Both drives were purchased from the same store and both are sold as the same model: WD Elements 1 TB (HDD). However, they behave completely differently:
Different PN numbers (WDBHHG… vs WDBNSY…)
Different weight (133 g vs 70 g)
One has an LED, the other does not
One makes normal HDD noise and vibration, the other is completely silent
One reports ROTA=1, the other ROTA=0
Regarding SMART:
I can’t provide a SMART report for the silent drive because the USB bridge in this revision does not pass SMART data at all (smartctl fails with SAT mode and cannot access the internal disk).
This is why I’m asking:
What exactly is inside this lighter, silent WDBNSY… drive, and why does it behave so differently if it’s supposedly the same model?
I suspect that it could be a fake based on a hacked USB flash drive, in which case the “good” drive could also be a fake. Show us a SMART report for the “good” drive.
Go to WD’s warranty checker page and type in your serial numbers. Also give us the full model numbers so that we don’t have to guess what you bought, or think you bought.
Thanks to both of you for the links and suggestions — I’ve checked everything you shared.
I’ve also opened the enclosure of the silent WDBNSY… drive. The photos speak for themselves: there is no 2.5" HDD inside at all, only a small flash-based module plus a metal weight plate. So this unit is clearly not a conventional HDD.
For comparison, the “loud” WDBHHG… drive behaves exactly as expected. I can read its SMART data without any issues and it confirms that it’s a normal 1 TB HDD.
At this point my only question is why both devices were sold as the same “WD Elements 1 TB HDD” model, while internally they are completely different products.
After two days of searching online and trying to remember the details, it now seems that these two drives might actually come from completely different eras. My earlier assumption that they were purchased from the same store was probably incorrect.
The silent WDBNSY… unit may in fact be a very old revision, even though both devices have almost identical enclosures (the only visible difference is the LED) and are both labeled as “WD Elements 1 TB”. It’s possible that at some point a batch of these older units was shipped or reworked with this kind of internal design.
Given this, my questions are resolved.
Thank you all very much for your time and assistance.
Hey, that’s normal. WD often uses different internal parts in the same 1 TB Elements line. The second one you have is likely a newer, low-power hard drive model, not an SSD. That’s why it’s lighter, quiet, and shows ROTA = 0. The missing LED is also common in newer batches. You can check the exact model in Device Manager or CrystalDiskInfo to confirm—it’s just a different revision, nothing to worry about.
