Customer reviews from Western Digital
Western Digital - WD 5TB Elements Portable Storage USB 3.0 Model WDBU6Y0050BBK-WESN - Black
Average customer rating
4.3 out of 5
4.3
(39 Reviews)
Open Ratings Snapshot
Rating breakdown 39 reviews
5 Stars
28
4 Stars
5
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
2
1 Star
4
50%of customers recommend this product. 
(
3 out of 6
)
Best Buy Privacy Policy
Customer Reviews for Western Digital - WD 5TB Elements Portable Storage USB 3.0 Model WDBU6Y0050BBK-WESN - Black
Customer Rating
2 out of 5
2
Wish it didn't break
on November 2, 2021
Posted by: CylikeSigh
I love the out-of-the-box functionality of WD drives. Unfortunately, their quality leaves a lot to be desired. This is the 3rd drive I've purchased that has stopped functioning less than a year into owning it; and YES, I've tried all the troubleshooting steps. I won't be buying another WD drive.
Response from Western DigitalBy SM OLS TeamNovember 3, 2021
Hello,

We are sorry to hear about your user experience with WD Elements Portable and appreciate your time providing this review and bringing this matter to our attention.

We request you give us a call so that we can gather more information to isolate the issue and provide an appropriate resolution. We'd be happy to help.

All our products must pass our stringent quality standards before leaving our factory to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship. We stand behind our products throughout the device's factory warranty period. Please contact us via the phone with reference to the review to ensure an overall good experience with Western Digital.

Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
2 out of 5
2
SMR, very slow transfer speeds
on October 6, 2021
Posted by: RedSoxFan
SMR drive: writing speeds get dramatically slow - with NTFS defrag takes few days (!) I'm using it to backup my NAS to it so the speed is not much of an issue but for the average user it will be a bummer. Cannot recommend.
Response from Western DigitalBy SM OLS TeamOctober 15, 2021
Hello,

We're sorry to hear about your user experience with the WD Elements Portable and appreciate your time for providing this review.

We were unable to locate you in our system with the information provided in the review. We want an opportunity to make this right and assist you directly to get your concern addressed by our next level of support.

All our products must pass our stringent quality standards before leaving our factory to be free from defects in materials and craftsmanship. We stand behind our products throughout the device's factory warranty period. Please contact us via the phone with reference to the review to ensure an overall good experience with Western Digital.

Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Very Nice Portable Drive
on September 22, 2021
Posted by: AZAggie
Verified Purchase:Yes
This drive is a good size drive for larger files. The write speed is decent and it seems to run much quieter than my last drive.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Used for SAN Back-ups
on August 6, 2021
Posted by: D Cool
Verified Purchase:Yes
Purchased for the purpose of back-up data on my personal SAN and it worked perfectly. Plugged it right in and it just worked with no configuration or mishaps.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Good, fast and portable drives.
on July 28, 2021
Posted by: BECustomer
Great drives that are light, portable and deliver fast speeds.
I've just bought a second one for backups!
I am a happy WD product user. The quality is good and these drives look & feel modern.
These drives are very portable due to their small size.
Thanks to USB 3.0 you don't need an external power supply as they can operate from just a single cable. On the older USB 2.0 you will not get the speed benefits of USB 3.0 but when connected to USB 3.0 they can transfer data fast.
The USB cable length is perfect. Not too lengthy which would get in the way and not too short making it difficult to connect. It's about 30cm (1 ft) I believe.
They are decently priced as well. Prices have risen recently but I've bought the 5TB version at a reasonable price still.
These drives are Plug & Play (at least on Windows machines). Just connect the drive and start using it.
I highly recommend connecting your drive to a USB port either directly on the motherboard (back of computer) or from your PC case (front/top panel).
I connected one of these drives to a USB hub and the drive started making a scary clicking noise.
Turns out my USB hub is dodgy and doesn't always provide the correct power! So be careful using USB hubs for data transfer.
AFAIK, the 5TB drive is not an SSD (where the others are I believe) but a HDD which makes it a bit more vulnerable. You can hear/feel the spinning drive inside the case. It's not loud though.
Something to keep in mind.
In 2011 I experienced severe data loss, using 1.5TB hard drives from another brand. Since then I switched to WD and have never looked back!
I own many internal and external WD drives and haven't had one fail on me yet. This tells me WD drives are good quality and reliable.
Nonetheless, drives can (and ultimately will) fail so always make sure you have a backup of your data. I keep 1:1 exact data copies/clones (and even that is technically not safe enough).
These drives are great for that purpose.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Perfect!
on July 23, 2021
Posted by: LMER72
Verified Purchase:Yes
Very happy with my purchase. A little confusion when hooking it up to my Mac but I figured it out and now everything works great!!!
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
5 out of 5
5
Tablo hard drive storage
on July 7, 2021
Posted by: Boise Tablo
Verified Purchase:Yes
Works great with Tablo ota dvr. Just plug and play.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Very good product - needs an upgrade
on July 7, 2021
Posted by: Pfiver
In my experience, th eWC Elements disks are highly reliable and offer good bang for the buck.
It is high time that they are upgraded to a USB-C standard connector. That funny micro-c-plus thing is so last century.
Written by a customer while visiting Western Digital
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