NAS Drive Compatibility

Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 16TB

Enterprise HDD

Part number WUH721816ALE6L4 · Ultrastar DC HC550 series · 3.5" SATA HDD. If your machine is listed below, this drive is officially supported — not a forum workaround.

Ultrastar DCHC550NAS HARD DRIVE3.5" SATA HDDWESTERN DIGITAL

Part of the Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 series →

Check WUH721816ALE6L4 price on Amazon  partner link

227
Compatible NAS models
64 Syn · 151 QNAP · 12 Asus · 0 TM
By vendor
16 TB
Listed capacity
Western Digital
Manufacturer
Enterprise capacity
Product line (manufacturer rating)
7200
Spindle speed (RPM)
CMR
Recording
512 MB
Cache
550 TB
Rated workload / year

Specifications are the manufacturer's published ratings for this product series; verify the exact part number before purchase.

Strong pick as a cold copy

Rated CMR (conventional magnetic recording) — the right recording type for a large cold copy. CMR keeps a full-library backup pass fast even at 16–24 TB, which is the whole point of the offline slot in a 3-2-1 plan: rotate two drives monthly, keep one powered off, and the backup tooling (Veeam, Duplicati, Hyper Backup, HBS 3) does the scheduling. Full rule and vendor tool table: 3-2-1 for NAS.

Compatibility verdict

It appears on the official compatibility lists of 227 machines and series — 64 Synology, 151 QNAP, 12 Asustor. This is a Enterprise-class drive: rated for heavier sustained workloads than desktop drives. It is a strong pick for a NAS running 24/7, large-array rebuilds or camera workloads, and enterprise lines are also the drives most widely listed across all five vendors' HCLs. Its series rating is on file as CMR (conventional) — what RAID rebuilds and full-library copies want.

Compatible NAS models

Synology DS1019+5-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS15155-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1515+5-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS15175-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1517+5-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1520+5-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1618+6-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1815+8-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS18178-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1817+8-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS1819+8-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS2015xs See its full HCL → Synology DS215+2-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS2162-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS216+2-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS216+II2-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS2182-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS218+2-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS218play2-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS220+2-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS2415+12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS2419+12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS2419+II12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS3018xs12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS3615xs12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS3617xs12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS3617xsII12-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS415+4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS415play4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS4164-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS416play4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS4184-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS418play4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS420+4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS7157-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS716+7-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS716+II7-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS718+7-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS720+7-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS916+4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS918+4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DS920+4-bay See its full HCL → Synology DVA3219 See its full HCL → Synology RS1219+ See its full HCL → Synology RS1619xs+ See its full HCL → Synology RS18016xs+ See its full HCL → Synology RS18017xs+ See its full HCL → Synology RS217 See its full HCL → Synology RS2416+ See its full HCL → Synology RS2416RP+ See its full HCL → Synology RS2418+ See its full HCL → Synology RS2418RP+ See its full HCL → Synology RS2818RP+ See its full HCL → Synology RS3617RPxs See its full HCL → Synology RS3617xs+ See its full HCL → Synology RS3618xs See its full HCL → Synology RS4017xs+ See its full HCL → Synology RS815+ See its full HCL → Synology RS815RP+ See its full HCL → Synology RS818+ See its full HCL → Synology RS818RP+ See its full HCL → Synology RS819 See its full HCL → Synology RS820+ See its full HCL → Synology RS820RP+ See its full HCL → QNAP GM-1000 See its full HCL → QNAP REXP-1610U-RP See its full HCL → QNAP REXP-1620U-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TDS-16489U See its full HCL → QNAP TDS-16489U R2 QTS See its full HCL → QNAP TL-D1600S See its full HCL → QNAP TL-D400S See its full HCL → QNAP TL-D800C See its full HCL → QNAP TL-D800S See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R1200C-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R1200PES-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R1200S-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R1220Sep-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R1600PES-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R1620Sep-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TL-R400S See its full HCL → QNAP TNS-h1083X See its full HCL → QNAP TR-002 See its full HCL → QNAP TR-004 See its full HCL → QNAP TR-004U See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1232PXU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1253DU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1264U-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1273AU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1277XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1283XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-131K See its full HCL → QNAP TS-133 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1635AX See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1655 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1673AU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1677XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1683XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1685 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-1886XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-216G See its full HCL → QNAP TS-231K See its full HCL → QNAP TS-233 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-2477XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-2483XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-251D See its full HCL → QNAP TS-253B See its full HCL → QNAP TS-253E See its full HCL → QNAP TS-262 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-264 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-431K See its full HCL → QNAP TS-432PXU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-432PXU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-433 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-435XeU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-453D See its full HCL → QNAP TS-453E See its full HCL → QNAP TS-462 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-464 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-464U See its full HCL → QNAP TS-464U-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-464eU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-467X See its full HCL → QNAP TS-473 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-473A See its full HCL → QNAP TS-653D See its full HCL → QNAP TS-664 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-667X See its full HCL → QNAP TS-673 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-673A See its full HCL → QNAP TS-832PX See its full HCL → QNAP TS-832PXU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-832PXU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-855X See its full HCL → QNAP TS-855eU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-855eU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-864eU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-864eU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-867X See its full HCL → QNAP TS-873 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-873A See its full HCL → QNAP TS-873AU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-873AU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-873AeU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-873AeU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-877XU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-877XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-883XU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-883XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-932PX See its full HCL → QNAP TS-977XU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-977XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-983XU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-983XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1065eU See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1065eU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1277AXU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1277XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1283XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1655XeU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1677AXU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1677XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1683XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1886XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1886XU-RP R2 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h1887XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h2287XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h2477XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h2483XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h3087XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h686 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h886 See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h966TX See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h973AX See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h977XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TS-h987XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-1272XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-1282 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-1282T See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-1282T3 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-1672XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-2472XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-472XT See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-473 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-473e See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-672N See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-672X See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-672XT See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-673 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-673e See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-682 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-682T See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-872N See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-872X See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-872XT See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-872XU See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-872XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-873 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-873e See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-882 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-882BR See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-882BRT3 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-882T See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-972XU See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-972XU-RP See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h1277AX See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h1288X See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h1677AX See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h1688X See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h474 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h674 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h674T See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h874 See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h874T See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h874X See its full HCL → QNAP TVS-h877AX See its full HCL → Asustor AS 33 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 40 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 52/53 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 63/64 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 65 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 65R See its full HCL → Asustor AS 66 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 70 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 71 See its full HCL → Asustor AS 71R See its full HCL → Asustor AS6004U See its full HCL → Asustor AX7012R See its full HCL →

Same-capacity alternatives

Other drives listed at 16 TB capacity, ranked by how many machines list them:

Seagate ST16000NM001G 314 machines · Enterprise Toshiba MG08ACA16TE 299 machines · MG08ACA*** Seagate ST16000NE000 294 machines · IronWolf Pro Seagate ST16000VE000 287 machines · SkyHawkAI Seagate ST16000VN001 239 machines · IronWolf Western Digital WD161KRYZ 224 machines · Gold Seagate ST16000NM000J 219 machines · EXOS x18 Seagate ST16000NE000-2WX103 192 machines · IronWolf Pro

Quick answers

Is the WUH721816ALE6L4 officially compatible with my NAS?

It appears on the official compatibility lists of 227 machines and series — 64 Synology, 151 QNAP, 12 Asustor. Every machine page linked below shows the vendor's own list entry, refreshed daily.

Is the WUH721816ALE6L4 CMR or SMR?

As a Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 drive, it is rated CMR. CMR (conventional magnetic recording) is what a RAID array wants: SMR drives slow rebuilds dramatically. See the <a href="/faq/cmr-vs-smr-nas-drives/">CMR vs SMR guide</a> for the full series table.

Is the WUH721816ALE6L4 a good NAS drive?

This is a Enterprise-class drive: rated for heavier sustained workloads than desktop drives. It is a strong pick for a NAS running 24/7, large-array rebuilds or camera workloads, and enterprise lines are also the drives most widely listed across all five vendors' HCLs. Its series rating is on file as CMR (conventional) — what RAID rebuilds and full-library copies want.

Can I use the WUH721816ALE6L4 for a 3-2-1 cold backup copy?

Rated CMR (conventional magnetic recording) — the right recording type for a large cold copy. CMR keeps a full-library backup pass fast even at 16–24 TB, which is the whole point of the offline slot in a 3-2-1 plan: rotate two drives monthly, keep one powered off, and the backup tooling (Veeam, Duplicati, Hyper Backup, HBS 3) does the scheduling. Full rule and vendor tool table: 3-2-1 for NAS.

What are alternatives to the WUH721816ALE6L4?

At the same capacity, the most widely listed alternatives are Seagate ST16000NM001G (314 machines), Toshiba MG08ACA16TE (299 machines), Seagate ST16000NE000 (294 machines). The full ranked list is below.