WD Internal Hard Drive Data Recovery – Every Model Since 2010
Western Digital’s internal hard drives sit inside desktop PCs, laptops, iMacs, CCTV recorders and enterprise servers. Each family is built differently – from 7mm SMR laptop drives to 11-platter helium enterprise drives – and each fails in its own characteristic ways. Knowing exactly which model you have lets us source the right donor parts and firmware tools before we start.
Find your drive’s part number on its label (it begins with WD, WUH, WUS or HUS). The first digits after “WD” usually give the capacity: WD10 is 1TB, WD40 is 4TB, WD101 is 10TB and WD5000 is 500GB.
WD Internal Hard Drive Models, 2010 to Today
Can’t see your model? We recover every WD drive, including OEM and white-label models. Send us a photo of the label – regional suffixes such as -00 or -WESN don’t matter.
Select a range to see its models. Launch years are approximate – many models stayed on sale for several years.
WD Green (Caviar Green) – 2010 to 2015 9 entries
WD’s low-power desktop range, merged into WD Blue in 2015. Many of these drives are still running in old PCs, home servers and external enclosures, and they frequently hold data that was never backed up.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WD10EARS | 1TB | Advanced Format (4K sectors) |
| 2010 | WD15EARS | 1.5TB | |
| 2010 | WD20EARS | 2TB | Very common in early NAS and external drives |
| 2010 | WD30EZRS | 3TB | One of the first 3TB drives |
| 2011 | WD20EARX | 2TB | SATA 6Gb/s revision |
| 2011 | WD30EZRX | 3TB | |
| 2012 | WD10EZRX / WD20EZRX | 1TB / 2TB | |
| 2013 | WD40EZRX | 4TB | |
| 2014 | WD60EZRX | 6TB |
WD Blue – 3.5-inch desktop 11 entries
WD’s mainstream desktop drive. From 2015 the range absorbed WD Green; from around 2019 several capacities moved to SMR (shingled) recording.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WD5000AAKX / WD10EALX | 500GB / 1TB | Caviar Blue, 7200 rpm |
| 2013 | WD5000AZLX | 500GB | 7200 rpm, CMR |
| 2013 | WD10EZEX | 1TB | 7200 rpm, CMR – very common in pre-built PCs |
| 2015 | WD5000AZRZ / WD10EZRZ | 500GB / 1TB | 5400 rpm class (ex-Green) |
| 2015 | WD20EZRZ / WD30EZRZ | 2TB / 3TB | 5400 rpm class, CMR |
| 2015 | WD40EZRZ / WD60EZRZ | 4TB / 6TB | 5400 rpm class, CMR |
| 2019 | WD20EZAZ / WD30EZAZ | 2TB / 3TB | SMR |
| 2019 | WD40EZAZ / WD60EZAZ | 4TB / 6TB | SMR |
| 2020 | WD20EZBX | 2TB | 7200 rpm, CMR |
| 2020 | WD80EAZZ | 8TB | CMR |
| 2022–23 | WD40EZAX / WD80EAAZ | 4TB / 8TB | CMR, newer revisions |
WD Blue & Scorpio Blue – 2.5-inch laptop 9 entries
Found in laptops, all-in-ones, games consoles and external drives. The 7mm models use very small, lightly built heads and are easily damaged by a drop while running.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WD3200BPVT / WD5000BPVT / WD7500BPVT | 320GB–750GB | Scorpio Blue, 9.5mm |
| 2011 | WD10JPVT | 1TB | Scorpio Blue, 9.5mm |
| 2012 | WD5000LPVT | 500GB | 7mm |
| 2013 | WD5000LPVX / WD7500BPVX | 500GB / 750GB | 7mm / 9.5mm |
| 2013 | WD10JPVX | 1TB | 9.5mm |
| 2013 | WD20NPVX | 2TB | 15mm |
| 2014 | WD5000LPCX | 500GB | 7mm |
| 2016 | WD5000LPZX | 500GB | 7mm |
| 2016 | WD10SPZX / WD20SPZX | 1TB / 2TB | 7mm, SMR – common in laptops and PS4 upgrades |
WD Black (Caviar Black & Scorpio Black) 12 entries
WD’s performance drives for gaming PCs and workstations. Their high spindle speed makes clean head replacement in the cleanroom especially important.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WD1002FAEX / WD2002FAEX | 1TB / 2TB | Caviar Black, SATA 6Gb/s |
| 2010 | WD3200BEKT / WD5000BEKT | 320GB / 500GB | Scorpio Black 2.5-inch, 7200 rpm |
| 2011 | WD1502FAEX | 1.5TB | Caviar Black |
| 2011 | WD7500BPKT | 750GB | Scorpio Black 2.5-inch |
| 2013 | WD5003AZEX / WD1003FZEX | 500GB / 1TB | |
| 2013 | WD2003FZEX / WD4003FZEX | 2TB / 4TB | |
| 2013 | WD5000LPLX | 500GB | 2.5-inch, 7mm, 7200 rpm |
| 2013 | WD1001X06XDTL | 1TB + 120GB SSD | WD Black² dual drive |
| 2015 | WD4004FZWX / WD5001FZWX / WD6001FZWX | 4TB–6TB | |
| 2017 | WD4005FZBX / WD6003FZBX / WD8001FZBX | 4TB–8TB | |
| 2017 | WD10SPSX | 1TB | 2.5-inch, 7mm, 7200 rpm |
| 2018 | WD101FZBX | 10TB | Helium |
WD VelociRaptor – 10,000 rpm 2 entries
Enthusiast 10,000 rpm drives, discontinued in the mid-2010s but still found in older workstations.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WD6000HLHX | 600GB | |
| 2012 | WD2500HHTZ / WD5000HHTZ / WD1000DHTZ | 250GB–1TB |
WD Purple – surveillance (and AV-GP predecessor) 12 entries
WD Purple drives run 24/7 in CCTV DVRs and NVRs from Hikvision, Dahua, Uniview, Swann, Lorex and others. Most recorders store footage in their own proprietary format, so recovering video needs knowledge of the recorder as well as the drive.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | WD20EURS / WD30EURS | 2TB / 3TB | WD AV-GP – used in DVRs before WD Purple |
| 2014 | WD10PURX / WD20PURX / WD30PURX / WD40PURX | 1TB–4TB | First WD Purple |
| 2015 | WD60PURX | 6TB | |
| 2016 | WD80PUZX | 8TB | Helium |
| 2016–17 | WD10PURZ / WD20PURZ / WD30PURZ | 1TB–3TB | |
| 2016–17 | WD40PURZ / WD60PURZ | 4TB / 6TB | |
| 2018 | WD101PURZ | 10TB | |
| 2020 | WD84PURZ | 8TB | |
| 2021 | WD11PURZ / WD34PURZ / WD44PURZ / WD62PURZ | 1TB–6TB | Revised models |
| 2021 | WD102PURZ / WD121PURZ | 10TB / 12TB | |
| 2022 | WD22PURZ / WD42PURZ / WD63PURZ | 2TB–6TB | Improved power efficiency |
| 2023 | WD23PURZ / WD33PURZ / WD43PURZ / WD64PURZ / WD85PURZ | 2TB–8TB | Current models |
WD Purple Pro – AI & large NVRs 5 entries
Higher-workload surveillance drives for large recorders and video analytics servers.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | WD8001PURP / WD101PURP / WD121PURP | 8TB–12TB | |
| 2021 | WD181PURP | 18TB | |
| 2022 | WD8002PURP / WD102PURP / WD122PURP | 8TB–12TB | |
| 2022 | WD142PURP / WD221PURP | 14TB / 22TB | |
| 2023 | WD240PURP | 24TB |
WD RE, Se & WD Gold – enterprise SATA 16 entries
WD RE (RAID Edition) and WD Se were replaced by WD Gold in 2016. Gold drives from 12TB upwards are helium-sealed.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | WD5003ABYX / WD1003FBYX / WD2003FYYS | 500GB–2TB | WD RE4 |
| 2012 | WD2000FYYZ / WD3000FYYZ / WD4000FYYZ | 2TB–4TB | WD RE |
| 2013 | WD2000F9YZ / WD3000F9YZ / WD4000F9YZ | 2TB–4TB | WD Se |
| 2016 | WD1005FBYZ / WD2005FBYZ | 1TB / 2TB | WD Gold |
| 2016 | WD4002FYYZ / WD6002FRYZ / WD8002FRYZ | 4TB–8TB | WD Gold |
| 2017 | WD101KRYZ | 10TB | Helium |
| 2018 | WD121KRYZ | 12TB | Helium |
| 2018–19 | WD4003FRYZ / WD6003FRYZ / WD8004FRYZ | 4TB–8TB | |
| 2019 | WD102KRYZ / WD141KRYZ / WD161KRYZ | 10TB–16TB | |
| 2020 | WD181KRYZ | 18TB | |
| 2021 | WD201KRYZ | 20TB | |
| 2022 | WD221KRYZ | 22TB | |
| 2023 | WD241KRYZ | 24TB | |
| 2023–24 | WD4004FRYZ / WD6004FRYZ / WD8005FRYZ | 4TB–8TB | Current revisions |
| 2023–24 | WD103KRYZ / WD122KRYZ / WD202KRYZ / WD203KRYZ | 10TB–20TB | Current revisions |
| 2025 | WD261KRYZ | 26TB | 11 platters |
HGST Ultrastar & WD Ultrastar DC – data centre 17 entries
HGST joined Western Digital in 2012 and the Ultrastar range has carried the WD name since around 2018. Used in servers, SANs and cloud storage, in SATA and SAS versions. For Deskstar and Travelstar drives see our Hitachi / HGST page.
| Launched | Part number | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | HUA723030ALA640 | 3TB | Ultrastar 7K3000 |
| 2012 | HUS724040ALE640 | 4TB | Ultrastar 7K4000 |
| 2013 | HUS726060ALA640 | 6TB | Ultrastar He6 – first helium drive |
| 2014 | HUS726060ALE610 | 6TB | Ultrastar 7K6000 |
| 2015 | HUH728080ALE600 | 8TB | Ultrastar He8 |
| 2016 | HUH721010ALE600 | 10TB | Ultrastar He10 |
| 2017 | HUH721212ALE600 | 12TB | Ultrastar He12 / DC HC520 |
| 2018 | HUS726T4TALA6L4 / HUS726T6TALE6L4 | 4TB / 6TB | Ultrastar DC HC310 |
| 2018 | HUS728T8TALE6L4 | 8TB | Ultrastar DC HC320 |
| 2018–19 | WUH721414ALE6L4 | 14TB | Ultrastar DC HC530 |
| 2019–20 | WUS721010ALE6L4 | 10TB | Ultrastar DC HC330 |
| 2020 | WUH721816ALE6L4 / WUH721818ALE6L4 | 16TB / 18TB | Ultrastar DC HC550 |
| 2021 | WUH722020ALE6L4 / WUH722020BLE6L4 | 20TB | Ultrastar DC HC560 (SAS: WUH722020BL5204) |
| 2022 | WUH722222ALE6L4 | 22TB | Ultrastar DC HC570 |
| 2023 | WUH722424ALE604 | 24TB | Ultrastar DC HC580 |
| 2024 | HC590 series | 26TB | Ultrastar DC HC590, CMR |
| 2024–25 | HC680 / HC690 series | 28–32TB | UltraSMR high-capacity models |
How WD Internal Drives Fail
- SMR drives (many WD Blue desktop and laptop models): data is written in overlapping tracks through a media cache. When heads weaken, the translator that maps where data lives can corrupt – the drive then shows 0GB, freezes, or reads extremely slowly. We rebuild the translator before imaging.
- 2.5-inch laptop drives: a knock while the drive is spinning often damages the heads, causing clicking or a drive that spins up and immediately powers down.
- Surveillance drives: years of continuous recording wear the heads and create large areas of bad sectors, and DVR file systems are overwritten in a loop – so recent footage must be recovered quickly.
- Helium enterprise drives (WD Gold, Ultrastar, WD Black 10TB): these are sealed and carry drive-specific adaptive data, including OptiNAND flash on many 20TB+ models. Donor parts must match closely, and the work must be done in a cleanroom.
- Firmware and PCB faults: a power surge can burn the circuit board; simply fitting another board will not work because each board holds data unique to its drive. We transfer or rebuild that data.
Recovering CCTV Footage from WD Purple Drives
If you need footage for an insurance claim or police investigation, switch the recorder off as soon as possible – most DVRs overwrite the oldest recordings first. We image the WD Purple drive, then interpret the recorder’s proprietary storage format to extract the clips for the time and camera you need, with the original timestamps preserved.
Before you send your device – five things to avoid
- Switch the device off and leave it off – every power cycle can make physical damage worse
- Do not run CHKDSK, Disk First Aid, fsck or recovery software on a drive that clicks, beeps or is slow
- Do not open the drive or swap the circuit board – modern boards hold drive-specific adaptive data
- Do not reinstall the operating system or initialise the disk when prompted
- Keep liquid-damaged devices unpowered and bring them in as quickly as possible
Frequently asked questions
Is my WD Blue drive SMR or CMR?
Among current WD Blue 3.5-inch drives, models ending in EZAZ (such as WD20EZAZ and WD40EZAZ) use SMR, while WD10EZEX, WD20EZBX and WD80EAZZ use CMR. The WD10SPZX and WD20SPZX laptop drives are SMR. Both types are recoverable, but SMR drives need extra translator work.
Can you recover a 24TB or 26TB WD Gold drive?
Yes. High-capacity helium drives take longer to image simply because of their size, and they need closely matched donor parts. We will give you a clear timescale after the free assessment.
My WD drive was in a DVR. Can you get the video out?
Usually, yes. We support the proprietary storage formats used by the major DVR and NVR manufacturers and can export footage as standard video files.
Free assessment, no obligation. Call 020 7064 4996 or use the form on this page – an engineer will tell you what can be recovered and what it will cost. Book online · Pricing · Locations