go back to the drive to access information, it takes about 20 seconds for it to wake back up and get back up to speed. Its not really a problem if you are constantly reading and writing information, but it can be a small nuisance when accessing it intermittently. Long Story short, if you are looking for a drive that has a very large storage capacity, is relatively portable, and is cheap, then look no further. Are there better and faster drives out there? Yes. They also cost more. I have used this drive for video editing and have actively edited movies off of this drive with footage up to 2k resolution with no problem. The main option you are probably comparing this to is the My Book which is also made by Western Digital. The only difference with that drive is that it comes with encryption software, and allows the drive to be accessed by a network. If you need network access then the choice is clear, but if you want the My Book for the encryption software, be aware there are hundreds of other encryption programs available (some of them are free and actually work very well), and purchasing the My Book for that option is sort of a waste of money. If you just need a drive for the storage capacity and nothing else, then this drive is for you.

It is not very large. There is no set up, just plug it in and it is ready to go. It copies files quickly: 125 to 150 most. I dont like the fact that it reads out 1.5 TB LESS than advertised. THE WD statement that the disk is 16 TB is false.

I had an old 1TB WD My Book that was making clicking noises more frequently as well as failing to connect to my laptop consistently. To be fair, I bought it well over a decade...and had accidentally dropped it a few times throughout the years. Know that it was going to give up the ghost soon, I started looking for a replacement. Given I had a pretty good experience with the 1TB, I decided to go with another WD brand. I glad that I did. Set up was a breeze. I just had to plug in the power, connect the USB cable to the laptop, and that was it. At times, it does make audible clunking sounds reading/writing; however, I think thats part of the operation (and this clunking sound is different from the clicking sound my dying 1TB was making). The shell is pretty minimalist and straight forward in design. Its a nice piano black, so its a possible finger print magnet if that would be a concern of yours. Though these external drives are really meant to just sit on your desk/table and not be touched or moved around a lot. Now the problem lies with how am I going to fill up this drive? I think I bought myself too much space to know what to do with it, but this is a good problem to have!

I bought two of these to expand my storage space. I already have four of the 10TB WD My Book. Through utilities, I can turn off the power down timer in the My Book drives so they are always ready to go when I need them. When not using, I turn them off manually using switches on the USB hub. Unfortunatelly, my new Elements drives power down on their own after about 15 minutes, so when I try to use them, I have to wait each time while they spin back up. I cant find any WD utilities that work with the Elements drives to allow me to turn off the power saver feature. An email to WD directed me to a link to the same non working utilities that came with the drives. The error you get from the included WD utilities tells you to connect a valid Western Digital drive, when they are already connected and working. Other than not having utilities to turn off power saver mode, these drives are reliable and fast at just over 200 MB/s sequential read/write benchmarks.

FIRST THINGS FIRST (The Problems): - >I keep this on my tower which is by my legs when I sit at my desk. It gets knocked over easily, so I would recommend keeping it behind your computer monitor or somewhere where it cannot get knocked over easily. - >The plug (Typical United States 2 prong build) is bulky and may take two outlets of space due to the design. It blocks off other outlets if there is one below it. Always reserve the bottom plug for this one. - >The cables are quite short and can be a problem if you do not have a plug within a few feet of your SSD. I was lucky to have an extension nearby to assist with this issue PERFORMANCE: - > Really fast, Opens and runs games with absolutely no issue (GTA V, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Destiny 2, Skyrim, StarWars™ Battlefront, Etc.) - > File transfer speeds are extremely fast - > Good for Plug and Play. Holds all of your games, work files, everything. The drive is easy to transport, but it can be a bit bulky. It is roughly the size of a standing Wi-Fi router. - > The rubber feet on the bottom keep it from sliding quite well - > Case is plastic, and could be damaged, So dont be throwing it at any walls - > Plugs into PC Via a USB Type A to USB Type A, allowing for quick transfer. Overview: Great speed and portability for the price. The build isnt perfect but it will do great on a desk. I wouldnt recommend using this for laptops due to the cables and such. Holds games, software, files, everything of the sort. Perfect for the gamer on the go, or a home office setup.

Not much to say about this other than it does what youd expect any external hard drive to do, it stores data. Overall I like the size of it, no bigger than a small book which means its portable and wont take up a lot of space on your desk. My only complaint about it is that it can get a little loud when its writing to the hard drive or pulling data from the hard drive for a game, it has a built in fan which contributes to the noise but also help to keep the hard drive cool and reduce the risk of it overheating. If I ever needed another external hard drive I would probably buy this one again, for the price its a pretty solid value

No tengo quejas, cumple su cometido

The drive was received quite quickly. Quality and service satisfied. Thank you very much.

Great product. I have no complaints.

Good deskside HDD. Adequate size and semi-portable. Actual usable storage is 18.1TB vs the advertised 20TB. Good for virtual hoarders.