Today, we're going to shuck a 12 TB Western Digital Elements external drive in real-time,
with the purpose of removing the internal 3.5" disk from its enclosure in a non-destructive
way. By doing so, you can use it as an internal hard drive in your PC, workstation, server,
or NAS device, and you can reuse the empty case in the future. We'll also look at the label to
find out the model number of the disk. In all of my previously published shucking tutorials,
I'd always edited the video in order to shorten it as much as possible without removing any
pertinent information. Unfortunately, that didn't give you a sense of how long it really took,
so this time I'm going to do something different - I'll show the shuck in real-time. Let's start
with the standard disclaimer that opening the case may void your warranty, depending on the laws of
your country. The tools I'll use are some nylon guitar picks, but you can use a spudger instead,
or even a cut-up expired credit card or gift card. I'll use a separate, used gift card
to pry the two halves of the enclosure apart. You'll also need a Phillips head screwdriver.
So let's begin. I won't edit anything out until I'm done, but I'll narrate over the video.
On your marks... get set... go! The first thing you'll want to do is take the guitar picks
and try to slide them into the seam in the back. You may need to wedge them in
at a slight angle. Feel for some resistance at the locations of the interlocking tabs that
keep the two halves of the case together, and keep the picks in those locations.
There are two on each side, with four locations in total.
Once you have the first one on one side wedged in, you can slip the next pick into the spacing
created by the first one. The case is already coming loose, so some of the picks may fall out.
What we'll want to do next is take the expired gift card, and wedge it into the curved section
of the case, as you can see here. If it doesn't work on one side, flip it over and try the other.
Twist the card, which causes the guitar picks to drop as the two halves of the case
come loose. You will then want to slide the two halves apart, which exposes the internal disk.
Remove this clear plastic rod, which simply acts as a light pipe, and slide it all the way out.
Then, you'll want to take the Phillips head screwdriver and use it to remove the screw
that secures the small triangular PCB adapter to the disk. Afterwards, you can set aside the
screw. Next, you'll want to pop the internal disk out, but the problem is that it's tightly held in
place by four corner rubber pieces. This may be the longest part of the procedure because of the
friction involved. Fortunately, the black plastic shell is pretty thin and flexible, and once you're
able to remove one of the corner pieces, the remaining corners should be easier to handle.
Remember: the purpose of this video is to show you how fast the drive CAN be removed, but feel free
to slow the video down or pause at any time if you're having any problems with any of the steps.
Finally, there's one last screw on the side of the disk that holds a bracket around the USB
port. Simply unfasten that screw, and then slide the PCB adapter out of the disk's SATA ports
by sliding it towards you. And DONE. It took me 2:14 to completely shuck the drive.
The internal disk is... a white label model WD120EMFZ. If you use it as an internal
disk for your computer, please note that there is the remote possibility that it won't spin up. The
cause is often a power supply that sends a 3.3v signal to shut down the disk. However, there is
an easy workaround - I've linked to one of my many hard drive-related videos that fixes the issue.
I hope you enjoyed - Thanks for watching!
you