Question 1

Is this a good choice for photo backup?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the WD Elements 16TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive is highly praised for its large storage capacity, making it suitable for extensive backup needs, including photos.

Question 2

do i need to reformat to get the full 16T to use with a qnap nas?  drive is only reading 14.5T.

Accepted Answer

Reformatting will do nothing. Advertisers report capacity assuming that a kilobyte is 1000 bytes. The capacity report in your OS considers a kilobyte to be 1024 bytes. So in fact both numbers apply to exactly the same disk capacity.

Question 3

Can the Storage capacity be upgraded? Or increased?

Accepted Answer

Hello,
No, as far as I know the external hard drives are fixed and cannot be upgraded. The controller board inside the drive is made to work with the magnetic platter to whatever storage size it was designed for. Kind of like shoes, you buy size 10 but if they are too small or too large then you have to go back and buy the right size because they can't be enlarged or shrunk.
mgp

Question 4

WHAT IS THE WARRANTY

Accepted Answer

The product information does not specify the warranty details for the WD Elements 16TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive.

Question 5

Can this be used with Mac OS?

Accepted Answer

The WD Elements desktop hard disk drive is formatted for Windows 10+ and can be reformatted for Mac.

Question 6

Can this hard drive be used with Time Machine on Mac OS?

Accepted Answer

The WD Elements desktop hard disk drive can be reformatted for MacOS.

Question 7

how fast is this

Accepted Answer

When connected to a USB 3.0 port, the WD Elements desktop hard disk drive delivers fast data transfer rates.

Question 8

how does it get it's power?

Accepted Answer

The product comes with an AC adapter for power.

Question 9

what's the reliability data on this unit?

Accepted Answer

I have yet to use it for its intended purpose, that of backing up my Synology NAS. I have  three 16 TB WD NAS drives that have been running continuously for three years without any problems, if that is any help. I have never had a hard drive fail in my 30 years of building and running all the ancillary devices.

Question 10

I'm not a gamer, but have lots of photo's, word documents, and excel documents.  What size is recommended for my purposes?

Accepted Answer

The WD Elements 16TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive offers high capacity, making it ideal for storing large amounts of photos, documents, and files.

Questions & Answers