I've just tested the number on my BT landline and Vodafone mobile.
- The BT landline connects straight away.
- The Vodafone mobile has a voice-message warning that this call will be chargeable then it connects.
WD selling SMR drives as WD Reds
- Thread starter HungryHippos
- Start date
Yeah i can sort something, hopefully they reply to this support incident thing I've done online
Out of interest, what SMR-Type drive have you got?
A 6TB Red.
I had 4x3TB Reds in a Synology 918+, slowly been upgrading each 3TB to a 6TB when i had the spare change every few months.
The latest one i swapped out was dec 15th last year when i saw one go on same for £122, wondered why the SHR rebuild took a lot longer than normal.
Same here - I bought a 6TB WD Red in December for £122.99 - a WD60EFAX is what arrived.
- I was well chuffed when it arrived and I realised it was the 256MB cache model
- I was well p*ss*d four months later when I discovered it was an SMR-Type drive
(but it did explain some issues I was getting)
Last edited:
Updated WD blog:
WD Red for NAS – Now More Choices for Customers - https://blog.westerndigital.com/wd-red-nas-drives/
Same here - I bought a 6TB WD Red in December for £122.99 - a WD60EFAX is what arrived.
- I was well chuffed when it arrived and I realised it was the 256MB cache model
- I was well p*ss*d four months later when I discovered it was an SMR-Type drive
Haha exactly the same as me.
I wondered why the raid rebuild took so long compared to the previous ones.
Don't know about you but as a lifelong WD buyer, its put me off. The final 6TB i order will be a Seagate.
Out of interest, did anyone get an initially english speaking service when they called this support line to report their SMR drive? I had to use my extremely rusty german to ask the person if they spoke english and all of the IVR prompts were also in German so it took me about 5 goes through to translate them all haha.
I think WD caught a cold over the SMR issue as they assumed it didn't matter (probably a management decision)
Give them their due, they are now reacting positively due to the wave of opinion against them and are identifying which drives are SMR/CMR which allows people to make their own decision about which one they buy (that is if they understand SMR vs CMR).
The WD Red SMR drive drive I bought has been exchanged by WD to a WD Red Pro CMR drive at almost no cost to me whatsoever (phone calls were free from my landline and they provided a prepaid label to send the drive back - my only expense was my time and one sheet of printer paper for the label).
However, did I get a better drive? - I'm not sure, it's certainly does everything I want it to but it is much noisier as it is a 7200 RPM drive.
As to whether I would buy them again, I think the answer is yes - the most important thing for me is drive reliability and if a WD model was more reliable then Seagate (or the other way round), I would buy what I considered the safer option for the data stored on it.
I called 00 80055593733 from a BT landline in the UK, all prompts were in in English.
What phone/network did you use to call them?
I used my (english locale) SIP phone line but guess the VOIP routing must have screwed up whatever region detection that they use. No wonder the guy I spoke to was confused about why I wanted to speak to him in english, thankfully his command of english was significantly better than mine in german!
Soldato
- Joined
- 31 May 2009
- Posts
- 21,456
More choice my arse
More accountability now we've been caught more like.
Associate
- Joined
- 9 May 2009
- Posts
- 1,072
well i can not find anyone selling 6tb blues that are cmr so wheres the choise ?
Soldato
As a long time WD user and one who has 4x EFRX’s in his Qnap, I am not going anywhere near WD after this shambles - all trust has ended. I wonder how much of a jump in price the + series will be.
Just got a reply from them, and im definitely never giving this company my custom again.
"In this matter, as a point from the manufacturer of the internal hard drives, as far as WD is concerned, our EFAX drives are capable of running in NAS systems with no issues. However, please bear in mind, every NAS engineering is slightly different than one another, therefore since the compatibility is depending on the Host devices, you may contact your NAS manufacturer for your future inquiries regarding SMR technology drives."
They then linked a list of NAS which for some reason doesn't include the DS918+ i use, even though on Synologys own website it lists the drives as being incompatible.
Now theyre asking for proof of purchase and performance issues experianced etc.
"In this matter, as a point from the manufacturer of the internal hard drives, as far as WD is concerned, our EFAX drives are capable of running in NAS systems with no issues. However, please bear in mind, every NAS engineering is slightly different than one another, therefore since the compatibility is depending on the Host devices, you may contact your NAS manufacturer for your future inquiries regarding SMR technology drives."
They then linked a list of NAS which for some reason doesn't include the DS918+ i use, even though on Synologys own website it lists the drives as being incompatible.
Now theyre asking for proof of purchase and performance issues experianced etc.
Was that response via email or telephone?
Don't give up! - I had to go through three support requests (via telephone) and three RMA's with WD before they agreed to swap the drive.
Email.
I was a bit firmer when replying to it.
Just ordered a 6TB IronWolf thats coming thursday to swap for the WD SMR drive until i get my RMA back so im happy even if it takes months.
When i do eventually get it back it'll give me 4x6TB of non SMR drives in my 918+
I was a bit firmer when replying to it.
Just ordered a 6TB IronWolf thats coming thursday to swap for the WD SMR drive until i get my RMA back so im happy even if it takes months.
When i do eventually get it back it'll give me 4x6TB of non SMR drives in my 918+