WD Thunderbolt Duo

[steve1960]

I have the 8TB version which (I have not actually checked) I believe has two 4TB Hitachi Deskstar 5K4000's inside.

Has anyone experimented with fitting different drives to the WD unit? I am interested to know how flexible the hardware and firmware is with different drives.

 

[JTToft]

I believe has two 4TB Hitachi Deskstar 5K4000's inside.

- Wouldn't it be a bit strange if WD didn't use their own drives? Or is it just me?

In any event, I don't think there should be any issues using other drives, since the unit is advertised as "user-servicable" for hard drive replacements.

 

[steve1960]

WD owns Hitachi or at least the storage part of the company

The firmware may limit the range of available drives which is why I asked if anyone has experience with other drives.

 

[JTToft]

WD owns Hitachi or at least the storage part of the company

- Right. I completely forgot about that.

 

[steve1960]

I think I answered my own question having opened up the Duo for the first time last night.

Internet reviews indicated Hitachi drives inside. The user guide I have says only use WD Caviar Green replacement drives and the drives actually inside are WD40EFRX Red!

So I guess there is some flexibility.

 

[Mago]

I have an WD Velociraptor Thunderbolt Duo, I switched the pair of 1Tb 10K rpm drives for a pair of 6TB WD Purple, no problems, and actually has better performance an requires less power too.

Also Ive used the unit to as "dock" for 2.5, 3.5" drives I keep arround with some data, no problems.

WD Purple drives are aimed at Surveillance DVRs, so have extra ram cache, and are designed to last longer on denser configurations, by an long shot better than the older 1TB Velociraptor HDD from the original unit.