The Western Digital My Book is one of the most popular external drives to shuck — primarily because 12TB, 14TB, and 16TB versions frequently go on sale for $40–60 less than equivalent bare internal drives. Inside the My Book’s plastic shell, you’ll typically find a WD Red or White Label drive that’s perfectly suited for NAS use, at a fraction of the retail price.
This guide covers the complete process from start to finish, including the critical 3.3V pin modification that most WD drives require to work properly after shucking. Is shucking worth it for you? Check our analysis first. Ready to proceed? Here’s exactly how to do it.
What You’ll Need
- WD My Book external drive
- Plastic pry tool or old credit card (metal tools scratch and can damage the PCB)
- Black electrical tape or Kapton tape (for the 3.3V pin fix)
- SATA power and data cables (or a SATA-to-USB adapter for initial testing)
- CrystalDiskInfo (Windows) or smartmontools (Linux) for health checking
Step 1: Verify the Drive Model Before Buying
Not all My Book capacities contain the same internal drives. As a general guide: 8TB+ My Book drives from 2019 onward typically contain WD White Label (CMR) drives — essentially WD Red drives without the NAS branding. Some 2022+ models have shifted to WD Blue-class drives at lower capacities. The serial number structure (WDBMYK, WDBBGB prefix) can help identify what’s inside, but the safest approach is to check the shucking community databases at r/DataHoarder before purchasing a specific model.
Step 2: Open the My Book Enclosure
The WD My Book has no screws on the outside — it uses plastic clips holding the enclosure together. Work around the bottom edge of the drive with your plastic pry tool, applying gentle inward pressure while running the tool along the seam. You’ll hear click sounds as the clips release. Don’t force it — the plastic can crack if you pry too aggressively.
Work around all four sides before the cover separates. On some models, there’s a rubber strip at the top that pulls off first, revealing the seam. The drive PCB faces one side of the enclosure — avoid pressing on it while prying.
Step 3: Remove the Drive
Once open, you’ll see the 3.5-inch hard drive mounted in a plastic cradle. There’s a small adapter PCB connecting the drive’s SATA connector to the enclosure’s USB bridge PCB. Gently disconnect this adapter by pulling it straight off the drive’s SATA connector. The drive should now slide free of the cradle. You’ll typically find four small screws holding the drive in the cradle — remove those if present.
Step 4: The Critical 3.3V Pin Fix
This is the most important step for WD drives. Many WD drives use the 3.3V pin on the SATA power connector for a “power disable” feature that prevents the drive from spinning up when that pin is activated. Standard desktop SATA power connectors and many USB docks supply 3.3V on this pin, which causes the WD drive to refuse to spin up — appearing as though the drive is dead.
The fix is simple: cover pin 3 of the SATA power connector on the drive with a small piece of electrical tape or Kapton tape. Pin 3 is the third pin from the left on the wider 15-pin SATA power connector (counting from the left when the connector notch faces upward). Cover just that one pin — don’t cover the entire connector.
With pin 3 covered, the drive spins up normally in any SATA setup. This modification does not affect drive function in any other way.
Step 5: Test the Drive
Connect the drive via a SATA-to-USB adapter or directly to a motherboard SATA port. Boot your computer and open CrystalDiskInfo (Windows) or run sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdX (Linux). Check:
- The drive model number — cross-reference with WD’s database to confirm what you got
- Reallocated Sectors Count — should be 0 for a drive in good health
- Power-On Hours — shows the drive’s actual age
- SMART overall assessment — should show “Good”
If the drive checks out, it’s ready for installation in your NAS or desktop. For a NAS build with multiple shucked drives, see our RAID configuration guide and our USB dock recommendations.
What If the Drive Isn’t What You Expected?
Sometimes you’ll open a My Book and find a drive different from what community reports suggested — different model numbers, or an SMR drive where you expected CMR. The My Book line has had several different internal drives across production runs. If you find an SMR drive, see our SMR vs CMR explainer for guidance on whether it’s still usable for your intended purpose.