WD - easystore 12TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive - Black
User rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars with 1582 reviews.
4.7(1,582 Reviews)- 74 Answered Questions
If received today, the last day to return this item would be May 31. Learn more ˃
Keep your hard drive safe
Shipping
Cardmember Offers
carousel
Description

Find the ideal drive for your needs.
Learn more in the Drives and Storage Buying GuideFeatures
USB 3.0 interface
Offers easy-to-use connection to devices. Backward-compatible with USB 2.0 for simple connection to your computer.
Easy-to-use auto backup
Comes with the WD Discovery™ backup software that lets you set hourly, daily, or monthly backup schedules and makes it easy to back up high-capacity files to your drive. Compatible with Apple Time Machine (requires reformatting).
Get More Out of WD Discovery™
Included WD Discovery™ software makes it easy to back up your photos, videos, and documents to the easystore™ desktop storage.
Compatible with Mac and PC
For use with your existing computers.
12TB storage capacity
Provides ample space for storing documents, photos, music and more.
Limited warranty
This WD easystore™ desktop drive comes with a two-year warranty.
External design
The desktop storage features a USB cable and AC adapter to work with most systems.
WD Discovery™ software
Allows you to manage your easystore™ HDD and expands its capabilities.
What's Included
- WD easystore 12TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive
- AC adapter
- USB cable
- WD Discovery software
- Owner's manual
Q: QuestionPC owners report that their actual usable capacity is only 10.9 TB. When reformatted for mac, do you get the full 12TB?
Asked by storage.
- A:Answer The size difference is not caused by formatting but because of the definition of Terabyte that hard drive manufacturers use (1000 gigabytes) vs what most operating systems do (1024 gigabytes). What Windows reports is actually in Tebibyte and not Terabytes. So you haven't actually lost any space at all, the OS is just giving you a different number. It is very confusing for consumers though and I wish OS makers and hard drive manufacturers would both agree to one definition and stick with it.
Answered by Trogdor
Q: QuestionHow many pictures can this hold
Asked by Linda.
- A:Answer It can probably hold about 800-1000 blu ray movies on it, which are thousands to millions of times larger than a picture so I wouldn't expect picture storage to even be a concern. The drive would probably go bad before you could ever fill it up to be honest.
Answered by Ian2019
Q: QuestionCan this drive be partitioned with each partition having a different file systems? Does this drive come with the software to do?
Asked by itsQuatro.
- A:Answer Yes and Yes, the drive comes with WD software, however you can go into control panel, administrative tools, computer management, Storage and then Disk Management and you will se the 12TB drive there. All you need to do then is delete the volume and then create volumes in whatever sizes you deem appropriate for your needs, then right click on the volume on the right side of the panel and it will present you with formatting options. I am not sure why you would want to do this but if it is what you want to do then go for it. My only recommendation is that you purchase 2 drives when dealing with 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 or now even the 16TB drives as they do have a much higher failure rate then drives did 8-10 years ago, after all you must sacrifice something for all that storage at a cheaper price so to ensure you don't lose your data, buy two and clone the drives every other month or quarterly to keep a rolling back up, that is my recommendation and as someone that has worked in IT and telecom for 32+ years I would say I have a pretty vast array of knowledge to draw from be it the 7 years I worked for a system manufacture, or the 6 years I ran a call center for a major ISP including dealing with the NOC and the Data Center there or to the 7 years I spent as a Network Administrator and Engineer as well as Facilities manager, just to give some insight into my real world experiences, you can never have enough backups. hope that helps
Answered by VipersHardware
Q: QuestionCan I connect this external hard drive to a laptop for external storage or is this a desktop exclusive external hard drive?
Asked by King12TB.
- A:Answer As long as your computer has the appropriate USB connection, it’ll work. There’s no such thing as a desktop-only or laptop-only external drive. Maybe you’re confusing with internal drives, which ARE for desktops only (though you could put one in an enclosure and connect to a laptop).
Answered by TheNerdKing
Q: QuestionWould it work on my Xbox one
Asked by Daniel.
- A:Answer Yes, it will work. I have a 12tb for my Xbox One and works great.
Answered by Henry
Q: QuestionIs this PMR?Or is it SMR?
Asked by procera53.
- A:Answer Both the EMAZ and EMFZ drives are PMR. Interestingly, there is evidence that the EMFZ is actually a 14TB capacity drive with 12TB firmware - presumably due to binning.
Answered by szass
Q: QuestionCan I daisy chain this drive to another external hard drive using USB 3.0?
Asked by stixx1001.
- A:Answer No, but I use a usb hub to connect multiple drives, works fine
Answered by MEB577
Q: QuestionWill the NSA monitor the Word documents that I store on this drive? I'm a writer and am told the NSA records every keystroke? Can I turn off the Internet from my computer box thing somehow? How does one turn off internet without turning off house's power?
Asked by Nutter.
- A:Answer Unplug your computer from everything. Use in airplane mode. Remember there is no such thing as permanently "deleted items". Option 2: Live life without electronic devices like Television, cell phones, computers, home security systems, or a recent model vehicle ALL are monitoring you. Do not use "Fit Bit" personnel "health" monitoring either. LIVE FREE FROM TECHNOLOGY it has been done for thousands of years!
Answered by Anonymous