I purchased 3 WDC_WD40EZAZ drives a few years ago.  Made one of them my parity drive, and the other 2 my data drive.  Two of the drive are showing around 20 thousand load cycles and the 3rd is only showing 414.  The power on time for the 3 drives are about 9 months total.   It's only used for plex for a few hours a week.

 

My parity drive is showing excessive load cycles (head parking)

193    Load cycle count    0x0032    194    194    000    Old age    Always    Never    19907

 

My data drive is showing high levels also.

193Load cycle count0x0032193193000Old ageAlwaysNever23004

 

This data drive is showing normal levels.

193Load cycle count0x0032200200000Old ageAlwaysNever414

Have you tried adjusting their settings using WDIDLE3?

I don't know if those drive are supported by WDidle3 or if they have their own program to adjust their behaviors, so do your due diligence to know if that is needed or even supported. But in the past many have had to use that program on WD drives to get their load cycle counts under control.

 

22 hours ago, BRiT said:

I don't know if those drive are supported by WDidle3 or if they have their own program to adjust their behaviors, so do your due diligence to know if that is needed or even supported. But in the past many have had to use that program on WD drives to get their load cycle counts under control.

 

 

Thanks for the tip!  Some people say they're supported others not.