WD Elements Desktop Enclosure with WD30EZRX HDD

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for Windows
1

Hello!

I have a 1.5 TB WD Desktop Elements WDBAAU0015HBK-01 and the HDD failed, no warranty.
I saw that the Elements series also have a 3TB version and so i thought i can just replace the old 1,5 HDD with a 3TB HDD.
I have bought a new 3 TB WD30EZRX SATA drive and try to install it into the 1,5TB Elements Enclosure with the same controller.

Problem:
Windows only shows the 3TB HDD as 2,2TB (2000gig) drive, when it is connected by USB 2.0.

I read about the MBR problem and formated the drive as GPT, when Win7x64 asked.
-On a USB connection, only a 2000gig partition can be created. The OS does not recognize more then this size.
-When i connect the 3TB directly to the PC with SATA cable, then Windows7 detects the drive as 3TB, so i created a 3 TB partition (GPT, ~2700gig).
-When the drive is now connected again to the “oasis desktop 1607P” controller of the 1.5TB Elements Enclosure and the USB is connected to the PC, then the drive is shown with the full partition size (~2700gig).
-The external drive “seems” to be fully working.

My fear is now, that when i fill the external drive to 2000gigs, the drive/controller will start to overwrite the data on the start of the disc with the new files after this 2000gig barrier. (I read about it in a similar issue in another forum)

Question:

  1. Will it overwrite data on a certain state of load?
  2. Is the 1.5 WD Desktop Elements controller able to work with 3TB drives and supports it?
  3. Does the 3TB WDDE WDBAAU0030HBK use another controller-chip/PCB as the “old” 1.5 WDDE WDBAAU0015HBK, or is it the same?

I run the tool h2testw ( http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html) to check #1. It is currently running 5h and will run for the next 21h for the writing phase and another ~26h for the reading phase. o0

Any information or help will be very appreciated!

MfG

2

Hello mate,

Is not going to work, because the controller is only setup to see the original capacity of the enclosure is only setup to see the 1.5 or 2TB capacity. This is by design.

3

hmm… dont let me down, mate!

I had a sudden reboot of my PC tonight, and this broke the test!

Strange, because i had run my PC 24/7 for months before this test! … But i also have installed a new BOOT SSD now, so I dont knwo if this is the issue…

I test the 3TB HDD internal with the tool  and the drive is OK. i will restart the test tomorow on USB… i still have hope.

If someone could peek at the controller board of the Desktop Elements 3TB to confirm my suspects, that would be awesome.

Darn! if i had known this before, i just had bought the 3TB Desktop Elements…

EDIT:
Several sites promotes the same controller as 3TB compatible (see links below)

I know its vague description in there, but thats what i hope for.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WD-Mybook-Elements-control-board-PCBA-4061-705078-001-AF-AE-AA-Support-All-Rev-/140900055804?pt=US_Drive_Enclosures_Docks&hash=item20ce4c3afc

http://w.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=10425

4

Hello,

Maybe you can get a generic USB external enclosure