My Book 8TB put inside computer and use enclosure with different drive

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Hello,

I am thinking of buying 8TB My Book (WDBBGB0080HBK-EESN). I will probably use it as is, but i would like to know a few other scenarios:

  1. Can I remove original drive from enclosure (without any files on it) and put it in computer?
  2. Is it normal SATA drive that computer will recognise (and format)?
  3. What type of drive is inside (any specifications if possible)?
  4. Can i use the enclosure to put in some other drive (WD, Seagate…) and it will work as standard enclosure then?

thank you.

2

Hello,

I recommend you contact WD support in order to get this questions properly answered

https://support.wdc.com/support/case.aspx?lang=en

I believe question 4 is not possible, 1 and 2 maybe but not supported.

3

Unlikely. The hard drive may be encrypted.

[quote=“Paranoid, post:1, topic:193400”]2 & 3 Is it normal SATA drive that computer will recognise (and format)?
[/quote]

The internal hard drive is not set and specifications change based on revisions. It could be SATA or native USB. More information is available in the following link:

Unlikely. The enclosure’s controller and firmware were designed for the original hard drive within.

4

Thank you both for answers
I heard a friend put his older model 8TB MyBook successfully into desktop (he had to repartition the drive since data was encrypted as you said), so i guess that should work as well here.
Pity about enclosure and controller being usefull exclusively for this drive. Silly thing to do other than to block anyone from using it for other purpuse than originally intended.
@Trancer
You raise interesting question. Friend checked the warranty of drive inside the MyBook through WD warranty checker and it gave results. In your link it states warranty of drive is void if you remove it from enclosure… which one is correct?

5

The warranty is voided. The hard drive is very likely to be rejected if an RMA is processed and the unit is inspected.

The only exception would be self-serviceable dual-drive units such as the WD My Book Pro or WD My Book Duo.