Manage updates with the Download AppWestern Digital My Book Premium Edition 320GB External Hard Drive
Manufacturer: Western Digital Corp. Part number: WDG1C3200N
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- If write speed isn't a top priority, the Western Digital MyBook is a good deal at around $300 for a 500GB drive. It'll look good on your desk or bookshelf, too.
Read more
Where to buy
| store | customer rating | inventory | tax & shipping | price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  | In stock Get free shipping on orders over $25! | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 05/23/2013 |
| Memory4Less.com | Not yet rated | In stock | as of 05/22/2013 |
CNET editors' review
Western Digital My Book Premium Edition 320GB External Hard Drive price range: $129.99 - $253.41
- Reviewed by: Dong Ngo
- Edited by: Felisa Yang
- Reviewed on: 06/15/2006
- Released on: 03/08/2006
The good: The MyBook Premium edition is compact, employs an innovative design, has an external capacity gauge, comes with backup software, and is a speedy data reader.
The bad: The MyBook Premium edition is slow to write data, over both USB 2.0 and FireWire 400.
The bottom line: If write speed isn't a top priority, the Western Digital MyBook is a good deal at around $300 for a 500GB drive. It'll look good on your desk or bookshelf, too.
User reviews
-
-
The perfect external hard disk!
by StumpyNL on July 5, 2006
Pros: Looks good, good performance, capacity gauge.
Cons: None, so far.
Summary: If someone is considdering an external hard drive please let it be the My Book Premium. It looks good (that can be important), the performance is very good. Transfer rates ...
Summary: If someone is considdering an external hard drive please let it be the My Book Premium. It looks good (that can be important), the performance is very good. Transfer rates are really good. Although I have to say that I only use the My Book in combination with the FireWire cable, I haven't tried the USB cable yet. The capacity gauge is cool. But what I like about this thing is that I use it as a media hard drive. I've put all my movies, images and music on the drive and now I can acces the files frommy 2 Windows-based desktop PC's, my MacBook and even my Xbox 360 can play the music files. Sweet!
Overall I'm really happy with the machine. I don't hear the My Book(it is positioned 50cm away from me), it is fast and it looks good. No bad things discovered yet!8 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
Great disk if you don't use the firewire passthrough.
by wibblefoo on November 20, 2006
Pros: Good value, good design
Cons: Firewire daisy chain very slow.
Summary: I got this disk because it was on offer at Circuit City for $150 after rebates.
Got it home and tried it with another disk connected to the second FW400 ...Summary: I got this disk because it was on offer at Circuit City for $150 after rebates.
Got it home and tried it with another disk connected to the second FW400 port. Transferring data between the two was hideously slow - about 5Mb/second.
I wondered if it was the firewire passthrough that was the problem , so switched the two disks (using my other disk as the hub). This brought perfomance up to where I expected it - about 30Mb/s.
So. Good disk. Bad firewire hub.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
Quick setup, works great with USB or FireWire cable
by GM1230 on July 3, 2006
Pros: Simple to use...plug in and copy files, it is that easy
Cons: None yet...will report if different in 30 days
Summary: Overall a good value (I backed up multiple laptops and home desktop computer files). I purchased the WD 320GB external drive at Circuit City for $169 with rebate. -- Peformance, ...
Summary: Overall a good value (I backed up multiple laptops and home desktop computer files). I purchased the WD 320GB external drive at Circuit City for $169 with rebate. -- Peformance, I timed two file transfers internally and externally:
- 360MB file: 1 min 7 sec external & 48 sec internal
- 2.5GB file: 6 min 30 sec external & 7 min 18 sec internal
For what is worth below are my System specs
- VIA Apollo Mainboard / 553hz FSB
- Pentuim 2.41 GHz Processor
- Windows XP Home Edition w/Service Pack 2
- 40GB Internal Drive (5400 rpm) WD
- 60BG Internal Drive (5400 rpm) WD of course
- Inexpensive Timex to clock the transfer times
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE
by thomas8050 on January 13, 2008
Pros: None that I can think of
Cons: Extremely Unreliable, Poor Build Quality, Slow Write Speeds
Summary: I bought this drive about 4 months ago. The first one I bought did not work at all. I took it back and swapped it out with a new one. ...
Summary: I bought this drive about 4 months ago. The first one I bought did not work at all. I took it back and swapped it out with a new one. The second one I got powered up, but none of the firewire ports worked, and since I was using the drive for video editing, I needed fast transfer speeds, so I couldn't use USB. I took the drive back yet again and got a new one. Surprisingly, the new drive seemed to work perfectly. Since my computer's hard drive was full, I started several video projects on the drive and also put vacation photos on it. After a little over a month, it simply stopped working. I called Western Digital and they told me to send it in and they would replace it. But I still have to pay for postage and pack it in a certain box with special 2 inch thick padding with the correct labels or they will not accept it. And now I also just lost all of my video projects and vacation pictures. This is without a doubt the worst product I have ever used in my entire life. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE, PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE!
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
I'm done with Western Digital!
by DigitalSJ on September 13, 2010
Pros: Lasted three years. Blue ring glows nice.
Cons: Runs hot! Had to completely power off and back on, unplug and replug cables to get it to mount sometimes. Finally wouldn't mount at all. Emailed WD and they said go to talk to one of our data recovery partners.
Summary: Thankfully I received some timely advice from a colleague, stripped the drive out of the My Book case, installed it in a desktop with SATA, and booted the desktop from ...
Summary: Thankfully I received some timely advice from a colleague, stripped the drive out of the My Book case, installed it in a desktop with SATA, and booted the desktop from a Puppy Linux CD. I can see all my data there. Now I just need to get a replacement external drive and I can copy my data over. Yes, I should have backed up my data to DVDs on a regular basis instead of relying on this as my primary backup. Lesson learned well!
-
Lots of space for on $80 bucks, but its really slow!
by kevinconeil on January 4, 2009
Pros: This hard drive is very good looking, lots of space and only 80 BUCKS!
Cons: SSSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWWWW, it takes about 7 hours to write 9 gigabytes of data
isnt powered my usb cordSummary: good hard drive for someone not in a hurry to backup data
Summary: good hard drive for someone not in a hurry to backup data
-
Lousy performance Slow Lousy instructions
by cassieboss on November 30, 2008
Pros: Size vs price is ok
Cons: Hard to understand-"Help" isn't. I got a trial copy when I paid for the non trial version
Summary: There's very little in the way of showing you what to do or how it works. The documentation is esoteric to say the least. I paid for the full ...
Summary: There's very little in the way of showing you what to do or how it works. The documentation is esoteric to say the least. I paid for the full version only to find out that I can't register it because the number given as the product key isn't recognized. All in all, I 'm probably going to return it if I can't get a recognizable explanation as to why I'm having these problems.
-
two different units failed
by netafile on August 26, 2008
Pros: cool blue light
Cons: Drive unreliable, company doesn't stand behind drives, has a flaw they know about, but sell anyway.
Summary: About 6 months after purchase, unit failed to be recognized. Sent in for repair, they sent back a refurb, which failed same way after 8 months. They wouldn't replace ...
Summary: About 6 months after purchase, unit failed to be recognized. Sent in for repair, they sent back a refurb, which failed same way after 8 months. They wouldn't replace drive. Stay away!
-
Soft freezes after first backup. WD wants to charge $15 to address software problem.
by wiebon on January 17, 2008
Pros: Nice looking, blue dial as gauge
Cons: Customer support is pathetic
Summary: Software crashed after first backup. Customer support via online request produces no response after multiple attempts. If you want to use the phone line they charge $14.95 per question. ...
Summary: Software crashed after first backup. Customer support via online request produces no response after multiple attempts. If you want to use the phone line they charge $14.95 per question. Now that's pathetic customer support for you from Western Digital.
-
Great Option but problematic compatability
by twistie.man on January 30, 2008
Pros: Great Capacity, small physical size.
Cons: Weird compatability problems
Summary: This is a great piece of hardware for a decnt price but the main problem with the unit is compatability. Its great for sitting at a single computer to be ...
Summary: This is a great piece of hardware for a decnt price but the main problem with the unit is compatability. Its great for sitting at a single computer to be hooked up 100% of the time but if you choose to use it on another computer you have to install the drivers with all the backup bloatware before it will work. There is no PnP compatability with Windows whatsoever so I driver install with the bloatware is necessary, although I noticed some Linux distros will PnP which surprised me.
I have also had some bad experiences with initialisation aswell. Sometimes the windows system will detect the device,activate drivers but not mount the volume, a simple power cycle fixes the problem most of the time and when it doesn't I continue power cycle till it does. The drive also works well with other drives aswell and after the careful removal of the case and a piece of protective foil the SATA and SATA Power connector can be easily pulled and used for other drives (if you want to void your warranty).
Overall its a good drive with a poorly though out USB interface. I havn't actually used the Firewire connectivity but i'm reassured it doesn't have the problems of the USB as an individual firewire driver download is available from WD. But if you are using Windows and USB stay away from this drive!0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Western Digital Corp.
- Part number: WDG1C3200N
- Description: They're your photos... your music... your videos... your important files. Make extra room for them, back them up, and keep them safe on WD's My Book Premium. This reliable, easy-to-use external hard drive is the perfect storage solution for all your precious digital assets.
General
- Packaged Quantity 1
- Device Type Hard drive - External hard drive
- Capacity 320 GB
- Buffer Size 8 MB
- Width 2.2 in
- Depth 5.6 in
- Height 6.8 in
- Weight 2.9 lbs
Performance
- Interface Transfer Rate 400 Mbps (FireWire) / 480 Mbps (Hi-Speed USB)
- Seek Time 8.9 ms (average)
- Track-to-Track Seek Time 2 ms
- Average Latency 4.2 ms
- Spindle Speed 7200 rpm
Expansion & Connectivity
- Interfaces 2 x - 6 pin FireWire,
1 x - 4 pin USB Type B - Compatible Bays None
Power
- Power Source Included AC adapter
- Power Device Power adapter
- Voltage Required AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Software & System Requirements
- Software Included Google Desktop,
Google Picasa,
Google Toolbar - OS Required Microsoft Windows 2000 ,
Apple MacOS X 10.2.8 or later ,
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition ,
Microsoft Windows XP ,
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Miscellaneous
- Cables Included 1 x IEEE 1394 cable - FireWire 400 (6-to-6 pin) - External - 6 ft,
1 x USB cable - USB Type A to B - External - 6 ft - Microsoft Certifications Works with Windows Vista
- Compliant Standards RoHS
- Package Type Retail
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 1 year warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year
Environmental Parameters
- Min Operating Temperature 41 °F
- Max Operating Temperature 95 °F
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Western Digital Corp. products on Shopper.com
-
- Manufacturer:Western Digital Corp.
- Address:
20511 Lake Forest Drive, Lake Forest, CA 92630-7741
