This is what I'm trying to accomplish;I want to duplicate my old WD Green 1TB 32MB Cache 3.5 HD to a NEW WD Black 64MB Cache 3.5 HD. Most consumer reviews say this will work fine but my concern is after the duplication and after months of new data storage to the new WD Black HD can I then back it up to the original WD Green HD that has less Cache? I realize that you can only backup to the same size disk or larger but nowhere does it mention CACHE size restrictions, is this an issue?Thank you. This is what I'm trying to accomplish;I want to duplicate my old WD Green 1TB 32MB Cache 3.5 HD to a NEW WD Black 64MB Cache 3.5 HD. Most consumer reviews say this will work fine... » Read More This is what I'm trying to accomplish;I want to duplicate my old WD Green 1TB 32MB Cache 3.5 HD to a NEW WD Black 64MB Cache 3.5 HD. Most consumer reviews say this will work fine but my concern is after the duplication and after months of new data storage to the new WD Black HD can I then back it up to the original WD Green HD that has less Cache? I realize that you can only backup to the same size disk or larger but nowhere does it mention CACHE size restrictions, is this an issue?Thank you. « Show Less
1773950
Cache doesn't matter...just size of the disk. I have come across hard drives of different manufacturers where one's 80 GBs (for example) HD is slightly larger than another's 80 GBs drive (80 GBs > 79.8 GBs). In other words, it will duplicate one way but not the other. In this case, I attach the smaller HD via the USB cable to the PC with the larger source drive and run a free program called AOMEI. It will copy HD to HD without issue.
1773951
I don't think the cache would even be involved during the cloning process. If it was I would expect this to be part of the specification for cloning but there's nothing there concerning this.
1773952
Cache doesn't matter, only the size of the drive. The new needs to be exactly the same size or larger and if it is larger you need to do a resize within your OS if it is supported.
1551817
It depends on the source drive. Some Dynamically Partitioned drives, such as the ones in a lot of new HPs won't clone properly.
825336
Yes it can, although you are better off cloning to a drive that is larger. Even drives labeled the same size have small variants in size, and if the drive being copied to is even slightly smaller than the original drive, that can cause problems. So, rule of thumb is always to copy to a drive larger than the original.
1112435
I've actually copied a few smaller to larger drives, but I can't remember how it handled the partition on the new drives. If it didn't automatically resize to fill the drive, then it was trivial to do within Windows because I know I didn't spend a lot of time doing it, and I definitely didn't use partitioning software.
1762477
I have been running mine with a Western Digital WD30EFRX NAS 3tb just fine for a few months now. Runs quick and hasn't presented any strange playback issues or lag, it has actually decreased load times but probably due to NAS spec. Though, weird behavior with file transfer, when I copied over the old 1tb drive in my Micca to the new 3tb, it somehow ballooned my files by about 200gb. Hidden files show nothing and quite a few folders read different in size between the two drives. Not sure if files are being decompressed on the copy over or something, no ZIPs just ghost data that has taken decent bite out of the drive, I don't think there is a 200gb reserve or system partition on a 3tb...
624648
I've would suggest not installing a previously used drive (assuming you have an old 5400rpm drive lying around, hence your question). When I installed a used drive (not formatted) it crashed the system. It only seems to like new, formatted drives. Mine does happen to be a 7200rpm WD
506084
According to Drobo support:"Thank you for contacting Drobo Technical Support. Unfortunately at this time it is not possible to determine if there will be any problems with a newer 5TB drive in the Drobo5D. Once the newer 5TB drives are released next year there will be more information to provide in regards to 5TB drive support. Please let me know if you have any further question."
1120024
I have a "very old" External Hard drive...not this make/model...I turn it on once/quarter to backup recent files...it's probably over 3 years old. Recently, I bought one of these WD Elite 500GB models...my plan is to backup on two externals...in case one fails. I know this seems lame, but it is the only way to ensure everything sticks around. Seems like its worth the extra $100.
1126407
WD says that greens will work and nothing else. I have a feeling that has to do with the lower power consumption. I have heard horror stories about green drives and WD software has said my drives have gone bad, but the drives read and write just fine. I love the raid setup and dont know why anyone else hasn't continued this setup at this price point ( I bought mine used for a little less than $100)
2124288
It depends on your utility. Some will create a partition the size of the smaller drive and leave the rest for you to do as you please. Some will expect you to make a partition the size of the source disk before beginning. Still others will operate differently. You need to look at the details/instructions for the cloning utility. By the way, I recommend Acronis products for this kind of task. (After cloning, it's nice to have the option to resize the partition or make multiples, as you prefer.
513138
I would use nothing BUT these drives in anything I built or upgraded. They're a bit pricier, and no one ever thinks about it, but the warranty on THESE hard drives, the WD Black series, is a full 5Y. VERY few other mfrs even offer a 5y warranty. And WD drives earn that warranty reputation, I haven't had a WD drive fail, EVER. In each case -- over a dozen -- they've become useless through increasing capacity, never mechanical/electronic failure. That is, I probably have an 80gig WD drive that's still functioning. It's just not worth plugging in and taking up a SATA channel when I can get that capacity on a freaking flash drive nowadays... Yes, they're that good. You can "save money" by buying something cheaper. But you'll pay in the long run with headaches from lost data, or time spent rebuilding your windows/software/os and tweaking it back to the way you had it. The HD is the soul of your machine. Everything else fails, you can practically swap a part back in and you're up and running. But the HD fails and you've got a multiday to longer term headache to get things back to "normal". And, for general purposes, they're among the best drives in performance terms, too. Tom's Hardware may rate something else marginally faster, but not by much. And not by enough to drag you away from WD Black. As the old saw goes, once you go Black, you'll never go back. :-D
2156759
Using 5 drives without redundancy is just asking for problems... I would venture to say that one of those drives is going to fail within a year. I have a 2x 2GB RAID1 system for the past 4 years, and had to re-sync them once. In the last 15 years I've had ~5 drives crash or get corrupted. Never again will I leave valuable data in only one drive.
187875
All SATA versions are backwards-compatible. Though, if you're springing for a new MoBo, you might as well toss in a newer HDD, too. WD 1TB are going for about $60 as of this writing, and it is incredibly easy to set this board up in many different multiple-drive configurations. So, you can still use your old drive (as I assume you'll at least want/need to get data off of it), but you can have something significantly faster and more capacious as your main drive. Well worth considering.
860402
I "third" Robin V.'s comment. A few years ago, I installed four Seagate consumer drives equivalent to WD green line HDs in a Drobo and had 2 single drive failures followed by 3 simultaneous failures that resulted in a lot of downtime and some data loss. WD Red drives are built for NAS use and have not failed me yet (multiple years in, now!) And for those counting, yes, that was 5 failures with 4 (purchased) Seagate 1.5TB drives -- the first drive that failed was replaced under Seagate's warranty, and then that replacement failed. All failures happened between 6 and 18 months after purchase/deployment. I "third" Robin V.'s comment. A few years ago, I installed four Seagate consumer drives equivalent to WD green line HDs in a Drobo and had 2 single drive failures followed by 3 simultaneous failures that resulted in a lot of downtime and some data loss. WD Red drives are built for NAS use and have not failed me yet (multiple years in, now!) And for those counting, yes, that was 5 failures with 4 (purchased) Seagate 1.5TB drives -- the first drive that failed was replaced under Seagate's warranty, and then that replacement failed. All failures happened between 6 and 18 months after... » Read More I "third" Robin V.'s comment. A few years ago, I installed four Seagate consumer drives equivalent to WD green line HDs in a Drobo and had 2 single drive failures followed by 3 simultaneous failures that resulted in a lot of downtime and some data loss. WD Red drives are built for NAS use and have not failed me yet (multiple years in, now!) And for those counting, yes, that was 5 failures with 4 (purchased) Seagate 1.5TB drives -- the first drive that failed was replaced under Seagate's warranty, and then that replacement failed. All failures happened between 6 and 18 months after purchase/deployment. « Show Less
425912
I will answer with a question of my own- what do you mean by "work" ? It will work in the sense that if you plug it in, the new 1TB will spin up and you can use it as you normally would. BUT, it will NOT work at the SATA III data rate that the WD supports (6Gb/s). The reason is, the motherboard (MOBO) in the Dell does not support SATA III, only SATA II. So instead, the WD will spin at the SATA II data rate, which is 3Gb/s. As for cable- the WD does not come with a cable so you will need a new one if you do not plan on reusing the one from the Seagate. However, if you reused the Seagate cable, you should be just fine since I would expect the existing cable is already rated to run at SATA II speeds. But if in the future you got a new MOBO or computer then you would need a new cable that is rated for SATA III data rates.
1647565
I really do not know, but I would think that it is more a question of wheather your COMPUTER will support such a drive. 3TB is a huge drive, but on the other hand, I remember wondering if I could ever fill a 40MB drive. Please remember to back it up regularly. I'll be able to hear you from here if it crashes and you haven't backed it up!
984389
That really is about all there is to it. Of course, during the process your new drive will be appropriately partitioned, formatted, etc...but it is all handled by your RAID software. Just be aware that when you buy a replacement drive, if you buy one that is larger or has a faster rotational speed than your remaining drive, the performance of the replacement drive will be limited to matching the size and speed specifications of the remaining drive. (Don't buy a 4 TB drive if the remaining drive is 1 TB...it will work, but you will lose 3 TB of usable space.)