WD Elements Shucking 8.0TB HDD (WD80EMZZ)
These drives where purchased around 02.11.2021 and 18.03.2022
I bought 10 of these drives from Saturn and Mediamarkt in Germany
There's been a lot of conflicting talk online about these drives, so I did some digging. These drives are what's called "White-Label" from Western Digital, which usually means they're similar to other WD drives but with some minor changes, mostly in the firmware that runs them.
I decided to figure out more about where these drives really come from. For starters, Western Digital doesn't fill their drives smaller than 12TB with helium.
Why does helium matter? Well, drives filled with helium don't get as hot—they stay about 10 degrees cooler.
If you want a drive that stays cool but don't want to spend a lot, you might have to look at bigger drives, like 12TB or more to get CRM.
The Origin of the WD80EMZZ
This is it, the WD84PURZ Purple Surveillance HDD
Following things line up with this drive
- Power Specification lining up 5VDC: 0.42A 12VDC: 0.34A
- Really weird RPM of 5640
- CMR Drive (good!)
- Same Country of Origin Thailand
- Both showed up around the same time
Case closed, but here are some more information if you really want...
WD84PURZ Datasheet
They updated the PDF and now the RPM are mysteriously missing, so you will have to deal with the German on up here
WD80EMZZ Speedtest + CrystalDiskInfo
Temperature under full load
- Room temperature 16°C
In my setup, I found that these hard drives can get quite warm, sometimes reaching temperatures around 50°C when they're still in their cases.
They're designed to handle up to 65°C, but I prefer to play it safe and keep them cooler, around 30°C, when possible.
To better manage the heat, I decided to take the drives out of their original enclosures—a process known as 'shucking'.
This allowed for much-improved cooling. I also added a couple of extra fans to ensure they maintain a lower temperature.
Helium-filled drives are popular because they naturally run cooler, but with my shucked drives and the added fans, I’ve managed to keep the heat at bay effectively.
It's worth noting that despite the drives running hotter than I'd like when encased, once removed and with proper cooling, they perform reliably even under the stress of constant use.
Conclusion
After using the first eight drives non-stop for four months, they're still going strong.
The only real issue is the heat, but that's manageable, especially with extra cooling. Plus, getting 8TB of storage for around €100 is a deal I'm happy with.
They do slow down as they get more full, dropping to about 80MB/s, but that's not a big problem for me.
I hope this makes it easier for anyone else looking for info on these drives!