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Western Digital WUH721816ALE6L4 16TB HDD Review: A Powerhouse with a Few Caveats
The Western Digital WUH721816ALE6L4 16TB 3.5-inch SATA HDD is a high-capacity, enterprise-grade hard drive designed for data centers and demanding storage environments. With features like Energy-Assisted Magnetic Recording (EAMR), HelioSeal Technology, and a 2.5M MTBF rating, this drive promises reliability, performance, and efficiency. But does it live up to the hype? Let’s dive into the details based on real customer experiences.
Pros and Cons: What Customers Are Saying
1. Performance and Reliability
The Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 is a beast when it comes to performance. Customers consistently praise its steady sequential read and write speeds of 256MB/s, making it ideal for high-performance computing and large-scale data storage. One reviewer noted, "The drive maintains a steady state sequential read and write speed of 256MB/s, which is impressive for a 16TB HDD."
However, some users reported CRC errors and bad sectors during initial use. One customer mentioned, "One of six drives experienced 3 CRC errors in the first day, but it’s been about a month and nothing since." While these issues seem isolated, they highlight the importance of thoroughly testing the drive upon arrival.
2. Build Quality and Durability
The Ultrastar DC HC550 is built like a tank. Its helium-sealed design not only reduces energy consumption but also enhances durability. One user shared an amusing anecdote: "I literally dropped this several times swapping it between bays, and it spun up afterward like 'wut?'"
That said, the drive’s noise level has been a point of contention. Many customers describe it as loud, especially during heavy writes. "These things are LOUD. Most of the time they’re reasonably quiet, but several times per hour they’ll unleash floor-rattling clicking for several seconds at a time," one reviewer noted.
3. Warranty and Support
The drive comes with a 5-year limited warranty, which is a significant selling point for enterprise users. However, some customers have encountered issues with "Out of Region" status when registering the drive in the US. WD support has reassured users that the warranty will still be honored, but the ambiguity can be unsettling.
One reviewer shared their experience: "I contacted WD support, and they confirmed the warranty is valid as per the proof of purchase. The 'Out of Region' status is just a display issue and doesn’t affect warranty claims."
4. Packaging and Seller Transparency
While the drive itself is excellent, the packaging and seller practices have drawn criticism. Several customers reported receiving drives with high power-on hours, indicating they were not new. "All 4 drives have over 1,260 hours on them, so it's quite obvious they were NOT NEW DRIVES," one user complained.
Another reviewer shared a similar experience: "One had 5 bad sectors, and the other 3 had over 20,000 power-on hours. They are clearly not new, and nowhere on the product page does it state that these are used or refurbished drives."
Conclusion: Is the Western Digital WUH721816ALE6L4 Worth It?
The Western Digital WUH721816ALE6L4 16TB HDD is a high-performance, reliable storage solution for enterprise environments. Its massive capacity, advanced technologies, and 5-year warranty make it a compelling choice for data centers and power users.
However, potential buyers should be aware of the noise levels, occasional CRC errors, and the risk of receiving used or refurbished drives from certain sellers. If you’re purchasing this drive, ensure you buy from a reputable source and thoroughly test it upon arrival.
Final Verdict:
- Pros: High capacity, excellent performance, durable build, 5-year warranty.
- Cons: Loud operation, potential for used/refurbished units, ambiguous warranty status.
If you’re willing to overlook the noise and ensure you’re buying new, the Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 is a solid investment for your storage needs.
Specification Western Digital WUH721816ALE6L4 3.5" 16TB SATA 6Gb/s7.2K RPM 512M 0F38462 512e/4Kn HDD:
Comments from Amazon:
Ordered 4 of these drives from Maestro Technology LLC. One had 5 bad sectors, and the other 3 had over 20,000 power on hours. They are clearly not new and nowhere on the product page does it state that these are used or refurbished drives.
If you want a data center class drive that will last forever and a day WD/UltraStar/HGST is the way go to. I literally dropped this several times swapping it between bays and it spun up afterward like "wut?" Only thing I would suggest to a prospective buyer is GET HDD LLF and do a full drive surface low level format before anything. It's just a safety measure to make sure any bad clusters are marked out (though I've never gotten a bad cluster on an HGST). Then when you format it use make sure to use something more advanced than windows built in format. You want the drive to be GPT and you want to format it as NTFS with maximum cluster size (64kB) this will reduce seek latency because max cluster size reduces MFT reference/seek time. And again, you want to do this is as a deep format, not a quick format; the LLF and deep format on the 16TB took me about 16.5 Hours for each operation; the drive does maintain a steady state sequential read and write speed of 256MB/s. (and in case you're like "where's my full 16TB?" when they say it's 16TeraBYTES they literally mean 16 trillion bytes, which works out to 14.55 proper TB [this is completely normal: 16,000,000,000,000 Bytes /1024 /1024 /1024 /1024 = 14.55TB]
I have 3 of these drives now and none have had a single issue. I bought this from Serverpartdeals as they had great reviews and shipping was delayed a few days but thats on UPS, not Serverpartdeals. I checked the warranty with WD and it is 5 years as i hoped. These drives are a bit on the noisy side when doing heavy writes but seem to quiet down significantly once broken in, in my experience at least. Will do business with Serverpartdeals again in the future for sure
Have been using this 16TB hard drive since 2021. Very happy with it. Very dependable, will buy another one soon for my new build. Western digital builds very good drives.
First - the drive itself is a good drive - Backblaze Drive Stats rates the DC HC series highly, and they are solid high-capacity CMR drives. They make a little noise, but it's not unpleasant, and I've gotten used to it. I put them in Synology NASes, and they work well there. The last set of 2 I ordered were fulfilled by Amazon and shipped out in their little shipping boxes loose in a plastic bag like you get a t-shirt in, and they had obviously been through some stuff. One was DOA, I returned both because I had no faith that the other one would last. The replacements came the same way, but at least stacked so they didn't bang around on each other. The last two sets here I've ordered are either out of region or OEM no warranty. The warranty thing is an interesting call - if the drive is bad enough to require a warranty replacement, what are the chances I'd be able to wipe it before exchange, and would I exchange an unwiped drive? For $300 I might not risk it, so a warranty on a bad drive turns out not to be much of a warranty in practice anyway. So great drives, but purchasing this way has compromises, and go in with your eyes open...
All 4 drives packaged perfectly. All 4 drives with factory wrapping. All 4 drives have over 1,260 hours on them, so it's quite obvious they were NOT NEW DRIVES. No place on the website does it state these are refurbished drives. All of them work, however, almost 4 years of use on them. I feel I was misled or way over charged. Buyers be aware, even reading the fine print doesn't protect you.
As others have mentioned, these drives are not from the US and when registered within the US will show "Out Of Region." I contacted WD support, and got this message - "Please to inform you that I have checked with my team and they informed that the warranty of the drive is validated as per the proof of purchase. So I would request you to keep the proof of purchase safe with you. Also you can ignore the out of region part as we are the one who will assist you if you need to claim warranty replacement for the drive." He reassured me that the warranty will be honored for the expected 5 year window, although the status "Out Of Region" will remain. That being said, these things are LOUD. Most of the time they’re reasonably quiet, but several times per hour they’ll unleash floor rattling clicking for several seconds at a time that I can hear through a wall. One of six drives experienced 3 CRC errors in the first day, it’s been about a month and nothing since but I will keep an eye on them.