[SOLVED] Buying WD Green 1 TB Used (header park question)

jeremy0118

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Feb 29, 2016
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15
18,615
Currenly i'm looking for 2 x 1 TB drives, used. Got a bargain deal on 2 pc's and don't want to invest much in new harddrives

Guy nearby is selling a WD Green 1 TB WD10EARS for $ 15
I'm just concerned about the header park stories that kills the drive early.
Kinda new to Crystaldiskinfo, would this header parking be shown as On Switch in Crystaldisk?
It has 1370 on switches and 7400 running hours, also no fysical damage, yet from 2013.

Safe buy? Will be used for storage only (SSD Main) I get that you should always make a backup i just want to make the PC's as reliable as i can for little money.
 
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Solution
It can actually be disabled via CrystalDiskInfo, although I've had inconsistent results doing it (sometimes it re-enables after a reboot). You can read full instructions in my post here:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/hdd-is-giving-me-problems-in-games.2909499/

Although that doesn't help you staunch the high number of parking cycles in the past before you acquired the drive. (You should be able to see the parking count in the SMART stats as load cycles.)

I've seen one report from a WD Blue owner saying my fix solved his problems, so I suspect all of WD's 5400 RPM drives are affected, including the 5400 RPM Blue drives.
I'm not sure if any of those stories about WD's head parking killing the drive early are substantiated. People speculated that would be a consequence. But you have to figure that the engineers at WD who designed the drive - who know better than random people on the Internet speculating - knew what they were doing when they added the "feature." They wouldn't have done it if they knew it would significantly impact drive longevity (although I suppose it's always possible Management overrode them and forced them to do it).

The head parking does cause other issues, particularly if you're using it as a system drive or for storing your game programs (causes stuttering of the screen and mouse pointer). But if you're only using it for storage, and move any data you use frequently to your SSD first, you should be fine. Just be sure not to put a pagefile on it. Worst case, what, you're out $10-$15?
 

jeremy0118

Distinguished
Feb 29, 2016
165
15
18,615
Thanks. I've heard that it wears out the plasticy park header and therefor causes early death. But there still seem to be plenty drives from 2012 and earlier going just fine.
Was wondering wether this parking thing would be shown in Crystaldiskinfo as regular On Switch, because i honestly still want to avoid one and will wait for a blue to pop up.
 
It can actually be disabled via CrystalDiskInfo, although I've had inconsistent results doing it (sometimes it re-enables after a reboot). You can read full instructions in my post here:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/hdd-is-giving-me-problems-in-games.2909499/

Although that doesn't help you staunch the high number of parking cycles in the past before you acquired the drive. (You should be able to see the parking count in the SMART stats as load cycles.)

I've seen one report from a WD Blue owner saying my fix solved his problems, so I suspect all of WD's 5400 RPM drives are affected, including the 5400 RPM Blue drives.
 
Solution

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