Hello Everybody,
As you know, Western Digital is a leading cloud storage company that helps people store and share their photos, videos, and documents. Millions of people around the world use their services. They offer a variety of storage options for users to choose from, including cloud storage, on-premises storage, and hybrid storage. The company also provides data protection solutions to help users keep their data safe and secure.
Western Digital was founded in 1970; they have over 40,000 employees in more than 30 countries. Their headquarters is located in San Jose, California, USA.
They also offer a wide range of features and tools to help users manage and protect their data. I have certain questions in my mind about the company. Hope you guys will help me.
Is Western Digital a trustworthy brand to buy an external hard drive from?
Which is better to use, a Western Digital hard drive or a Seagate hard drive?
What is the shelf life of Western Digital Hard Disk Drive?
Which Western Digital portable hard drive is the best?
Are Western Digital hard drives reliable?
Where can I find coupons and deals for Western Digital?
Hope to find some answers here. Thanks!
Well, i’ve been buying WD Hard Drives for years and years … so my response to the questions below is from personal experience
Yes
Western Digital
I used to buy Seagate Hard Drives … but after so many of them failing, i decided to try Western Digital … haven’t looked back, and would never, ever in a million years ever buy a Seagate Hard Drive … even if you put a gun to my head 
I own many Western Digital Hard Drives … i have many that are over 10 years old still working fine
Yes … have only had 1 fail (compared to Seagate which at last count was 12 failed before i had enough of that sh*t)
Look online
I have used WD drives since their early days, for 50 years now. Have worn out a few here and there but have never lost data because I replace them if they begin to show issues. But at the moment I’m concerned about my data
I have a WD EX4100 NAS with four drives, total 24tb. It was implemented Mar 30 of this year, 2022. On Oct 22 it logged two ‘power supply failure’ problems. On Oct 29 it failed completely. Their support wants to charge my CC and send me a ‘reconditioned’ replacement with unknown usage hours and condition for my data. At the moment I cannot access my backups or my archived data residing on the four drives. Beside it I have an older D-Link 4-drive NAS that has performed flawlessly. If they insist on a reconditioned device I will soon have a new D-Link NAS and the WD replacement will be on EBAY.
Hello Everybody,
Thank you for the amazing response to my post. It’s been wonderful knowing that so many people are interested in the topic and willing to contribute. So from the replies and a Google search, I came across the following suggestions. I am sharing them below for you to check out.
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Regarding reliable external hard drives, Western Digital is a brand you can trust. They offer a wide range of products, from the budget-friendly My Passport lineup to WD’s premium G-Technology and SanDisk lines.
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This is a tough question, as both companies make quality products and have their advantages. Western Digital has been known for having the most reliable hard drives, while Seagate offers a wider range of features and storage capacities. Ultimately, it will come down to what you need in terms of storage size, speed, and performance.
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Western Digital has stated that their hard drives have a shelf life of up to 10 years, depending on the usage and storage environment. They recommend storing hard drives in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight or extreme temperatures. This will help extend the life of your hard drive and ensure it works properly when you need it most.
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The Western Digital My Passport Ultra is one of the most popular portable hard drives from Western Digital. It provides reliable, high-performance storage with up to 4 TB of data in a slim and lightweight package. The drive has an encryption feature, which helps keep your data safe from unauthorized access.
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Yes, Western Digital hard drives are highly reliable. The company offers a range of products to provide users with secure storage solutions and ensure data integrity. All WD hard drives undergo rigorous tests to ensure they live up to their standards for quality and reliability.
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You can find coupons and deals for Western Digital products on various online stores and coupon sites. Some best deals are:
https://www.retailmenot.com/view/wd.com
https://www.coupongot.com
Personally, my experience with WD drives has been mixed. Hard drives made within the last 10 or so years seemed to be fine, but older ones tend to fail sooner compared to other brands back in the day. Models made throughout the 90s were never reliable, even with little use. 20-80 GB drives made in the first half of the 2000s seemed to be OK, although they suffered from the whinny spindle motors. In 2008, I purchased a 160 GB drive to use in an enclosure, which ended up having problems shortly after the warranty ended and with less than 100 power on hours on it. Turns out that the magnetic fields on the platters were degrading after several months, as multiple sector errors would be reported, but after a zero fill of the drive, no errors would be reported afterwards, until several months later.
I can’t speak of modern day drives from Seagate, but their 7200 drives from the mid 2000s were always reliable. The ones that I have are still going strong after all these years, and I haven’t had one fail on me yet. I even had good success with most Maxtor drives from back in the day, even though many people have had bad experiences with them. I ended up having more failures with WD drives compared to Maxtor.
All hard drives will eventually fail, no matter what the make or model, and it’s hard to tell if they will fail after a few months or after several years. Always make good backups on more than one hard drive to help safe guard your data.
2 Likes
Honestly,
There are no bad harddrive companies. What you want is good support when they f*&#! up. Now I currently have three WD MY BOOKS: 500GB (OLDEST AND NO PROBLEMS), 1 1TB, 1 3TB, no problems yet,
I have about 7 WD PASSPORT 1TB EXT HDS, 3 I havent gotten a repair plan working yet to recover, 3- TOSHIBA 1TB EXT HDS… only one of those has a read problem where I need to fix the MBR, I hope, others work fine. 1 TOSHIBA 3TB, works fine so far,
2 WD PASSPORT 4TB (1 fine, other need to repair MBR), You have to take into consideration SUPPORT, ACCESS TO REPAIR/UTILITIES, FORUMS, REPLY SUPPORT. WD has all that. BUT… One would think that geniuses like the engineers at WD are, the WD UTILITIES, would do more than scan. For instance: Everything I have done to correct problems has been me spending hours researching procedures done from DOS/command prompt: /FIXMBR, /SCANOS, ECT. The AOMEI program is a great one for some of that. I believe frustration led me to call once. I didn’t write it down or record but I got nothing. These geniuses could expand extensively with more the a scan and a test when you download and run
WD UTILITIES. You install it, it runs but only does 2 things and most time doesn’t solve your issue. That in it self is why I have SEAGATES, TOSHIBAS, and WDS. Its all about how you plug unplug.
Those 3 are good, I hate f#*kin wallmart but they have great deals you can pickup at your local store when you buy online. Hope that helps. Those 3 are good but can fail.
no longer going to rely on WD external hard drives for my folders and files. I have several My Book Live drives that no longer works. Cost too much to buy more products from the WD company. Rather rely on more reliable cloud drives.
