See Which External Drives Are Not Shuck Targets
Three groups the tracker leaves out: portables, keypad-encrypted units and drives under 4TB
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The shucking tracker ranks 3.5-inch desktop externals of 4TB and up, because those are the ones that hold a drive a NAS bay takes. This page lists what it leaves out, in three groups: 2.5-inch portables, units sold with a keypad or built-in hardware encryption, and desktop drives under 4TB. Nothing here is ranked or recommended; the listings are shown so you can see where a drive you are looking at falls.
The three groups, and how the tracker recognises them
| Group | Why it is left out | How it is recognised |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5-inch portables | The drive inside is 2.5-inch. NAS bays and the drives ranked on this site are 3.5-inch | A 2.5-inch form factor at 6TB or less, or a portable family name in the title: My Passport, One Touch, Canvio, anything labelled portable or slim |
| Keypad and hardware-encrypted units | The product is the encryption: the keypad and controller are what you pay for | A maker or product name in the title: Apricorn, Aegis, Padlock, DataLocker, diskAshur, or the word keypad |
| Desktop externals under 4TB | At small sizes the saving over a bare NAS drive is small or absent | A capacity below 4TB |
Two cases that look non-shuckable and are not
WD My Book. Its listings advertise password protection and hardware encryption, but it is a 3.5-inch desktop unit, so the tracker keeps it as a shuck target and labels it.
Large units labelled 2.5-inch. No 2.5-inch hard drive is sold above 6TB, so an 8TB or larger external whose listing data says 2.5-inch is a desktop drive with a wrong label. The tracker treats it as a desktop unit.
Where the shuck targets are
The ranked list, with the internal drive each unit is reported to hold.
Shucking tracker · The hard drive shucking list · The 3.3V pin fix for shucked drives
2.5-inch portable drives
Listed for reference. A portable holds a 2.5-inch drive, which is not what a 3.5-inch NAS bay is built around.
Keypad and hardware-encrypted units
Listed for reference. These are sold on the encryption built into the unit.
| Product | Capacity | Price | $ / TB | Type | Prime | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apricorn 20TB Aegis Padlock DT 256-Bit Encrypted USB 3.0 Hard Drive (ADT-3PL256-20TB) | 20 TB | $1,593.85 | $79.69 | External HDD · USB | - | View listing |
| Apricorn 12TB Aegis Padlock DT 256-Bit Encrypted USB 3.0 Hard Drive (ADT-3PL256-12TB)Sold by Amazon | 12 TB | $1,079.00 | $89.92 | External HDD · USB | Prime | View listing |
Desktop externals under 4TB
Listed for reference. Below this size a bare NAS drive costs about the same.
Renewed, refurbished and used listings
Shown for reference. These are not counted in the best price per TB above, and warranty terms differ from new drives.
Frequently asked questions
Why are portable drives not on the shucking tracker?
They hold 2.5-inch drives. The tracker ranks 3.5-inch desktop externals, the size a NAS bay takes.
Why does the tracker start at 4TB?
Below 4TB the gap between an external and a bare NAS drive is too small to be worth opening a case for.
Is a WD My Book left out because of its encryption?
No. It is a 3.5-inch desktop unit, so it stays on the tracker, with its encryption noted.