That makes sense, but is your homelab question solved? XD

1. It’s possible. But also could be appearing naturally.

2. Probably not. You may need to show us the SMART report.

3. Isolated cases are fine. If numbers are still growing, that’s a bad sign.

Working at higher performance will generate more noise.

At this point I’d probably just go to https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/17xmwu7/hdd_best_buy_wd_easystore_18tb_external_usb_30/ .

Otherwise, refurbished Exos 16/18TB if you are not a fan of shucking or WD.

Bare minimum you should look at upgrading to E5 v2. Better go v4.