Question 1

Can someone please confirm if this definitely is the 7200rpm model. Someone said it was but didn't confirm how they knew

Accepted Answer

This is what I wanted to know after I purchased it. I contacted WD support, who said they didn't know as different drives go in the same chassis. As all these drives have very unique serial/model numbers I couldn't believe that, so pressed the issue. They more or less said, in the end, that it was a 5600rpm drive. I don't believe there is a 7200rpm that goes into this enclosure. When PC Advisor tested one of these, they concluded from their benchmarks that it probably had a WD Green model see their website for specs. This a very reliable drive and good value. As USB3 is much slower than an internal SATA3 connection you are probably not going to get much better transfer speeds even if a 7200rpm drive were fitted. I have two of these one is already 3 years old and never have a problem as I did with Seagate externals which fail on a regular basis, in my experienceThis drive is perfect for backups and as it's obviously not a boot drive so the spindle speed isn't that crucial, it's good value tooEDIT **After checking again on WD site, the actual spindle speed is apparently not constant and is not quoted at all for the WD Green drive, it uses what they call "IntelliPower"  This varies spin speed, transfer rate and uses caching algorithms for a balance between power savings and good performance. PC Mags that have tested it rate it as similar in speed to other 5600rpm drives though***

Question 2

Can this drive be used horizontally?

Accepted Answer

These answers already given seem to be for both 3.5" and 2.5". The 2.5" is designed to be used horizontally and has feet on one side. It works just as well used vertically. The 3.5" drives are designed to be used vertically like a paper back book on a shelf. When upright they have rubber feet on the bottom and slats for air to enter. The top has similar slats and as the drive warms up the heat rises and out of the top slats causing cooler air to enter into the bottom. Ignore the comments that convection doesn't happen as I've check mine and it does (he obviously slept through science classes).  The 3.5" drives work just as well on their sides but get a bit warm if worked hard proving the convection works well. Under stress I'd imagine they'd overheat either way. Brilliant drive.

Question 3

HI , can this be used permanently laid flat , or does it have to stand upright as in the picture please.

Accepted Answer

The 3.5" drives are designed to be used upright as the have slats on the botyom at top. As the drive warms up the heat rises out through the top slats drawing cooler air in through the bottom slats.  As said in other answers the drive itself works just as well in either orientation but get hotter when used horizontal which might reduce the service lise (drives inside quality PCs have fans to blow cool air over them.

Question 4

Can anyone tell me why, even formatted, its only showing as 5.45tb. that's 550gb missing?

Accepted Answer

Chris Bradley has it right. It isn't a technical issue at all it's a marketing one. Computer programmers use powers of 2  in stepping up, eg 1KB is 2^10 = 1024 Bytes, 1TB =1024 MB=2^30 Bytes =1,073,741,824 bytes The marketing people like to use the biggest number they can get away with so they call 1,000,000,000 bytes a GB. Shorts you about 7%. So a marketers 6TB comes down to 
 ~5.58 TB. Then there is a bit of space that is taken up by the filesystem's housekeeping, so it's not available for your data.

Brand	WD
Product Dimensions	16.58 x 13.5 x 4.8 cm; 870 g
Item model number	WDBWLG0120HBK-EESN
Manufacturer	Western Digital
Series	WD Elements Desktop
Colour	Black
Form Factor	3.5-inch
RAM Size	12 TB
Computer Memory Type	DIMM
Hard Drive Size	12 TB
Hard Disk Description	Mechanical Hard Disk
Hard Drive Interface	USB 2.0/3.0
Hard Disk Rotational Speed	5400 RPM
Power Source	Hand-operated
Hardware Platform	PC
Are Batteries Included	No
Item Weight	870 g
Guaranteed software updates until	unknown

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WD12 TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive - USB 3.0, Black

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