WD 12 TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive – USB 3.0
WD 12 TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive – USB 3.0, Black
Formatted for Windows 10+
The WD Elements desktop hard disk drive is formatted NTFS and compatible with Windows 10+ and can be reformatted for Mac.
Comparison Metric
 WD Elements Desktop |  WD My Book Desktop |  WD My Book Duo Desktop |  WD Elements Portable | |
| Technology | HDD | HDD | HDD | HDD |
| Auto Backup Software | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Great for | Plug-and-play storage | Backup and restore | RAID backup | Portable storage |
| Interface | SuperSpeed USB 3.0/2.0 | SuperSpeed USB 3.2/3.0/2.0 | SuperSpeed USB 3.2/3.0/2.0 | SuperSpeed USB 3.0/2.0 |
| Compatibility | Windows; Mac w/Reformat | Windows; Mac w/Reformat | Windows; Mac w/Reformat | Windows; Mac w/Reformat |
| Hardware Encryption | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Password Protection | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
Will this drive WD Elements Desktop work with my Xbox or PS4? What about my Mac or PC?
Yes, however, it’s best suited for PC or Mac. For the best gaming experience, we recommend the WD_BLACK D50, which is designed for optimal compatibility with Xbox/PS5/PS4.
I’m not computer savvy, is the set-up easy?
Setup is simple! Plug the drive into a USB Type-A 3.0 or 2.0 port using the included USB Type-A cable and open your device’s file manager, such as File Explorer or Finder.
Do you need a battery for the drive to work?
The Elements Desktop drive is powered with the included AC adapter. There is no battery or battery replacement to worry about.
What needs to be done to format this device for mac?
To easily reformat to Mac, plug in the drive, open your Mac’s Disk Utility application, and follow the steps from there. Please note, this will erase any data on the drive.
| Weight: | 870 g |
| Dimensions: | 13.5 x 4.8 x 16.58 cm; 870 Grams |
| Brand: | Western Digital |
| Model: | WDBWLG0120HBK-EESN |
| Colour: | Black |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Western Digital |
| Dimensions: | 13.5 x 4.8 x 16.58 cm; 870 Grams |
compact uni
Looks great and compact, considering its a hard drive loads fast and works well a little noice but to be expected from a hard drive, as its not a ssd as we are now getting used to but for the money im happy 16tb
Won't buy any other drives.
I now have 10 of these WD Elements desktop external drives the oldest of which are more than 10 years old and I’ve never had one fail yet. Plug and play simplicity. I won’t buy any other brand.
Cost effective backup drive
Being used as a backup drive for desktop Windows PC. When bought was just less than 19/TB which seems quite cost effective. Provided with USB cable and an assemble-yourself plug which included UK option.
White LED on front indicates power – flashes when drive is accessed. Haven’t checked speed because I use it for occasional bulk backups which take hours whatever drive I use. Case is very dark grey rather than black.
Good USB hard drive
I am using two of these in windows storage spaces as a large reliable hard drive. Have used continuously for six months in this configuration and have not lost any data. I’m a bit cautious about having so much data on a single hard drive though. That’s why I preferer a kind of software raid zero setup in Windows which has never given me any problems yet and each drive in the pair is holding up to constant use, so far.
Great value for the money.
Fast, quiet, large capacity… everything I need in an external drive for my backups.
Quality
Plenty of space to store all my media files. Also small and compact.
Effective device for use as a Time Machine store on Mac
I have a late 2014 iMac which I will upgrade later this year (2023). I needed a reliable, fast, good value external drive to use for back up and to make conversion to the new machine simple. This WD hard drive met the requirement well.
a good reliable hard drive
very pleased with this, while not the cheapest, I`ve had this a while now with no problems. a good reliable product.
Media source.
Great little gizmo, plays videos,music and anything else I store on it.
Compact external backup storage.
Bought this to backup my entire pc with Macrium Reflect,and for this it works fine.Storage size out of the box is 10.9TB.
Has been working reliably for 3 years now being used daily
Has been working reliably for 3 years now being used daily. All other external drives have failed after a very short time, so I highly recommend this product.
WD is a very good brand
Its only a few weeks old so I can’t say too much but as a Ex.HDD it does the job I’ve had several Seagate HDD and too many of them have died that I have lost confidence inn that brand I know WD is a very good brand
Annoying heartbeat due to PWL
Like other reviewers, I too have the irritating heartbeat access every few seconds. It is apparently “Preemptive wear leveling” (PWL) and perfectly normal. And perfectly irritating!
The only solution is to dismount the drive when you are not using it. Which is fine for someone like me who uses the drive for Near Line Storage (ie. backups) but obviously no good for someone who needs to keep it connected all the time.
Other than that the drive has been utterly reliable and good value for money.
Great value for money
It’s a 14TB hard drive, what more is there to say. Only annoying thing it insists on wanting you to install software to use. I just reformatted it and it works just fine.
Good Value for Server Usage
I have been using the 20TB WD hard drive in my Unraid server for several months and it has been a reliable and efficient storage solution. The drive runs cool and quietly, which is a key factor for me.
One additional benefit of this drive is that it is easy to shuck, which allowed me to use it in my server without any issues. I have not experienced any heat issues with this drive, even during extended use. Additionally, the lack of noise is a significant benefit in my setup, as it allows for a quieter computing environment.
Overall, I would highly recommend the 20TB WD hard drive to anyone in need of a high-capacity storage solution. Its reliability, ease of shucking, cool operation, and low noise level make it an ideal choice for those seeking a dependable and efficient storage option.
A must to back up your files
Having had my regular cloud storage go bust and unable to find a cheaper option I come across this fab external harddrive.
I’m a crafter so I have thousands of craft files etc that I need to save. This has been just what I needed.
I was able to also use Amazon’s free pay monthly which made buying much easier.
Easy to use I would highly recommend to anyone.
Used to backup a NAS before reformatting and setting up
WD drives have been monotonously reliable for me over the years. bought this t take a full back of a 16TB NAS before wiping and reinstalling. it just plugs in, works and we transferred all the data there and back. took a while, but it is a lot of data.
the drive does not move from the desk, so portability is not an issue, and having never had to contact their tech support (stuff just works!) I cant rate that either!
Works grea
I have a couple of these and they work fine. They are what they are. I use with a Mac and you just plug in, format and off you go. I don’t use the software it comes with, format through your computers system tools for formatting. It’s sort of portable, certainly doesn’t fit in your pocket, but I would say it is for a desktop use not to put in a rucksack or bag to use at work / college etc. Good product.
Had 3 months
Had it 3 months and no problems. I got loads of photos/videos from my phone to laptop. I then dragged onto this external hard drive. It’s not the quickest coming on when plugged in but find it reliable due to having to return a different manufacturer. So far good.
W D 6tb desk top memory storage
Brilliant easy to use quality external memory bank.plugs in using a USB cable.
Great produc
I like Western Digital products they have never let me dow
All my archive photos on one drive
I have about 12 Tb of RAW photo files dating back to 2005. My Lightroom catalogue can access all of them quickly from this drive connected to a USB 3 port on my desktop. Obviously I have backup drives as well, only connected briefly once a week or so. This ensures my photos are safe from hard drive failures and ransomware attacks.
Careful if using to backup small files
Works great, no problems except when I decided to move a few backups from an older 2TB drive. The small files take significantly more space on this drive overall due to the large block size (1.6 TB on old drive became almost 3 on this drive). Go with a smaller drive for backups and use this one for media.
Solid and reliable back up hard disc
I am a photographer using mirrored external hard drives to store my back catalogue. A pair of these are looking after my personal pics. Very happy so far (8 months use)
Easy to use
There are cheaper USB drives of this capacity, but I prefer the solid feel of these.
Installation is a doddle. Power it up, plug it into laptop.couldnt be any simple
Massive hard-drive, but quiet noisy
I had a fault with my NAS and needed a large amount of data backing up. This was the cheapest (per TB) option for backing up. It works well, not the fastest external USB drive i’ve had, but I suppose that’s a drawback of a huge single drive. It’s also quite noisy & clunky in operation, much noiser than all my other external drives (1-8TB). Not a massive drawback and can (have to!) live with it while rebuilding my NAS.
The drive is almost silent when it is switched on. PC startup takes longer because the hdd self-test is also long. (5-10s more than usualy) It is especially noisy when booting, but the device is designed for 24/7 use, which is normal (it is not designed for constant booting). It is indeed louder than usual when reading or writing, but based on my personal experience, the speed goes hand in hand with an increase in noise. I was worried based on what was written before me, but I recommend the hdd to everyone as a second drive for data storage in a desktop PC. The constant 5 second click is not disturbing (usual) and after 20 minutes the hdd stops. I have attached some speed tests. Highly recommended for purchase. Desktop PC can only be used with a sata-molex connector.
Huge capacity, fast for an external hdd.
20tb should keep my DSLR in storage for a while. The transfer rate is very fast by hdd standards. It slowed my boot time significantly so I wouldn’t use it as a permanent connection if your boot drive is NVME and win 11. Can be a bit noisy on my desk but I guess that’s the nature of disk drives.
Short of building a NAS rack, the best digital storage solution for data hoarders like me
It’s a 20tb external HDD and does exactly what is says on the tin. The design is robust, it’s a trusted and reliable brand. And it’s twenty terabytes. Sure, you could probably build yourself something bigger, and format it just the way you like.
But that’s effort, and takes knowledge and skill. I’m lazy and needed space.
Satisfied customer.
External hard drive. It’s the gamble you take. Bought on today deals offe
Always been a SEAGATE fan but this was on a todays special deal and my mac was slowly getting slower and needed a diet of data to be stored externally
It’s the gamble you take with any make or hard drive
Does the job for me
Seems quiet enough and hope its reliable . But took out the insurance too. As an addition safeguard If it ever wobbles
On Steam and my PC in general I have so much to store, this HDD was perfect for it. It’s best installed inside the PC, where it connects straight off the motherboard for a much faster connection, but you will need a Molex to SATA Power Cable, LP4 Molex 4 Pin to 2 Head SATA 15 Pin Power Splitter Cable in order to do this.
If you want to use it in all its case and glory, just remember to keep it upright and don’t move it when it’s on, as it’s an HDD in the end and needs to be still. I lost only 2TB due to the disk having to take some.
Overall 9/10 would buy again, just remember this is a long investment, it’s better than buying the odd 1tb now and again, this is very unlikely to let you down.
Decent capacity for a good price. I have 3 WD ext HD’ of varying capacities going back over 5 years. All of them have lasted so far and not failed. I tried previous brands of hard drives prior to this and when the 1st 2 failed I opened them up them to find they had seagate drives. 3 external seagate ext HD failed as well as 3 internal seagate drives (in both my nas and tower comp). I do have a seagate backup plus which thus far has lasted years in a multitude of conditions. I switched to WD and have not had a problem with a single one of their drives yet. Transfer speed is good.
I did read a long time ago WD MAY encrypt the hard drive, so if the drives fail and you want to access the info by removing it and connecting to a PC (sata or USB dock) you may not able to do so. I do not know if this is the case but it remains in my mind.
The Amazon web page says it’s suitable for Windows 10+ computers. The leaflet with the disk says MacOS only.
In fact the whole drive is formatted as NTFS, which both Windows and Mac can work with. I don’t run either of those OSes; I formatted the drive with the Linux ext4 file system and it seems fine with that.
I tried the Report-wrong-information link on the Amazon site, but nothing happened, even after I’d disabled Ublock Origin temporarily.
I wanted a stand alone hard drive to back up my photos and was therefore looking for a large capacity. This is doing the job perfectly as I keep my RAW photos on it while I edit them before saving to JPEG.
While it is easy to set up and basically plug and play I have noticed that since it was set up if I switch the PC off at the mains (I have to do this when I go away as my PC switches on by itself if left plugged in and closed down) and when I switch on the PC again the system freezes and does not boot up. I have to switch it off and on again and then it works fine. Not sure why this is but it only ever happened after I connected the drive. Strange!!
I have 8 of these in various capacities from 10TB to 16TB. I use the drives mainly to back up FCPX Event archives and related video production content.
I format to a Mac format, plug in and go. The drives are fast enough to do simple FCPX edits on as occasionally I have to go back to and old FCPX event and amend and re-output a project without having to copy back over to my fast edit drive. Wouldn’t do a heavy 4K project on the drive though.
I have had issues with the build quality of other major brands but now pretty much in the Western Digital camp for archive. Also use WD potable drives on a daily basis too.
6TB
have been using for few months now and no issues with anything
works perfectly and gives a good look on the desktop
keep in mind you need a power outlet to power hard drive
Shame the WD software does not support the product!
Good back up solution used with my existing Macrium software. Without that I would be relying on a dropbox sub as the wd softawre does not support this range. Not quite sure how that would work but spoils what is otherwise an excellent produc
Great solution if you need storage
Capacity and transfer speed are great but it comes with wall charger/adapter so it’s not easily portable. I’ve got it on sale and I am very happy that I finally have enough storage for everything I need.
Bit loud
I read somewhere these are server disks and I didn’t think anything of it, but servers exist in cooled rooms with other servers, not in living rooms… It is quite loud (in terms of clicking, but most annoyingly mechanical whine)
Great hard drive
Brilliant hard drive from western digital, I’ve already got one of these and it’s that good I ordered another 10tb one as I’m running out of space on the one I have already. I use them on my nas storage device and they work really well with that. Really fast at accessing files for streaming across the network on multiple devices. I use them to store video files mainly, so need a quite a bit of space to store them. Would highly recommend these hard drives especially if your looking to expand the storage on nas devices.
Mega capacity with USB3 connectivity
I have a couple of these WD drives and use them for backups. They are reliable, robust and.offer the basic functionality we all need now we have thousands of pictures and files at our fingertips. They are not the quickest drives in the world however for their price point and the convenience that they offer it is hard to find a reasonable and affordable substitute.
At approximately 20 per terabyte they are ultra affordable. They are not networkable, and are USB only. That in itself feels more secure in these days of vulnerabilities galore
A little noisey, a tad slow but plenty of space and opportunity!
The 18TB drive is absolutely fantastically priced for its size!
The drive is a little noisey as it awakens from its slumber, it’s also a relatively slow drive and doesn’t try to hide that.
However it’s space and value far exceed the perceived downsides of the speed and noise of the drive as you won’t be using this daily of you are using it in its USB form factor.
However when you crack it open, that’s when this drive really comes alive. Inside the slow plastic USB shell lies a 7200rpm WDC WD180EDGZ which when connected directly to an array or PC is silent and really rather impressive performance.
If used as a USB drive Its sheer size alone will allow you and the entire family to back up all of your important data such as photos, videos documents safely in one east to access place.
If you are cracking this open and putting inside a sinology, raid array or simply a PC the 7200rpm WDC WD180EDGZ really does hold its own against smaller drives, theoretically faster drives.
Overall this is a reliable, great value drive that is designed for backup and storage (not for high speed gaming or searching) and If you understand that going in you won’t be disappointed!
These are also the same drives that the extremely handsome “Richard” form Digital Foundry purchased and recommended during the Black Friday sales (2021) and we all know that recommendations don’t come much higher or more prestigious than that.
A fantastic purchase!
Love it...
Great drive for storing media on, no idea how long it will last, but I tend to replace them every couple of years and treat the last ‘one’ as a backup. Performs as expected, includes a sleep mode as well unlike my last drive.
Inside contained a white label 18TB WD180EDGZ similar to the 18TB WD Ultrastar DC HC550
I purchased this during the 2021 Black Friday deals and was a steal. Shucked the drive (can void warranty) and found a nice 18TB WD180EDGZ which is similar to the 18TB WD Ultrastar DC HC550 in terms of performance. The external drive untouched comes with a 2 year warranty.
Pros
Good Average Speed: 221.62 MB/sec
Good Write Speed: 222.31 MB/sec
Fairly Quiet for Single Threads
Cons
Loud on startup
Runs hot in enclosure (plastic is warm to hot)
Expensive on a normal day (I paid 269 2021 Nov Black Friday)
Great value storage option!
Does exactly what it needs to, and does it well. Requires external power (all cables are included of course), provides 12 Terabytes of extra storage space via USB3. Access speeds are great (writing at over 150MB/s right now) and WD have great after sales support. Highly recommended, great value storage option.
Black Friday bargain!
I make videos, so storage is really important. I use this to backup my pc’s 10TB hard drive. Being portable makes it easy and relatively secure
I use both WD and Seagate high capacity drives, and at the black Friday price of 260 it was a no brainer bargain. Its both fast (7200) and considering the size it’s fairly quiet.
Great hard drive for home use
This hard drive it’s great for home use. I’m working from a SSD drive and when I finish work I send everything to the 12 TB drive.
The speed of transfer is very good for what I’m using it for.
The quality of the product so far seems great. Not to noisy but I never really use it for hrs.
If you work from it and keep it on for hrs you would probably notice it.
It has an On and Off button that is really helpful.
It comes as well with USB A connection cable. I use USB C so I had to buy a separate cable but all good.
Very happy with the purchase
Quiet in operation and a reasonable price.
Purchased for holding long-term backups from two computers. The external drive is almost noiseless in action and reasonably fast for a USB connection – although this is also affected by the software being used.
Unfortunately, the most important property has yet to reveal itself and that is – RELIABILITY. For this you will have to wait 3 or 4 years and by that time it may not even be available.
4/5 ain't bad
It’s a bit of a chonker and you can definitely hear it in a quiet room at night.
All that said it is very fast in terms of read/write speeds and while it is bigger than my last HDD, it isn’t that big that it doesn’t fit snuggly into to where I want it and with enough padding you can almost deaden the noise completely, it’s not an SSD after all so some is expected.
Seem to stay cool and has good heat dissipation, which is better than my last external HDD
It’s also detected and functions quicker than my last HDD on windows.
Fantastic value for money
Fast and well built , I don’t know how Western digital are able to get it down to this price. The harddrive alone is more than what I brought this for. I use it for off loading my video editing projects and the transfer rates are good. I have even installed a few games on it and they run fine.
Brilliant piece of ki
Flippin' soooooooo-perb!
Flippin’ soooooooo-perb!
That’s all. I can think of nothing to add to that, and nothing to take away. Other than a few “o’s”.
Oh! Wait! It’s insanely fast! There is that, too :o)
Finally a decent amount of storage that won't break the bank
So I bought this to back up a dell r720. It’s 18TB, but under windows thats about 16.3Tb useable (give or take) so know this going into the purchase. It connects quickly and once spinning it’s quiet. Occassionally you do hear some noise as the heads start to turn, but it’s not obnoxious, and I’m happy to live with it. It will go into the side of my Nvidia shield as media storage.
I have a corsair power supply, so if I want to shuck this, i will need to cut the sata cable or use tape to cover one of the pins. Those interesting in shucking and want to learn more need to do a web search for PWDIS / pin 3. i haven’t shucked this at the moment, and have no immediate plans to, but friends have done it successfully.
Overall am pleased with it and would buy again.
Good produc
Not the quickest hard drive, but the capacity more than makes up for it. I use it for watching movies, works great.
Wait until the price drops below 16 tb for a good deal.
Seems to work fine as backup storage device
It’s a fairly chunky drive but has rubber feet allowing it to sit upright which makes for a fairly small desktop footprint. I currently leave it switched on all the while and it is quiet most of the time, just making a low whirring noise when it comes to life which is not very intrusive. I mainly use it for keeping manual backups of large numbers of stored image files from my PC’s internal drives, and it seems to have faultlessly copies all files so far. However I cannot comment on how well it works with automatic backup software as I don’t use any.
Does exactly what is on the ti
I got this to back up all my files and pictures as my computer is on it’s way out. Very easy to set up and use, transfer rate is good enough for my requirements. Not noisy, very pleased with product.
Great drive - silent and lots of storage - what is not to like!
This is a Western Digital and a brand I will always go after; well before choosing a Seagate product, as I have had too many bad experiences; both at work and at home with their products and dreadful customer service.
Decent hard drive
I got this for 80, unfortunately like lots of things prices have gone up a lot this year so not sure I want it for 115, it’s a decent drive and runs quickly and quietly
18TB external drive... What's not to like
Having had Seagate external drives fail on me in the past, I wanted to have an external drive of extremely large capacity as I had a number of PCs to clone for backup purposes.
After Amazon’s previous blunder of sending me a 10TB model for the price of an 18TB model (subsequently returning the wrong model and waiting nearly 2 weeks for my refund), the price had dropped by nearly 60, so when I re-ordered, I got a better deal.
I have never had any issues with Western Digital devices failing. My 6TB drive which I’ve owned for about 3 years now is still in perfect health, so I trust this brand more than Seagate.
I’m a film maker and bought 3 of these to double back up our footage…these are my go to drives for security and peace of mind. Power cable is around 2 mtr which is cool too.
Good storage uni
I already use a 4tb one of these for storage on one pc and has been good for a couple of years. I bought the 6tb for my pc to transfer a failing 4tb drive and to use for windows/pc backups. Working ok, good value and not too slow speeds either. Took me 4 hours to transfer 2.7TB of data onto this so not too bad at all. Just hope it lasts and doesn’t fail.
Working well with my Mac
Partitioned it for a few things and it’s working fine. Timemachine working with one partition and general other areas are all fine. It’s not very quiet though, and needs to be on some sort of cushioning if its on a table. Had to buy a USB 3.0 to USB-C cable for my Mac but that was cheap enough and works perfectly well. I can’t tell you if its fast or full 4 TB as I don’t really care about that, I had loads of space for my needs and it gets things done.
Will prove useful for a long time to come, only thing I was not happy to receive a charger which did not fit it and ended up using the one from my previous drive. Apart from that it’s grea
The drive performance is excellent. I’m getting a couple hundred mbps read and write over USB 3.0. I use the drive to back up my ZFS formatted server, which means I have it formatted with ZFS too. It’s been working great all this time. Neat that it spins down when USB is disconnected or if there is no activity for a while.
Bought 2 of 14tb drives 1 year ago purely for back up, they’re still going, not the fastest for everyday use what with them being 5400 rpm, but perfect for back up.
It’s a bit annoying the way Amazon lump all of the different drive sizes together since I was not able to leave a review for the 18tb drive because trying to leave a review for the 18tb drive that I’d just bought brings me to this one despite the fact that they are very different products.
I can confirm that the 18tb drive is a 7200rpm drive and much faster, for those wanting to shuck a 18tb drive you’ll find a WD180EDGZ inside, hope this edit was useful.
Capacity which was unimaginable in the 90s
Incredible capacity with some caveats. The hard drive speeds could be better, functional with Apple / Windows but not quite on point. No functional Apple compatible software to manage sleep options and a little noisy. All that been said incredible capacity for the price back in the day we never believed anything like this as a 5 1/4 floppy was massive so awesome for the money.
Very easy to setup and worked straight out the box. Used as a backup source for a Synology NAS so portability not a concern as the WD Elements is not the most compact product and utilises a separate PSU (not USB powered). Been working perfectly for daily backup and no compatibility issues with the NAS.