Western Digital 8TB WD Red Plus NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5 - WD80EFBX

Needed to upgrade from my 3TB Western Digital Red (WD30EFRX) that was quite long in the tooth and getting full. Used Acronis to clone the drive and transfer roughly 3TB of data. Hottest it got during that 6 hour period was 51°C. Average normal use is 43°C so does not run hot at all despite being in the lower chamber of my Fractal Design Define C case with no direct air cooling. Completely silent even during intense writing and reading. Someone else noted screw holes not being standard but I did not find this at all on the 8TB model. Has all standard screw holes, two on each side and 6 on the bottom.

I purchased this drive as a replacement drive on a Western Digital My Cloud NAS, so keeping it in the same manufacturer ecosystem, not that it should matter. The original drive were shucked drives that WD denied warranty, on even though it was purchased within the 2-year warranty.... Shame on me for not taking the hint. After installing the drive, immediately I noticed it ran a little hotter than the other 3 (older) drives. No big deal, its a different build and this drive is tailored for NAS usage, right? Well, unfortunately it only took around 5 months before the there were reported errors. Drive failures happen, and I figured this would quickly be sorted out with an RMA since (retail drive, well within warranty, supported ecosystem.) First, I was disturbed to find that Western Digital charges $25 for advance replacement RMA service, plus the cost of the shipping label on top of it. Begrudgingly, I ponied up for the cost because it kept the RAID volume together until I would have a replacement to rebuild the volume. After waiting over a week without any confirmation from WD, I logged in and say the RMA was pending return. Their support system is totally overwhelmed, and I was never able to get anyone on the phone. After waiting a long while on a support chat, I was told that I should be more patient and the warehouse was unable to ship out any advance replacement drives the past week(?!) On that support chat, I was also required to take screenshots of the failing drive, at which point I noticed a second drive reporting bad sectors; the age of which is about 4.5 years. Enough fooling around. I drove myself to the local shop, paid a premium for replacement drives to have in hand same-day, and get the RAID volume secured. After doing so, I called in to cancel the advance replacement (which they STILL havent managed to refund) and mail this drive in for standard RMA; I guess to keep around as a spare the next time? I have very little faith that something wont go wrong with the standard RMA, or that it will be quick or efficient. I see the writing on the wall with Western Digital support, and its not good!

Arrived on time, exactly what I needed. WIll buy from this company again.

Good

Installed on a WD PR4100 NAS. Hard drive works great and seems a tad faster than other WD red drives I own @ 5400 RPM. Tends to run 10-15 degrees warmer.

This drive was to be an archive to move files from older hard drives to this one. This drive just failed on 9/11/2021. It performs endless spinning and clicking whenever it is powered up now.

Avoid this seller like the plague. They sold me a 8TB HDD in a none OEM static free bag, with the HDD label on the outside of the bag. The Serial number did not have a valid Western Digital Warranty. I have bought unknown amounts of WD HDDs through Amazon, and this is unacceptable. This worthless item was returned. Shame on you Seller!

I took the wrong direction recently and tried a 8TB Seagate Barracuda first... mistake... Lasted less than 24 hours.... Sure it was cheaper.... just goes to show.... So went back to WD Red Drives which Ive always found excellent. Bought the 8TB Red Pro and installed in a Rosewill USB enclosure with fan and temp control (bought from Amazon also). Perfect match. The WD Red Pro is a CMR. I was stunned to see that WD is now supplying Red drives (not Pro models) which are SMR. All my old Red drives are CMR so I will only buy Pro drives moving forward now I know. Red Pro drive is excellent. My NAS and Media Center are full of the CMRs and Im impressed with their performance and longevity.

This is my third one of these to fail in my Synology NAS. Do not buy this drive. Ive replaced it with Seagate (ST8000VNZ04/N004) and have had no issues.

This WD Red Plus 8TB HDD (bought used-acceptable from Amazon Warehouse) is fine, although it seems to run hotter than other WD Red drives; it is within range at 100-104 (F). However, all 7 of my other WD Red Plus drives all run at about 90-100 (F). I have purchased 4 new WD Red hard drives on Amazon, and another 4 used from Amazon Warehouse. All were 12-14TB, except for one 8TB HDD. The drives all live in Synology desktop NAS boxes. No issues with the new drives. But, I will probably be returning one 14TB HDD, bc it had 5500+ hours on it. While this is within Amazon Warehouse terms, there was no need to keep it, as the other used drives had only 50, 300, & 400 hrs on them. No drives had bad sectors (although one drive had 15 failed reconnect attempts; reconnects are not good, but I kept it bc the reconnects have not occurred during my ownership). I am a happy with the WD Red drives, just make sure not to get the SMR drives, which WD is guilty as charged. The used drives from Amazon Warehouse are a really great purchase.