The Western Digital MyBook Essential Edition is a pared-down version of the MyBook Premium Edition that we reviewed. Available in sizes from 80GB to 500GB, this external hard drive features the same exterior design as the Premium Edition. It also uses the same 7,200rpm hard disk drive, so we expect the performance to be on a par with that of the Premium Edition. The Essential Edition drive has only a USB 2.0 connection (the Premium Edition can also connect via FireWire) and doesn't come with the EMC Dantz Retrospect software that ships on the Premium Edition. Also, the capacity meter on the "spine" of the drive glows green instead of blue.
Intro:
This Western Digital My Book Essential Edition External Hard Drive is a 500GB, external hard disk drive.Compared to other external hard drives on the market, it is relatively expensive at around $210.This drive connects to a system though a USB 2.0 port.This is a 7200 rpm drive and has a 16MB cache.
Noteworthy Features:
Has a 500GB capacity, which is somewhat larger than some similarly priced hard drives.Also, this hard drive has a 16MB buffer, which is larger than some similarly priced hard drives.
Weaker Features:
Has a 1 year warranty, which is somewhat less favorable than some similarly priced hard drives.For example, the Seagate Freeagent External Desktop USB Hard Drive, a 320GB hard drive at around $205, has a 5 year warranty.
Suitability:
An external hard drive, suited for convenient plug-and-play with most desktop or notebook computers.
Value:
Notwithstanding its relatively expensive price, this hard drive has good features for the money.
2 out of 10 - Terrible DOA - This Product Does Not Work
This drive was too good to be true -- 500GB external drive with a small case and a cheap price. ...
This drive was too good to be true -- 500GB external drive with a small case and a cheap price. The drive repeatedly malfunctioned when writing -- I tried operating it using usb 2.0 on two different Windows XP boxes.
As a side note, the case while wonderfully small is made of very cheap plastic and has the fit and finish of a product you'd expect to cost $20 -- it's odd to put a 500GB drive in a flimsy plastic case that looks like a toy.
Unplugging power to drive and then reattaching helped a little, but this is just too risky for data. It's like gambling. It repeatedly wasn't recognized as a drive by the computer and had data copy and erase errors.
It took two hours to copy over 400GB of data and then another half hour to do an RMA at buy.com because I couldn't speak to a live person at Western Digital or Buy.com. The phone tree at both locations would require the patience of a monk to navigate over half a day.
I was not once able to stream video or audio using USB 2.0 although I could open several files I copied to the drive.
I was seduced by the price for this size drive, but now I have to wait to get my money back, I wasted hours copying data and I'm going to have to do it all over again. Was it worth saving $100 or $200? No. Unless you are retired and eating out of cans, spend an extra $100 or $200 and save a lot of trouble.
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by Pleonexia (see profile) -
April 6, 2006
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Perfect for what it is
I've owned a few external drives and this is my favorite by far. It's quiet, powers itself on ...
I've owned a few external drives and this is my favorite by far. It's quiet, powers itself on and off (so no pesky on/off switch), has a smaller power brick than most, looks good sitting on your desk and is fast. Especially great as a multimedia drive (I use this with my Media Center Edition to record TV).
The only downside is that you can't crack the case and swap drives, which isn't really something most consumers will be doing anyway.
The Essential Edition is perfect for those that don't really need the glowing disk space gauge of the Pro edition and like myself already have more than enough USB and Firewire ports on every other device.
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by MonocularJack (see profile) -
June 16, 2006
6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 out of 10 - Perfect Owning 10 of these drives can't be a bad thing!
Over the last year, I've purchased ten of these units. Each and every one of them worked great out-of-the-box. ...
Over the last year, I've purchased ten of these units. Each and every one of them worked great out-of-the-box. I've so far used these drives on a Dell Optiplex with built-in USB 2.0, as well as a Dell Optiplex with an Adaptec USB 2.0 PCI card.
I don't understand why some people have problems with this drive. Some tips I'll offer: 1) Don't use USB hard drives off a USB hub. Hard drives need as much power and bandwidth off the USB bus as possible. 2) Format the drive to either FAT32 or NTFS before use. Even if the drive comes pre-formatted, format it anyway. 3) Make sure the drive is connected to a USB 2.0 port. Hard drives connected to a USB 1.x port simply doesn't work.
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by groink_hi (see profile) -
August 15, 2007
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 out of 10 - Abysmal be far avay from wd essential externel drive, really
1. main directory is not clean, full of some programs and klasors. some of this programs are just trials. 2. ...
1. main directory is not clean, full of some programs and klasors. some of this programs are just trials. 2. slow. i couldn't finish my backup for hours 3. and in 2-3 weeks fat damaged and i lost all these backup hours and days of data. 4. fat formatted. so my datas gone. while recording power got down and no any my book around. why ntfs is not default. this is backup tool. i saw it after transferred much data unfortunately and i didn't change. 5. now i'm trying recover my datas. sure from usb it is not possible and i have to open the case. i must connect the hard disk to the machine directly. but; - guaranty will go down - still i couldn't open. wd designers worked so hard about to make opening this case really difficult. they had to work hard to make the product safe for data. i will open it by anyway.
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by nonexist (see profile) -
January 16, 2008
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular AWESOME - I own 4 of them and no problems!
I download/upload a ton of items directly to/from these drives and they work flawlessly. Those comments stating that ...
I download/upload a ton of items directly to/from these drives and they work flawlessly. Those comments stating that they didn't work or failed are most likely due to the users inability to plug it in because that is about how simple it is to use. I reformatted my drives from FAT32 to NTFS before using them which is recommended for drives of this size. You can't go wrong with this drive. I won't be able to buy many more since I'm running out of USB ports! Note that the way Western Digital calculates disk space results in these being 465 GB drives. There are lawsuits against them for not disclosing this up front to buyers, however, that has not stopped me from purchasing them since they work great and still provide a ton of disk space for the money. Best Buy just had these on sale last weekend 6/16/2007 for $129.
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by boyoboyoboy (see profile) -
June 19, 2007
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 out of 10 - Perfect Outstanding Drive
This drive has performed outstandingly since attaching it to both my server and also swapping onto my laptops. All computers ...
This drive has performed outstandingly since attaching it to both my server and also swapping onto my laptops. All computers have acknowledged the drive immediately and has given no failures. The speed of the drive is consistent and exceedingly fast, through a USB 2.0 interface. The drive is backwards compatible to USB 1 but always double check that your USB is "enhanced" (2.0) ..otherwise the best suggestion is to install a nominal 2.0 add-on card. Most problems arise from this oversight. Best Buy ran this drive for over $100 off it's regular price which brought down to $190 .. it's an outstanding drive and an outstanding deal. It's extermely quiet both horizontal and vertical, venting heat efficiently.
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by Bo33778 (see profile) -
September 4, 2006
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Quiet yet quick
This HD is honestly the best external HD I have encountered. Plug and play, it is lightning fast and almost ...
This HD is honestly the best external HD I have encountered. Plug and play, it is lightning fast and almost completely silent. Easy to use and to stow. I'd recommend it over any of the competition, especially Seagate, which has given me way too many problems.
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by chbearsrock (see profile) -
June 10, 2006
10 out of 10 - Perfect Solid Backup Storage
I have had this drive for several months now and I have not had any problems at all. It is ...
I have had this drive for several months now and I have not had any problems at all. It is a great simple plug and play drive for anyone that needs additional storage. I have it plugged into a battery backup in case of power failure. I never have any issue transferring or accessing data even after long periods of not using it. Overall Great drive.
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by uvuatl (see profile) -
February 14, 2008
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 out of 10 - Abysmal Wholly unimpressed
Thought I was getting a premiere drive from a premiere company to keep my backups on but I was mistaken. ...
Thought I was getting a premiere drive from a premiere company to keep my backups on but I was mistaken. The first drive lasted 6 months before I had to replace it under the warranty. The replacement drive lasted 8 months and of course the warranty has expired. I won't be replacing it with anything from Western Digital especially considering drives from other manufacturers have lasted me for years without a hiccup.
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by bill205 (see profile) -
January 13, 2008
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
7 out of 10 - Very good My book need to have its own power strip!
If it fails on you unplug it from the crowded power strip and plug it into one that does not ...
If it fails on you unplug it from the crowded power strip and plug it into one that does not have any thing pluged into it and you will be back up and running!
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by pro311031 (see profile) -
December 24, 2007
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