i stopped shucking with last years 18 tb seagate exos from server parts deals for 194 each but still buy externals for back ups. are the 18 tb wd externals particularly unreliable? i have good luck with wd externals and i have a whole shelf of them. only 1 12 tb died with in 2 years and had to be rmaed. had some 8s and 3tbs die but at the 5 plus year mark and i was phasing them out anyway. i still have 3 tb elements that still worked last that checked