Hello all. I am thinking of buying some Western Digital hard drives.
There is a difference in the market for “retail” drives vs. “OEM” drives.
Two retail marketed hard drives I am looking at are models WDBH2D0020HNC-NRSN and the WDBH2D0040HNC-NRSN.
It seems that “retail” marketed drives use a different nomenclature than “OEM” drives.
Could anyone tell me what model drive is ACTUALLY in the box?
And also, could anyone tell me if these models use shingled magnetic recording (SMR) or conventional magnetic recording (CMR)?
WDBH2D0020HNC-NRSN is a 2TB Drive (the clue is the 0020 in the model number)
WDBH2D0040HNC-NRSN is a 4TB Drive (the clue is the 0040 in the model number)
WD Datasheet says they carry 2 Year Limited Warranty … if you buy one from Western Digital directly or from a Retail Store … that warranty will apply.
If you buy it from Amazon or Ebay … it’s a gamble, as you don’t know if it’s OEM or Retail.
There’s nothing in the model number to identify either … but the serial number will verify it. But you won’t get that until you buy the drive. And if it is OEM … then it’s not covered by WD Warranty.
You’ll have to ask whoever you buy it from that question … and hope they are honest and are telling you the truth.
You’ll have to Google it … depending on the capacity of WD Blue you’re buying it could be SMR or CMR according to the charts
I am aware that these are 2 TB and 4 TB drives. The question is what is the ACTUAL model number of the hard drive in the box?
The datasheet you linked to does not say what model is in the box.
Without the ACTUAL model number of the drive how could I find if they are SMR or CMR?
Other hard drive manufacturers are able to tell what model drive is in their retail boxes. But WD? Can they say what model drive is in their retail boxes? And can they say if it is SMR or CMR?
Whoever I buy a drive from, they probably won’t be able to tell me what is in the box. WD does not provide that information as far as I can find. Most retailers are clueless, unfortunately.
Sorry if I am frustrated. WD is not making this easy for us.
I went to a local big box store today and bought a WDBH2D0040HNC-NRSN. The employee there could only tell me that WDBH2D0040HNC-NRSN is the model number.
Turns out the drive inside is WD40EZRZ.
Why can’t WD just tell us this? I couldn’t find any documentation about encoding method, but supposedly if the second-to-last character in the model number is ‘A’ then it is SMR. This drive has ‘R’, it might be CMR (good). Cache size could be a proxy for identifying if a HDD is SMR or CMR. Unfortunately the box does not note the cache size.
Other manufacturers print the drive model on the retail box. Why not WD? If anyone from WD is reading, I would suggest you modify your retail packaging to include the ACTUAL drive model contained in the box (WD40EZRZ in this case).
I have a few other retail drive boxes. I will try to post images to illustrate what they look like.
