I recently bought a bunch of WD Elements 8TB drives so I can rip the drives out and use them in my home server. Doing this for large capacity drives is typically far cheaper than buying the drives alone. Due to the high capacities, these drives are typically NAS or Datacentre level drives, which for the cost is pretty crazy.
When you open up these enclosures, you’re met with a white-label drive, with an unfamiliar name. Nothing immediately suggests what this drive actually is in it’s retail form. My drives were a mix between WD80EMAZ and WD80EDAZ drives. In order to work out what they really were, I simply looked at the label and looked for the R/N number. For example, my WD80EMAZ drives have an R/N of US7SAL080, which a quick google for that alone directed me to the WD website, with a full blown 320 page technical manual for the Ultrastar DC HC 510 drive, which lists the 8TB US7SAL080 model.
For the record, my WD80EDAZ drives R/N is US7SAN8T0, which directed me to the 321 page specs document for the Ultrastar DC HC320
Those steps again:
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1. Shuck the drive
2. Locate the R/N number on the drive label (WD white labels have it next to the date of manufacture)
3. Google the R/N number
4. Find a specs document with the R/N number in it
5. Identify the drive, by the model within said specs document.