Pretty scummy overall, but average user probably doesn't understand the drives could fail at any moment and that the older the drives age the more likely it will fail.
Regardless though, it would better serve to warn users to have a backup of their data than just a blanket age-shaming.
I keep seeing this pop up, isn't it just a warning in WD's own software that does this?
It's a bit of a shitty move age-shaming if you're using their software...But if that's all it is, it's not the end of the world.
And hey, might even mean some cheap drives on the second hand market from corpos remembering their drives are getting on in years.
I think my drives are older 🙊 Didn't WD use to be one of the better brands?
In the grand scheme of things this isn't a big deal. If you're not using some kind of RAID parity system I guess I wouldn't mind the notification. I think it is probably overkill, though. Just seems like they want everyone that's had a hard drive for three years to buy a new one. The fact that some drives that are still under warranty show the warning is sketchy.
Who are we?
We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.
We are one. We are legion. And we're trying really hard not to forget.
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