Removing a drive from a WD USB Enclosure for use in Unraid

[foo_fighter]

Can the drive from this external enclosure be removed and used as either parity or data?

 

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2010/08/06/49185/Western-Digital-2TB-Elements-USB-2-0-External-Hard-Drive

 

Reports are that it is just an regular green drive(probably EADS), but do they do anything to it that would make it incompatible for some reason?

 

 

Thanks.

[queeg]

Can the drive from this external enclosure be removed and used as either parity or data?

 

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2010/08/06/49185/Western-Digital-2TB-Elements-USB-2-0-External-Hard-Drive

 

Reports are that it is just an regular green drive(probably EADS), but do they do anything to it that would make it incompatible for some reason?

 

 

Thanks.

 

It's got to be just an regular OEM drive. 

[JustinAiken]

You'll probably poke your finger a couple times trying to crack the casing open

[BRiT]

Some of the newer enclosures utilize drives with modified electronic boards that directly accept USB. As such, they do not provide for any sort of SATA cable inputs. Feel free to give it a try, but don't be surprised when after its open you see a USB-only drive.

[Rajahal]

You probably can, but why?  The internal drives often go on sale for $99, $10 cheaper than that one.  If you already have it and are trying to recycle it then by all means knock yourself out.

[gfjardim]

And don't forget some of those drivers have a firmware that limit their speed, a user here tried to add a 2TB unit as parity drive and get terrible write speed to the array.

 

[nAffie]

Almost all my drives came from external WD cases like these... Very easy to open, and the drives are standard EADS. (I only had the 1TB and 1.5TB versions. I guess the 2TB are EARS drives...

[BRiT]

Its also how I got some of my disks for my other systems, but that was 1 - 2 years ago. However, the newer the drive enclosure the higher the likelihood that the internal drives are pure USB with no sata connectors.

[PeterB]

If it is an EARS drive, remember to install a jumper on pins 7-8!  Also, be aware that recent WD enclosures have a habit of installing hidden partitions on the drive.  Repartition or wipe the drive to make sure you get rid of any WD rubbish.

[Rajahal]

If it is an EARS drive, remember to install a jumper on pins 7-8!

 

Good advice.

 

Also, be aware that recent WD enclosures have a habit of installing hidden partitions on the drive.  Repartition or wipe the drive to make sure you get rid of any WD rubbish.

 

Either unRAID's own clearing process or the preclear script will take care of that for you.  No need to do anything yourself.

[kizer]

Yeah I cracked one open used it in my system. Of course now I'm wisihing I didn't because I could use a portable drive. LOL

 

If I recall I used a small screw driver to crack open one side and kept prying around the edges until I got access to the drive from inside. I think it used to phillips screws to remove the USB controller from the drive.

[cal87]

I just got a hold of a drive that I think came from an enclosure like this.  It looks like a standard WD20EARS drive.  When I hooked it up to my Win7 computer, the name of the drive was "Elements".  I did jumper the drive.

 

When I hooked it up to my unRAID server, the preclear script would not run at all.  It comes up with a screen without the usual serial number and info on the drive, but does ask me to type "Yes".  When I do, it just ends with an error message.  I tried running preclear with the -n option, and it ran at a ridiculously fast speed of 376 MB/s.  After this, I tried to add it to the array to see what would happen.  It does not show as unformatted.  I tried starting the array with the new drive, and the array does not start.

 

So, is this drive usable at all - unRAID or NTFS or other?  Or should I just return it to sender?

[Rajahal]

I just got a hold of a drive that I think came from an enclosure like this.  It looks like a standard WD20EARS drive.  When I hooked it up to my Win7 computer, the name of the drive was "Elements".  I did jumper the drive.

 

When I hooked it up to my unRAID server, the preclear script would not run at all.  It comes up with a screen without the usual serial number and info on the drive, but does ask me to type "Yes".  When I do, it just ends with an error message.  I tried running preclear with the -n option, and it ran at a ridiculously fast speed of 376 MB/s.  After this, I tried to add it to the array to see what would happen.  It does not show as unformatted.  I tried starting the array with the new drive, and the array does not start.

 

So, is this drive usable at all - unRAID or NTFS or other?  Or should I just return it to sender?

 

Hmm, never seen that before.  I would try formatting it as NTFS, then running preclear on it again.  Perhaps the drive still has some of WD's software on it (which some computers read as CDs for some reason).

[cal87]

Actually doing that right now.  I am doing a full (not quick) NTFS format.  At 35% right now.  Will report back when it finishes.

[bubbaQ]

Some of the external drives are special production runs... they are NOT regular drives.  They have different firmware, and sometimes different cache and other specifications.  They are often VERY different drives than you would buy normally.

 

And then sometimes they ARE exactly the same drives you would otherwise buy. 

 

There is no way to tell without cracking open the case.  It is a crapshoot.

[KYThrill]

I cracked open my Cavalry 1TB external drive.  It had a PC board with SATA connector that did the conversion to e-SATA or USB.  It had a WD10EAV drive in it.  Swapped it out with a 500 GB Green drive and put it on my benchmark.  88 MB/s and get similar results on unRAID with the preclear (a little faster, but that seems the norm).  I use it for iTunes, photos, backups, etc.

 

So I got lucky that all was good.  I agree that YMMV.

[cal87]

A little more info.

 

After formatting the drive as NTFS, it seemed to be fine.

 

I put it into my server and ran the preclear script.  This time, it seemed to start fine, identified the serial number, size of the drive, etc.

 

HOWEVER, I remembered I forgot to place the jumper.  After placing the jumper and restarting, I get the error message with the preclear script again.

 

Is it possible that this version of the WD20EARS might only work without the jumper?  Would I be able to tell during the preclear script if it is functioning properly, or do you need to look at the performance when actually added to the array?

 

Any suggestions on where to go next?

[Rajahal]

Well, by formatting the drive without the jumper you may have ruined it.  Sad, but true.  Some users have reported drives being permanently crippled after they have been used without the jumper.  I'm guessing you have no option of RMAing this drive?

[cal87]

I just placed the drive back into my Win7 computer, this time did a NTFS quick format with the jumper in place.

 

Put it back in my unRAID server, and this time it seems to be running the the preclear script normally.  Running about 130 MB/s in the pre-read process right now.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Rajahal]

Oh good, hope that works out for you.