Product Description
With both the popular USB 2.0 and the ultra-fast eSATA 3 Gb per seconds interfaces on board, the My Book Premium ES Edition external hard drive offers universal connectivity and unbeatable performance in one high-value package. The My Book external drive turns itself on and off with Intelligent drive management and Safe Shutdown prevents the drive from being powered down until all your data has been written. Automatic backups of your existing hard drive Archiving the music stored on your MP3 player Adding plenty of space for digital video capture and editing Saving and organizing your digital photo collection Read Seek Time - 8.9 ms Track-To-Track Seek Time - 2.0 ms (average) Dual eSATA Interface eSATA Serial Bus Transfer Rate - 3 Gb/s (Max) Universal Serial Bus (USB) Transfer Rate - 480 Mbits/s (Max) System Requirements - Available USB port, or eSATA port, Windows 2000, XP, Mac OS X 10.3 or later Dimensions - Height 6.780 x Length 5.630 x Width 2.23 inch Weight - 2.90 pounds
Customer Reviews:
Works Just Fine.......2007-12-09
Works as advertised. I haven't been able to get an eSATA cable to try that out yet tho. The only quirk I've had with it is that it will turn itself on automatically when I boot up my computer and with Windows Vista, it hangs before getting to the Windows loading screen. It did not do this on my XP machine. Not sure why it does that, but it's not that big of a deal, and I hope when I switch to eSATA, it will fix that as well.
Not worth buying.......2007-11-27
I bought this external HD in December 2006. Now in November 2007, the unit clicks and clicks and clicks LOUDLY! My computer recognizes that the hardware is attached but does not show the drive in my computer so I can't even use the stupid thing!
I didn't buy at Amazon. I wish I didn't buy it at all.
DO NOT let it tip over..........2007-11-20
runs like a charm, dies like a soap bubble. ADVICE: tuck those wires neatly out of the way. FRUSTRATION: search for diagnostic utilities.
eSATA on Vista 32-bit.......2007-11-16
Worked beautifully. NOTE: you can't install the card, and then connect the drive.
I bought the seperate SIIG card, and SIIG cable. (This drive only comes with a USB 2.0 cable).
You have to have everything installed and connected, then fire up your computer, and it needs to be connected to the internet. Vista downloads and installs the drivers automatically. It works awesome! If you don't have internet access on your box, you can get the driver files from the SIIG website.
SOOOO FAST! Puts FW800 and other interfaces to shame.
(speed only as fast as the slowest drive in your configuration, of course. Example: if you are copying a file from an internal 1.5Gb/s SATA drive to this drive, it is only as fast as the 1.5...)
enjoy
Great product. Just wish it had a FireWire port. .......2007-11-08
This product is a great hdd. It works well and looks great. Once the computer recognizes the external hdd, it transfers data at speeds that will blow you away. My only complaint is that I wish it had a FireWire port.
Product Description
Speed is what you need when for video editing, big design projects, or managing photo shoots and thats what this drive delivers with FireWire 800 and eSATA connectivity. With our automatic backup capability your creative masterpieces will be backed up the minute you save them.
Customer Reviews:
DO NOT BUY! .......2007-12-17
I generally don't write reviews but felt compelled to in this instance because there's something peculiar going on with these new My Book drives. I've gotten two of these exact model (500GB) back to back and had to return both because they would die out the same day I got each of them. In each instance, I checked the AC plugs, all the ports, and could not get the drives to spin up again. Like the other reviewer noted, the issues with this particular drive are known and should be avoided. Shame really, as the new drives look quite nice. However, reliability is the only factor you should be looking for in an external drive. I'll be downgrading to an older version of their My Book line to be safe, until WD works out the kinks with these new ones. (PS. These were used with Macs).
ONCE AGAIN, MY FRIENDS, DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE.
Great Product and cheaper on Amazon than I have ever seen it. .......2007-12-15
This product is great, especially now that it is engineered for Mac. It is as cheap on this site and for more storage space! We have been really hapy.
I really WANT to like this drive, but..........2007-12-09
Like it says in the review title, I really WANT to like this drive. Unfortunately, I can't. I don't. And I probably won't. Ever. Why?
I bought one of these from another vendor (sorry Amazon, their price was better). I installed the drive on my 24" aluminum iMac (which I DID buy from Amazon, good job, guys). The drive recognized fine on firewire 800, and I set Time Machine to use it for backups.
Then the problems started. The drive would "freeze" when it went into suspend mode, and it wouldn't come back. OS X is too stupid to stop trying to access a "dead" drive, so the suspended/frozen drive would hang the system. The only solution was to power down the drive (if possible), or remove the firewire cable. Worse, sometimes the drive wouldn't power down using the power button, so I had to pull the power cord. NOT good.
Once the frozen drive was out of the firewire chain, the OS would recover semi-gracefully, with a "Device Removal" error. I figured it was a fluke, so I put the drive first in the firewire chain. No luck. Then I changed cables. No luck. Okay, try the drive as the ONLY firewire drive. No luck. It would still freeze, and still hang the system.
So, I figured I just had a defective drive. No problem. I already had another on order, so I sent the first back to the vendor and waited for the second to arrive.
Same problems with the second drive. I used every connection available: firewire 800, firewire 400, and even USB (iMac's don't come with eSATA, so I don't know if it's a problem too). No luck with any connection, OR any cable (I have several available, which work with other drives). The My Book Studio drive still hangs AT LEAST once a day, usually several times.
So the second drive is going back for a refund, and I'm going to call the other vendor and just have them refund my money for the "defective" drive already in transit as a return.
Now, why do I want to like this drive?
Pros:
- It's good-looking
- It's quiet (because it's fanless)
- Quadruple interface (nice!)
- It's small
Cons:
- It just doesn't work... do I really need any MORE cons?
When the drive started giving me problems, I went looking for a solution (updated firmware, updated Button Manager software, SOMETHING). I found several people on the Apple Discussion Forums with the same problem, which made me realize that the drive itself was the issue.
Google for "my book studio freeze" and you can read the Apple Support discussion, which will lead you to more problem discussions.
That being said, I love Western Digital, and they're my first choice for external drives. I just think they have some MAJOR teething pains with the My Book Studio line. And since other Mac users love them, I suspect that WD Studio drives simply don't like the new iMacs. But since I spent $2000 on my computer, and $200 on the drive, the drive is the one that gets returned. Sorry, WD.
If you want a good, reliable drive for your iMac, I've had lots of luck with LaCie, and I've heard really good things about OWC drives. But if you're a tried-and-true WD fan... stay away from THIS drive.
A-mazing.......2007-11-30
I love this HD and It looks very cool. It might be a little noisy but gets the job done. Defently one of the best HD i've ever owned.
The perfect pairing for Time Machine.......2007-11-28
I recently bought a new iMac and immediately fell in love with the Leopard operating system(I'm someone that uses both Vista and Leopard now, and as much as I hate the advocates on either side, I'm finding myself using the Mac all the time and only using my Vista box when I'm forced to). One of the features I was looking forward to using was Time Machine, which for those that aren't familiar is a new program in Leopard that automatically(automagically?) backs up your entire Mac and then does hourly backups of any changes that occur thereafter. Wow. Erased an email yesterday that all of a sudden you wished you had today? Go to Mail, click on Time Machine and then go back in time to when that email still existed on your machine and recover it. Awesome. Simple. So enough about that.
Obviously you need a drive to do this, and I didn't have one until the other day when I bought this WD My Book. I plugged it in and immediately Leopard spotted it and asked me if I wanted to use it for Time Machine. I sure did! It's quiet, it's cool to the touch, and it looks cool as well! It matches my Aluminum iMac. The only downside is I hate the light on the front, which is easily solvable...I turned it around!
Now if my Mac ever crashes, I can be back to exaclty where I was within 15-20 minutes. Brilliant. Thank you WD and thanks Apple for making this software a part of your base OS.
Product Description
Package Includes:WDG1U5000 MyBook, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, Quick Install Guide
The Western Digital WDG1U5000 MyBook is a small, simple, elegant and very easy to use portable memory tool. Just plug it in, and you've got plenty of room to back up and save your valuable data, music, photos, and movies. Plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and start saving -- it's all about simplicity. The 500GB hard drive will store either 142,000 digital photos, 38 hours of Digital Video (DV), 60 hours of HD or 200 hours of DVD quality video. It can also hold up to 125,000 songs in MP3 format, or 12,000 songs in uncompressed CD quality. Serial Transfer Rate(USB 2.0) - 480 Mbits/s (Max) Read Seek Time - 8.9 ms Track-To-Track Seek Time - 2.0 ms (average) Operating Systems - Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS X 10.2.8 (or higher) Requires available USB port Physical Dimensions(HxLxW) - 6.71 x 5.6 x 2.25 (170 x 141 x 57.2 mm) Weight - 2.90 lbs. (1.32 kg)
Amazon.com Product Description
Is your computer loaded with photos, music, video, and all sorts of important files? If so, you should make extra room, back them up, and keep them safe on Western Digital's WDG1U5000 My Book Essential Edition 500 GB Hard Drive. This reliable, easy-to-use external hard drive is the perfect storage solution for all your precious digital assets.
Save and back up all your digital assets with the My Book Essential Edition Hard Drive. View larger.
|
Simple, easy-to-use design. |
Connects to your computer via USB 2.0 interface. View larger. |
The elegant case takes up very little space. |
Installation is a breeze because you don't really "install" anything -- just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is not even an installation CD because all the included software loads automatically from the hard drive the first time you plug it in. The My Book Essential is all about simplicity. Just plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and you're ready to start saving and backing up your files.
But that's not all. Western Digital uses a smart design to make the My Book Essential look as good as it performs. The elegant case resembles a book and takes up very little space on your desk. Plus, it stacks horizontally and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like encyclopedias on a shelf. Inside the stylish exterior is an exceptionally fast, ultra-quiet, cool-running hard drive. Last but not least, the My Book Essential is equipped with free Google software that searches your drives, manages your photos, and simplifies Web searches.
My Book Essential Edition Hard Drives are ideal for:
- Simple add-on storage for your files, music, photos and movies
- Adding virtually unlimited storage with multiple USB 2.0 external hard drives
- Archiving the music stored on your MP3 player
- Adding plenty of space for digital video capture and editing
- Saving and organizing your digital photo collection
Note: For higher performance and automatic backup software, consider the My Book Premium Edition 500 GB Hard Drive.
What's in the Box
My Book Essential 500 GB USB 2.0 external hard drive, USB cable, AC adapter with power cord, and quick install guide.
Customer Reviews:
I wish there were 0 stars.......2007-12-29
I bought this - transferred 200GB of data to it, and next time I used it all the data, and the format of the drive was gone. It said I needed to reformat the drive. This has happened twice now. With so many people claiming this is defective it is no wonder they are on sale everywhere.
Lots of Storage for the money.......2007-12-29
This was brought out by WD several months ago at a hefty price tag of around 350.00 dollars. But I purchased this one for 119.00 and its a whopping 500gig external drive. I now have three of them, and all my WD hard drives work flawlessly. NICE PRODUCT AND A GREAT PRICE...AMAZON DELIVERS AGAIN..
Dennis
Just Bought my 4th of these... Only one problem.......2007-12-29
This is a very nice, very simple, very stable product. I just bought my fourth of these... a testimony to my happiness with the item. One problem: I had one of these take a tumble to the floor from a 30-inch work surface while operating. It sort-of worked, but was not reliable afterwards.
Questionable reliability.......2007-12-28
I purchased this hard drive to store and back-up music and video files. In the first 4 months, it worked fine but copying larger files was very slooow. One day after 4 months, I started the computer and got a message that the hard drive needed to be reformated. After working with tech support, I needed to reformat the drive, losing all the files stored there. The files were "recoverable" but at an additional cost. NOT TRUSTWORTHY!
Works great!.......2007-12-28
No complaints with this product. Amazon prime is great for the 2-day shipping alone. Timely delivery by Amazon. Plug and play....because I'm using it with a Mac, not sure how it works on a PC machine.
Product Description
Enjoy the convenience of a FireWire interface with the high-speed performance of a USB 2.0port, thanks to the dual interface on this sleek external hard drive. 500GB provides plenty of space for your precious digital media. 7200 rpm for fast read&write times 8.9 ms average seek time Automatic power-up, Safe Shutdown and LED activity lights make this drive easy to use Capacity gauge lets you see at a glance how much space is left on your drive Stackable metal case looks like a book and sits horizontally or vertically Compatible with PC and Mac Average Latency 4.2 ms System Requirements - Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS 9.2.2, X 10.2.8 or later, available FireWire or USB port Dimensions (LengthxWidthxHeight) - 2.23 x 3.14 x 6.780 Inches / Weight - 2.90 Pounds
Amazon.com Product Description
Is your computer loaded with photos, music, video, and all sorts of important files? If so, you should make extra room, back them up, and keep them safe on Western Digital's WDG1C5000 My Book Premium Edition 500 GB Hard Drive. This reliable, easy-to-use external hard drive is the perfect storage solution for all your precious digital assets.
Save and back up all your digital assets with the My Book Premium Edition Hard Drive. View larger.
|
Simple, easy-to-use design. |
Hard drive features dual interface connectivity (FireWire 400 and USB 2.0). View larger. |
The elegant case takes up very little space. |
Installation is a breeze because you don't really "install" anything -- just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is not even an installation CD because all the included software loads automatically from the hard drive the first time you plug it in. For cream-of-the-crop, high-speed performance, use My Book Premium's FireWire 400 interface. However, if FireWire 400 isn't convenient, Western Digital has you covered -- the My Book Premium hard drive is also compatible with USB 2.0 connectivity. Best of all, you don't have to choose between one or the other because both interfaces are built into every drive.
Western Digital provides software (WD Backup) that makes backing up your data as easy as possible. With a few simple steps you can back up all your data files, or just save your picture and music files. You can also schedule routine backups so you don't have to worry about it ever again. Built for ease of use, this drive is equipped with a capacity gauge that shows how much space is left on your drive. The My Book Premium also includes intelligent drive management features. For example, the drive turns itself on and off with your computer, and Safe Shutdown prevents the drive from being powered down until all your data has been written.
But that's not all. Western Digital uses a smart design to make the My Book Premium look as good as it performs. The elegant case resembles a book and takes up very little space on your desk. Plus, it stacks horizontally and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like encyclopedias on a shelf. Inside the stylish exterior is an exceptionally fast, ultra-quiet, cool-running hard drive. Last but not least, the My Book Premium is equipped with free Google software that searches your drives, manages your photos, and simplifies Web searches.
My Book Premium Edition Hard Drives are ideal for:
- High-speed backup of important documents and images
- Extra storage for your computer
- Automatic backups of your existing hard drive
- Archiving the music stored on your MP3 player
- Adding plenty of space for digital video capture and editing
- Saving and organizing your digital photo collection
Note: For basic, less expensive storage option without automatic backup software, consider the My Book Essential Edition 500 GB Hard Drive.
What's in the Box
My Book Premium 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire external hard drive, USB cable, FireWire cable (six-pin to six-pin), AC adapter with power cord, and quick install guide.
Customer Reviews:
Absolute junk.......2007-12-30
As I write this review, I am also formatting this drive for the second time in one year. A hard drive should have a life of 3 - 5 years of CONSTANT use. I'm just getting to the ONE YEAR mark and it has failed on me twice, with a reformat and data loss being the result. The first problem came when the drive was just not accessible. This time, I/O errors and data loss. It's as though the unit was refurbished, then sold.
Alot of reviews give this an excellent rating. They would not have done that with the unit I have.
Backup software is slow - not the drive.......2007-12-29
I bought this drive and ran the backup software to back up all of my music and pictures automaticaaly. Then ran it the first time. 2 hours later it is still running. I only had 10G of data to record.
I finally figured out, after much trial and error that if I do it MANUALLY - by dragging and dropping, it works MUCH faster.Less than 10 minutes (I didn't time it but it was MUCH better-else I would have returned it). So it is the MY Book back up software - not the drive , that seems to be the problem.
Hey WD - how about FIXING this!!!!!
Excellent - I have four of them.......2007-12-29
It's an excellent hard drive. I have four of these and continue to buy more as needed. I don't like the triple interface and returned that one, but the dual interface seem to work great. They seem fast and reliable. Occasionally they're slow to register on my computer when i reboot, but it's a small inconvenicne.
EXCELLENT DATA STORAGE!.......2007-12-17
I have three of these: a 320GB Essential (the first one I bought about 2 years ago), a 500GB Premium and (lately) a 750GB Professional. (I avoided the 1TB version due to the universally bad reviews it received). Their different colored lights help me keep my files separate and organized - and always backed up.
I have mostly good things to say about all of them: they are stable, silent enough to operate at home and can be formated to either Fat32 or NTFS to suit one's needs. I formated to NTFS before using it (but make sure to back up the contained files and utilities first).
My only complain is that when more than half-full, it takes some minutes for my PC to verify all the files contained and be able to use them. Utilizing the FireWire only slightly improves the time delay.
Regarding the complains about crashes and data losses: there is of course the possibility of this to happen to any data storage medium. Had I not had a flawless experience with my previous MY BOOKs, these concerns would had prevented me from expanding my...library. However, keep in mind that this is NOT a PORTABLE External HDD. It does not contain a solid-state flash drive, but instead a regular HardDisk Drive. So, moving it from place to place, shaking it (and even carrying it in a backpack) may not be the best way to ensure smooth operation.
On this note, can anyone trust any delivery service or company NOT to shake or drop it during shipment?
RECOMMENDED!
my book rocks my world.......2007-12-17
So far so good- very easy to use. Plug and play. If it continues to be this easy and reliable, I plan to buy another to make sure I have everything double backed up.
Product Description
The USB 2.0 and Firewire interface gives up to 480 Mbps transfer rates. 8.9 ms average seek time Automatic power-up, Safe Shutdown and LED activity lights make this drive easy to use Stackable metal case looks like a book and sits horizontally or vertically Compatible with PC and Mac Average Latency - 4.2 ms System Requirements - Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS 9.2.2, X 10.2.8 or later, available FireWire or USB port
Amazon.com Product Description
Is your computer loaded with photos, music, video, and all sorts of important files? If so, you should make extra room, back them up, and keep them safe on Western Digital's WDG1C3200 My Book Premium Edition 320 GB Hard Drive. This reliable, easy-to-use external hard drive is the perfect storage solution for all your precious digital assets.
Save and back up all your digital assets with the My Book Premium Edition Hard Drive. View larger.
|
Simple, easy-to-use design. |
Hard drive features dual interface connectivity (FireWire 400 and USB 2.0). View larger. |
The elegant case takes up very little space. |
Installation is a breeze because you don't really "install" anything -- just plug it in and it's ready to use. There is not even an installation CD because all the included software loads automatically from the hard drive the first time you plug it in. For cream-of-the-crop, high-speed performance, use My Book Premium's FireWire 400 interface. However, if FireWire 400 isn't convenient, Western Digital has you covered -- the My Book Premium hard drive is also compatible with USB 2.0 connectivity. Best of all, you don't have to choose between one or the other because both interfaces are built into every drive.
Western Digital provides software (WD Backup) that makes backing up your data as easy as possible. With a few simple steps you can back up all your data files, or just save your picture and music files. You can also schedule routine backups so you don't have to worry about it ever again. Built for ease of use, this drive is equipped with a capacity gauge that shows how much space is left on your drive. The My Book Premium also includes intelligent drive management features. For example, the drive turns itself on and off with your computer, and Safe Shutdown prevents the drive from being powered down until all your data has been written.
But that's not all. Western Digital uses a smart design to make the My Book Premium look as good as it performs. The elegant case resembles a book and takes up very little space on your desk. Plus, it stacks horizontally and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like encyclopedias on a shelf. Inside the stylish exterior is an exceptionally fast, ultra-quiet, cool-running hard drive. Last but not least, the My Book Premium is equipped with free Google software that searches your drives, manages your photos, and simplifies Web searches.
My Book Premium Edition Hard Drives are ideal for:
- High-speed backup of important documents and images
- Extra storage for your computer
- Automatic backups of your existing hard drive
- Archiving the music stored on your MP3 player
- Adding plenty of space for digital video capture and editing
- Saving and organizing your digital photo collection
Note: For basic, less expensive storage option without automatic backup software, consider the My Book Essential Edition 320 GB Hard Drive.
What's in the Box
My Book Premium 320 GB USB 2.0/FireWire external hard drive, USB cable, FireWire cable (six-pin to six-pin), AC adapter with power cord, and quick install guide.
Customer Reviews:
Practicality and Style.......2007-12-29
Great product. Works great with my MacBook and Mac OS X Leopard's Time Machine. Easy setup: no manual needed. Love the Firewire cable included. I only have two USB ports, so the firewire cable is quite handy (there's a USB cable in the box, as well).
Great external hard drive for backup and everyday use.......2007-12-13
I bought this product mainly to backup my files and free up some room on my aging laptop. You can find cheaper and more expensive models but I felt this one would do well.
So far I had it for a few months and works well. I backed up my laptop a few times. I only backed up the files I use, not the whole computer, which filled about 8% of the drive. Since everything was working well I decided to move all my music and videos on there.
My laptop is connected 24-7 and the drive is working probably 6 hours of the day. I have no complaints.
The blue light does cool swirly patterns when writing/reading and when shutting off. Nothing real crazy but a cool detail.
Disappointing.......2007-12-11
I already had a 500GB My Book Pro Edition that I bought about a year ago, and wanted to take advantage of its storage capability, so I picked up one of these 320GB drives to use as my primary backup drive.
Well, it did have that odd hum, unlike my other WD drive, but it seemed to be working just fine, so I didn't worry about it.
This last weekend, we had a power outage due to an accident on the main road. I was out at the time, so I wasn't aware of this until I got back. When I restarted my computer, my 500GB drive also started up just fine. Nothing from the 320GB drive, however.
I decided to reboot my computer, just in case. Nothing.
I checked the power connection. Good. I checked the FireWire connection. Good. Everything plugged in to what it should be. Still, I disconnected and reconnected, just in case.
I rebooted again. Still no response from the drive. This time I checked the power switch. No response.
If it weren't for the fact that my other WD drive is operating just fine, and that both drives were plugged into the same UPS/surge protector, I'd be tempted to blame the power outage.
Oh, and I've owned this drive for six weeks.
So far it's great!.......2007-11-29
I've only had this drive a short time, but so far I've had no problems. The 500GB MyBook received some less than favorable reviews, so I purchased the 320GB drive. It was easy to set up, and the included backup software is convenient and simple to configure. At first I had it connected to my computer by USB, but when I purchased a Firewire card to connect a digital movie camera, I reconnected the MyBook drive to Firewire without a problem. I strongly recommend an external hard drive for daily backups and an occasional disk image, and the Western Digital MyBook 320 GB drive is a good choice.
Fantabulous!!.......2007-11-14
I read the review for this product here at the amazon and bought it! I must say that I am very happy with my purchase. It was easy to set up and it is very quiet. So far I have not one complaint against this product!
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