WD My Book VelociRaptor Duo Thunderbolt Enclosure replacement drives

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Level 1

8 points

WD My Book VelociRaptor Duo Thunderbolt Enclosure replacement drives

Not really sure where to put this as it isn't entirely Mac specific but there is a lot of experienced and helpful people here so.....

I am considering purchasing a WD 2TB My Book VelociRaptor Duo Thunderbolt Desktop Hard Drive (WDBUWZ0020JBK-NESN) which will serve me well for the immediate future. However my question comes with regard to replacing these drives, within the enclosure, at a later date. I understand the Velociraptor drives are actually 2.5" drives in a 3.5" cooling frame/ice pack. If I'm not mistaken, the Velociraptor drives use "regular" SATA interfaces so the question I have is:

Are the 1TB Velociraptor drives (with the ice pack) exactly the same form factor as "regular" 3.5" drives and thus ENTIRELY interchangeable? i.e. Mounting holes, cable connections, height, etc.

Thank you for any guidance.

Posted on Nov 22, 2014 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Nov 22, 2014 10:00 AM in response to RiverdaleMAC

From Amazon:

User-serviceable - Want to replace a drive? Simply open the case and exchange the existing drive. If you fill up a drive, you can simply remove it and replace it with a fresh drive and begin saving even more of your creative life.

Q It states that the drives can be replaced. Do the replacement drives have to be VelociRaptors or can they be any 3.5" internal hard drive?

A: I believe they can be any drive as they are extremely easy to replace. Just looking at the drives they are standard 3.5 internal drives.

I have seen this mentioned before, being used for scratch.

I have also seen people use 2 x 1TB SSD Samsung 840 EVO (2 x $440) though not in this case (would be interesting though!)

And you might get the same level of performance from 2 x 4TB drives.

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Answer 2

Nov 22, 2014 10:17 AM in response to RiverdaleMAC

Are the 1TB Velociraptor drives (with the ice pack) exactly the same form factor as "regular" 3.5" drives and thus ENTIRELY interchangeable? i.e. Mounting holes, cable connections, height, etc.

YES. I use those 1TB velociraptors in my Server. They fit fine on a Mac Pro sled with mounting holes in standard positions and standard-depth screws. Nothing special is needed. 10,000 RPM gives a modest boost over "regular" 7200 RPM drives. They are quiet and well-behaved.

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Answer 3

shywel

Level 1

4 points

Jan 5, 2015 11:43 PM in response to RiverdaleMAC

Hi RiverdaleMAC,

If you bought the unit. Did You try with 4TB hdd?

Thanks!

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Answer 4

ubermick

Level 1

0 points

May 16, 2015 10:25 AM in response to RiverdaleMAC

Yep, interested in whether or not you managed to swap the drives out too. This drive looks like an ideal mate for my shiny new Mac Pro, but can see myself growing out of 2tb fairly quickly, so when that eventually happens, would look to plop some 4tb hybrid drives in there.

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