What drives are in the 12TB0 DL2100 (WDBBAZ0120JBK-NESN)

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud DL Series
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Hello all. I’m considering buying a DL2100 for small business use, and I’m trying to find the specs on the two 6TB drives that are in the 12TB DL2100.

While considering getting the DISK-LESS version and adding my own smaller drives (to see if I could save money since I didn’t need all that capacity), I found WD has two different version of the Red Pro NAS drives (larger caches). So I"m trying to find out which one they put in the DL2100. Strangly, they site all kinds of specs for the drives when sold separately, but when sold with the NAS, I’m finding they’re offering very little specs on the drives.

Why wou’dn’t we be just as concerned with the drive included as we would be the ones we buy to put in the Disk-less???

Anyone know the answer? It would be much appreciated.

Thanks…JEB

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I have a DL2100 with two WD Red 4TB drives, and they come in 6TB as well, and maybe even higher. The DL series is over two years old; you should check into thenewest PR series; PR2100 and PR4100.

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Hi mike, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Thanks for letting me know about the PR’s. I did some searching and found some. I may stick with the DL2100 though since the price is much less right now. The PR2100 is selling at full price, and I found the DL2100 for 40% less-- that difference will pay for one of the drive.

I also thought I found the answer to my original question about what the model number was for the drive they included in their Product Overview PDF for the PR’s. But after searching one of the numbers, I found that it’s just the model number of the NAS, not the drives. So my question is still unanswered—

What is the EXACT MODEL of they drives they’re using in the MY CLOUD NAS? Are they using the drives with the HIGHER or LOWER CACHE?

If I price the Disk-less and my own drives, I want to make sure I’m getting an accurate comparison (of both price AND performance), since they offer two different models in the NAS RED Drives. Example does the 4TB PR2100 come with two WD2001FFSX NAS Reds, or two WD2002FFSX NAS Reds? They actually don’t even state that they are using NAS REDS-- I’m just assuming they are. The differences in the two drives are with the CACHE, WEIGHT and WATTS (with 2002 having the better specs).

I don’t want to be trying to price the Disk-less with different model drives and then not get an accurate comparison (of price or performance).

Thanks again for the help!

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John,

My DL2100 came from WD with the drives installed (2 years ago). Aill I know is they contain Red drives inside, and likely the earlier model Red. The newer Reds could be in the PR series. I added 4GB RAM to my NAS to bring it from 1GB to 5GB. I think the PR may come with more memory; not sure.

I use my NAS as a media server, not a backup, (everything on my NAS is a copy from the original drives that contain the media files), so in a sense I am using the backups, but the originals are really the backups.

If I were buying today, I would likely get the PR, but then 40% less is tempting. Where have you found the DL series at such a discount? Nice to know if I need to replace the box itself.

For details on the Reds you ought to contact WD Support via phone:

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Hi mike,

Newegg.com had the Disk-less DL2100 for $279.99. But they only have the 12TB drive version at $589.00. If I read it correctly, I comment I found on a review of the DL2100 at SmallNetBuilder.com states the list price for the 12TB was $849.99. So $589.00 is a good price too (even if it just has the standard Reds (two WD60EFRX’s-- purchased separately with the Disk-less DL2100 the bundle would cost $795.97-- another $210 over the with drives packaged model).

I priced the 2TB Red drive there too, originally only find the two Pro models: the WD2001FFSX were $332.99/each, while the WD2002FFSX were only $139.99. But then yesteday I found the STANDARD RED (WD20EFRX) there for only $88.99.

So you can see why I need to know which drives are in the 12TB versions. It’s probably the standard Red’s but it would be nice to know for sure. I can’t work up an accurate proposal (for my client) on what I’m pricing if I don’t know what’s inside.

I didn’t understand what was going on with the pricing until I found an article titled “The WD Rainbow”. that explained their color coding. I found that here: Understanding the WD Rainbow | Puget Systems

Thanks again…JEB

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Hi John,

OK, Just for you, I shut down and opened the bays of my DL2100 and checked both drives for info. They are 4TB, 64MB cache, 5400 rpm Reds, of course, model # WD40EFRX w/NASware 3.0. (The larger 6 TB WD60EFRX drives currently cost $230 ea at Amazon.) As they say, do the math; a mere $129 difference; the “diskless” enclosure is almost free!

Did I tell you the data transfer rate between the NAS and a USB 3 drive moving a 6GB single video file connected to my gigabit laptop through the network is 113 MB/sec.? (The top spec for this was 115 MB/sec in the WD literature.)

The 12 TB DL2100 you found at Newegg is a steal; get it, especially w/no tax and free shipping. It is also at Amazon for same price, and costs a little less than my 8 TB’s original price; even less than much less quality WD NAS models shown at Amazon page. And, of course, much less than the comparable PR series of the new NAS. Yes, the PR series has more bells and whistles, but the DL was top of the line model two years ago, and runs almost silently and has not given me any problems. Granted it does not run all the time; it is more idle most of the time, but we do watch movies from it quite often and stream music a lot as well.

I am tempted to get the 12 TB model myself for a new media server and use the 8 TB 2100 not in a RAID 1 array but as two, 4 TB separate drives in the enclosure. Gotta think more about the idea. It only cost me $20 to add the 4GB RAM card to the 2100. I could do that again for the 12 TB.

Let me know what you decide.

The link from Puget Systems was interesting. The guys are across town from me; they are south of Seattle, and I am north of Seattle about the same distance each way.

Is it OK with you if I post your link of the article in the forum Hard Drive area?

Thanks, Mike

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Hi Mike. Thanks again for the help! I appreciate you checking out the drives for me on yours. That confirms information I found yesterday in a review…

I’ve been doing more research on the DL2100, trying to read through all the reviews I could find. I finally found ONE where the author gave information on the drives that were included-- he basically gave the same information as you, in that they are the STANDARD REDS (WDxxEFRX models) rather than the RED PRO’s. He was reviewing the 8TB NAS with two 4TB WD40EFRX Reds.

I’m hoping to order everything today. Once I found out what drives were used, I was able to complete the quote and forward it to my client (yesterday). Hopefully I’ll get the OK today to place the order. He already approved the upgrades I recommend based on my estimates, so it’s just a formality to put it on paper.

I decided to go with a pair of 3TB Reds (WD30EFRX) ($105.99/each). That makes the cost of the NAS and drives just a little under $500.00. They have 7 PC’s, but don’t have a lot of data.(a lot of what they use is pulled from their vendors over the Internet), so the 3TB drives setup in RAID-1 will be plenty of storage, with a good balance between capacity and price.

Most of the PC’s they use are laptops, and getting a few years old, so I also proposed upgrading them with SSD’s to improve performance (as well as maxing out their memory) so they’ll last another year or two before needing replaced. So then the last upgrade will be to use those old HDD’s in regular external enclosure to create portable off site storage.

I’ve read good things about the DL2100, so I’m excited to see how it performs.

Thanks again for taking the time to help…JEB

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OK John, although I am surprised since you can get the 12 TB model for less than $100 more. I think I likely will get one for myself. Happy New Year!

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John, I just rechecked price of 12 TB unit at Newegg. It is now $750, although Amazon still has them for $589 and it comes with nice bonus software installed.

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Hi Mike, My DL2100 and drives arrived yesterday. I really hate to ask this, but I have what might seem a pretty silly question-- HOW DO YOU INSERT THE DRIVES?? More specifically, how do you LOCK them into place to close the hatch? You said before that you pulled yours out to check the model numbers, so I figured you’d know.

When I insert the drives, they contact the spring in the back. So I just assumed you push them in until they LOCK (so you can easily close the hatch) But they just pop back out again. I even tried pushing them in and forcing them back as I closed the hatch. But that doesn’t seem to work either (even if I pull up on the (unlocking) lever first. I encounter a good bit of resistance and I don’t want to force anything unjustly.

I’m sure you’re first question might be whether I’m inserting them in the correct orientation. I’m sure I am-- with the label facing RIGHT as in their photo’s-- unless ALL they’re photo’s are transposed :wink:

I’m a pretty intuitive guy and can usually figure stuff like this out pretty quickly. But I’m stumped at this point, and don’t want to force anything.

I read the setup guides and manual, and faq’s (and those specifically for the Disk-less), but nothing gives any indication. The Quick Setup Guide for the Disk-less only shows a PICTURE for the inserting the drives step, and it just shows ARROWS indicating you just insert them. But doesn’t say anything about how to lock or keep them in place, or even how to close the hatches (once the drives are in). I even googled how to do it bout couldn’t find anything that way-- so you’re my last hope Obi-one.

Thanks…John

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The first two minutes of this video might help you out.

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Thanks Feragui! That’s want I needed to know-- I didn’t want to force the hatches closed until I was sure it was OK to do so.

I got the hatches locked, and they seem secure. But they were a lot HARDER to lock in place than his was in the video ( maybe because the springs are new and it was the first time they were compressed?) The hatches actually seemed to BOW slightly as I forced them closed, but now that they’re secure, they feel flush to the front of the case.

Thanks for taking the time to post the video!

Cordially…John

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You’re welcome.

I believe you have researched enough to purchase the correct model of drives, so I believe it takes a first time push to settle them in properly.

Regards,

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John,

Thia video makes it all look TOO easy. As you discovered, they are hard to close up.

Actually this was the second time I had opened them; the first was when I first got it.

Anyway, MY method to put in the drives was to slide them in until they touched the back, then (as I was doing this on a carpeted floor) then, tip it on its back side (to get assist from gravity), gently lift and position the drives into their pin slots, push them in (of course, they popped out due to the springs). While still sitting back side down, I eventually had to hold the drive in with a finger as I closed the door, slide finger out at last moment while still holding door, closed and then pressed down firmly on door to get door locked. After doing both doors this way, I turned unit back to proper position, set unit in place, connected wires, turned it on and off it went. Doing all this again two years later did not make the springs easier to close doors. It was just as hard to do!

BTW, this past week Amazon upped the price of the 12TB unit to $649 from the previous $589. WHY, does Amazon raise a price shortly after I look at an item!

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Hi Mike. Thanks for the information! At least I know the issue I had closing the hatches wasn’t just with my unit.

As I mentioned earlier, I got the drives in OK and the hatches seem to be secure. I haven’t powered it up yet though. I didn’t think I wanted to power it up until I had it connected to my clients network (where it will reside). I didn’t want to take the chance of it setting up based on my network, then have to go in and make a bunch of changes, or worse have issues with it recognizing the new one. I usually like to setup the hardware before I deliver it so I’m familiar with it, but this time I thought I should wait and do it all on site.

When I do (early next week), I’ll try to remember to post my experience.

About the 12GB DL2100… First, I checked at Newegg, but they don’t have it listed anymore either (when I was pricing my stuff, most the sale items were only on sale thru the New Year weekend). But sometimes I think the prices are manipulated by browser cookies and/or history. I found that with some sites (or just with some special prices) they offer a low price the first time you view that item. Then if you don’t buy it right away, but wait and go back later to get it, the price is higher. Usually if I decide I want to buy that item and I’m worried the price might go up, if I’m going to order it the same day, I’ll leave the page loaded, If I have to wait and go back days later, if the price has gone up, I’ll bring it up on another computer. Sometimes it’s still the same (higher price), but sometimes it’s the first cheaper price.

Also with Amazon and ebay that post items from multiple vendors, I think they will show the item from one vendor one time you view it, then maybe a different vendor another time (therefore you’d have a different price). So if several vendors are selling the same item, the different price you get the second time may be from another vendor. I usually go down and click the “New and Used…” line to make sure they’re showing me the best price.

Sometimes we just have to play the same games they do. I’ve had people tell me that’s not true, or they can’t do that, but I’ve had it happen too many time to just be coincidences.

What irritates me is when I search for a specific item and they include other items as well (like when searching for specific type of memory). Even on sites like newegg and I check off the boxes to on search on those specific parameters, they’ll still stick in other items (I almost bought SO-SIMM memory for a desktop the other day because they included it in the results-- luckily I caught it right before I hit the final ORDER button). Maybe it’s just to make the results look better, But in my opinion if you don’t have what I’m asking for you to show me, then just don’t show me anything). So I’ve found I really have to be careful and make sure what they’re showing me is actually what I ask to see.

Sorry, I’m starting to ramble…

L8R…JEB

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John,

I think the price-switching is more of an Amazon game than a Newegg game, and what you describe about Amazon is EXACTLY what I have observed. I think I will delete ALL cookies, reboot PC and check Amazon price again, later.

I think you ought to turn on the unit before delivery to be sure it is alive and both blue drive lights come on steady. If you do, don’t do what I did the first time, and that was to not let it get completely booted up and it will take quite a few minutes until it settles down. Instead, I had it on for a minute or two, and because it was late at night, I just turned it off. Don’t do that, because when I turned it on in the morning the light on the left drive glowed RED! This is why I opened the case and reseated the drives. I also hit the reset button in the back. Fortunately, when it had rebooted both lights were blinking blue and eventually turned solid blue once the drives quited down. No problems since then.

Just don’t set up any parameters in the dashboard, although you can easily look in the Dashboard by not putting in a username or password. Leave Password blank and just only click on the Login button. Now, you can look through the tabs while being careful not to make any changes.

Here’s some tips for when you ARE setting it up.
You may want to turn on DLNA streaming and also Remote Access (to enable the Home page pie chart to display properly). Also, setting up the recycle bin is kind of tricky, and I have written instructions of how to do this. Let me know when you want me to send them.

Did you buy the optional 4GB ram card for it from Amazon – only $20. If you need to know exactly what RAM to buy let me know. This card has to be firmly seated in its slot, too.

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Mike-- thanks for the tips on the DL2100!

I’m delivering the NAS this afternoon. I’ll have plenty of time there to let it run while I’m working on other machines, but I’d hate not to have a drive boot up, so if I have time I may take your advice and power it up before I go.

Memory… I wasn’t aware you could add additional ram, and $20 seems pretty reasonable-- I thought IGB was kind of small anyway. But it seems like a big jump to have to go from 1GB all the way to 5GB with nothing in between. If they think you need that much, they way do they only give you ONE to start with? Does that mean the 1GB isn’t really enough (just like they do with a lot of pc’s so they can keep the price point down)?

It’s actually kind of irritating when you think about it-- you drop that much on it and find out you have to buy another $20 part for it. Bad enough for the DL2100, but let’s say for instance you dropped $1,000+ on the big 16GB 4 bay, then find out you need a part fot it that only costs $20. For that small cost-- and I’m sure WD could get for much less-- you think they’d just include it and be done with it.

I’m assuming then if that’s all you can put in, then the 1GB is integrated (soldered onto the mobo) and it has a SINGLE RAM slot? Seems odd though that 4GB isn’t just the “MAX”, and you couldn’t use variety of sizes (1,2,3, OR 4GB stick), rather than having the option of just 1GB or 5GB, with no in between.

About the varying prices… I had it happen to me at Newegg the other day. The client that’s getting the DL2100, decided he wanted to upgrade a few more laptops with SSD’s, so when I want back to order them-- which were the same ones I ordered about 10 days earlier, the price was higher. It wasn’t much just a few dollars, so I was going to just order them, but when I got to the cart, they wanted to change me shipping this time too (it was FREE the first time). That pc was the same one I ordered them on the first time, so I decided this might be a good item to test that price change theory with. So I jump on another pc and pulled up the item–the same way I did on the first pc. Sure enough, the price on that machine was back to the original lower price along with the free shipping.

Thanks again for the help!

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The extra memory to improve performance if you install some of the recommended apps you can get from WD. (Check the DL 2100 Learning Center) You might want to install some of the apps for your customer. So, for $20 bucks I did it since I was going to put PLEX on the NAS, and did.

See this WD doc about this:
http://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=12943

This is the RAM I bought from Amazon two years ago (it has now gone up, of course)

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Hi Mike,

I did end up buying the additional memory. It just arrived yesterday, so I haven’t install it yet). I just wasn’t wild about tearing it apart now that it’s installed and up and running. But I’m sure it will be worth it in the long run.

My impression so far…

Setup… The setup went pretty easy once I figured out when to power it up. I had to laugh at the QUICK INSTALLATION GUIDE they supplied in the box. After reviewing it (as you know it was mostly pictures), the only part I found questionable was knowing when I should actually turn it on-- they didn’t show you when in the process to push the power button! But instead tells you to “see the User Manual for details on powering up the device”. If you didn’t check the box out well and know there was a power button, you could assume by the instructions it was self starting once it was plugged in.

Business or consumer device?? It seemed a little but confusing who they were targeting the device to. They advertise it as a BUSINESS NAS, but it looks like they just used the software from the consumer versions-- the setup wizard seemed more consumer oriented, for example referencing that you can saving “movies and music”, or downloading pictures from you phone. No referencing of business data. I also seem to recall a cartoonist sketch of someone walking a dog somewhere (in the setup panel)?

FOLDER NAMES… I also thought it was kind of dumb that they had to create their own nomenclature for the names of things in their app-- almost like they tried to make it more difficult to setup (or the opposite-- dumb it down for the consumer)… But still, how many years have they been calling folders FOLDERS?? Why call them SHARES? Just make it harder to figure out how to do stuff.

Pushing not pulling data… Since I’m using it to back up multiple computers, I’m backing up TO the NAS, and using other 3rd party backup software (AOMEI Backupper), so all I needed to do was create a bunch of folders. But they made it difficult with the way they named things. But I finally figured out how to create the “shares” for each of the computers. Then I setup and scheduled a few test backups to run today on one of the computers (when I’m not there) to see if all works the way I need it to.

Lastly Noise level….Yea, as someone else commented the fan is exceptionally LOUD (I have desktop PC’s that are quieter than this!). Hopefully the fans not going to run for too long when it spins up. Otherwise, I was warned I may have to move it. I mounted it on (it’s own) shelf about 7 feet up the wall above someones desk, but it’s that loud that he’s afraid it will interfere with phone conversations. If it does, I’ll have to move it further away (I’m hoping it won’t require a special CAT cable (if I remember correctly the cable said it was CAT5e).

Heavy DUDE…. What I was impressed with was the WEIGHT of the NAS— even before I installed the drives! WITH the two 3TB NAS RED drives installed, the box weighed about 6 1/2 LBS! I just purchased a consumer grade 4-bay drive enclosure (just a box for a JBOD RAID NAS) and I’m curious how much different they will weigh.

Thanks again for all the help! I couldn’t have done it without you!

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John,

Extra Memory is easy to install, you just remove four bottom side screws and top lifts up and off. The RAM slot is at the top. Be very careful inserting it and it precisely planted and firmly in slot. You will know you did it right if you see the extra storage RAM in the Dashboard. Othere reported not seeing the extra memory and I wrote back they needed to reset the card better, and all reported they did and all was fine.

Fan Noise Level is noisy at boot up for 30 seconds and then settles down to whisper quiet, Beccause it may have run longer at first boot was because it was doing a lot of processing and fan ran to keep it cool. Just this past week, it ran longer at reboot, as I had it off for 24 hours, and fan did not quite down. I just turned off unit and it rebooted and fan ran just the 30 seconds again. Go figure.

My buyng the 12 TB DL1200 from Amazon is cancelled for a few reasons. First, the unit price jumped from $589 to $649, and even at that price they sold out quickly. Last night there were only 3 left, and today there is is only 1 left and it’s price is now $$684! We gotta love Amazon’s pricing model.

I had already decided to wait until the 12TB PR1200 is discontinued next year sometime and get one at close out price.