-
-
2
stars
Western Digital Confirms HUGE Problems
by Pleonexia
on
April 6, 2006
Pros: Small and Fairly Light for 500GB
Cons: Western Digital Confirms Power Off Problems
Summary: Western digital call agents confirmed that these drives have some "unusual" problem where they power off repeatedly and unexpectedly without the user initiating the power down and in the middle ...
Read more
Summary: Western digital call agents confirmed that these drives have some "unusual" problem where they power off repeatedly and unexpectedly without the user initiating the power down and in the middle of use.
The first call agent got a "senior manager" who then claimed that it's only happened to "one or two drives" but that there was a dedicated support agent for this specific problem with this drive -- this seems highly unlikely as the support agent wouldn't have any work to do.
The level two support guy also said that this dedicated support agent couldn't call me back until tomorrow because he was so busy on calls -- where do they get these people? My three-year-old daughter can make up a more internally consistent fabrication than this guy.
He asked me not to take it back and to instead wait a day or two to have a call agent explore the issue with me. I told him that if they were going to compensate me as part of their support staff, I'd do it, but otherwise they should try to hire a few extra people to test these things before they ship them.
Unless you too want to volunteer 20 hours of work for the Western Digital support department, don't buy this drive.
Show less
39 out
of 47 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
9
stars
Sleek, Slim, and Sexy for an External Hard Drive
by bigb177
on
June 14, 2006
Pros: iPodesque Design, Capaity and Usage Lights, Easy "Plug and Play" Use, Firewire and USB Connectivity
Cons: Expensive for an ExHDD, First Uses are Choppy, Power Down Problems
Summary: I have been on the market for an external hard drive for the past year or so, and after hearing that Western Digital was releasing this external hard drive, I ...
Read more
Summary: I have been on the market for an external hard drive for the past year or so, and after hearing that Western Digital was releasing this external hard drive, I quickly pre-ordered one for myself. While I was a little frustrated at the beginning with the drive due to minor issues with the system (would not power on, would not be recognized by my CPU, and WMP 10 functionallity issues), I am extremely pleased with how well it has worked since then.
First of all, let me say that this is an amazing looking device. The entire device is lined with morse code holes. This gives the external drive its "book" like feature. It is undoubtedly the most best looking external hard drive on the market today, and it is really nice to have on any desk in your home or office. It also is very small, and fits in even the smallest of spaces, which is also a very well thought out feature for this drive. Of course it is not pocket sized, but for such a large capacity drive, it is very small.
Another feature I really liked with this drive is its two-ringed capacity and use lights. This helps you know how much memory, first of all, is left on the drive, which can be very useful, and also lets you know if you have power and/or connectivity with your computer. While they may seem very useless, there are actually a very nice feature to have.
The drive also funcitions very nicely, for the most part. For those of you listening and planning to buy this drive, listen to this very important advice. The two rings also double as a power button for the device, so BEFORE YOU PLUG YOUR HARD DRIVE INTO YOUR CPU, WHETHER BY USB OR FIREWIRE, TURN ON THE HARD DRIVE BY PRESSING THIS BUTTON!!!! Otherwise, functionallity is very lack-luster, and can be very slow and unbearable. The drive has a hard time to spin-up with computer start-up, so this is very important. If you do this, however, you will find this hard drive to work perfectly. This drive is also formatted at FAT32, which is a great file format, but personally, I recommend changing the file system to a NTFS format. It, at least for me, seems to run faster and function better with this type of format.
This drive is also extremely fast when it comes to the "import and export" of information and files. As a person who loves music, photos, and video editing, I can tell you how fast this drive really is.
This is really my perspective of this drive. As I stated, it is a bit pricey, but is very much worth it. While first uses, as I stated, can be a bit choppy until your computer really starts to recognize this drive as another hard drive, it really funtions very nicely. I am very pleased with Western Digital's MyBook, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new external hard drive for their laptop or desktop computer system.
Show less
16 out
of 18 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
8
stars
Works very well, it does the job
by Artur.AN
on
January 5, 2007
Pros: Small, stylish, very quiet operation, easy to use
Cons: WDBackup software does not have system backup and recovery
Summary: Being on the market for an external HD, decided for the WD Mybook PE ( 500GB ) and not regret it. Instalation is a breeze and we only install the bundled software ...
Read more
Summary: Being on the market for an external HD, decided for the WD Mybook PE ( 500GB ) and not regret it. Instalation is a breeze and we only install the bundled software if we want - WDBackup and Google applications. It comes formatted in FAT32 file system, so re-formatting on NTFS is a must.Also, I power the unit in the main button, prior to connect it to the PC and poweroff it also in this main button, prior to unconnect it from the main PC, and operation is fast enough, although I do not care for speed, as I use the external drive only for backups. The WDBackup software,although interesting and complete, lacks the ability to make system backups and recoverys on bootable CD's, which is a shame. Could be shipped with Retrospect Express, as their big brothers Pro versions. Its a very quiet external HD, difficult to hear the hd working - compared to LaCie Brick, which is much noisier. Design wise, it's indeed like a book. When not using it I put it on a shelf, side by side with normal books, and anyone can tell it's an external harddrive. Never had any power failure on it. It works well and get's the job done.
Show less
8 out
of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
7
stars
500gb for $199 at BestBuy til I think 07/29/06
by Saltiva
on
July 26, 2006
Pros: It works- its an external HDD that stores stuff- I put videos, photos and music on it. It's CHEAP too.
Cons: It writes slow and according to plex has some power issue- he must've bought from some refurb co.
Summary: It is my Opinion that These other 2 users have a biased opinion. One has three posts and all are negative (surprise) and the other only has this one post (...
Read more
Summary: It is my Opinion that These other 2 users have a biased opinion. One has three posts and all are negative (surprise) and the other only has this one post (probably works for WD). This drive works- it does what it is suposed to do. Doesn't do it spectacular but it doesn't have "power" problems either- I bought it at BESTbuy (which I actually h8 going to) for only $199- it writes slow but when I need to watch a video off it it works as fast as my IDE drive. BIG177 is obsessed and possibly a WD employee and Plex woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Show less
8 out
of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
9
stars
It works well, and it looks good
by Dustout
on
January 4, 2007
Pros: Looks cool, turns off when computer turns off, durable, pretty quiet, led in middle is pretty sweet (inner tells capacity, outer tells activity), stackable
Cons: Pricey, tries to tell you that you need to install some software
Summary: I bought the MyBook 500GB roughly 6 months ago, and since then i have done nothing but cram it full of video and music files. It has transferred content for ...
Read more
Summary: I bought the MyBook 500GB roughly 6 months ago, and since then i have done nothing but cram it full of video and music files. It has transferred content for over 10 hours straight several times. It has also been dropped from a height of approximatly 1 foot and still worked perfectly after.
Overall this product is well designed and its only flaw i see is the price...but like anything that will go down with time
Show less
5 out
of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
8
stars
Stylish, handy LED
by Robert G
on
July 30, 2006
Pros: Good storage, good price, stylick
Cons: Slow writing, not super-portable
Summary: My pros/cons basically say it all. It stores a good amount (mine's 320 gb) for a good price. It's got a real handy LED light that displays ...
Read more
Summary: My pros/cons basically say it all. It stores a good amount (mine's 320 gb) for a good price. It's got a real handy LED light that displays roughly how much space is being uses (OK, so not really handy, but cool nonetheless).
It's somewhat large, so I was worried about taking it with me somewhere, but it's proven quite sturdy so far.
Show less
5 out
of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
8
stars
Basic plug-and-work drive
by trekbody
on
April 17, 2007
Pros: Simple, easy, quiet, just works.
Cons: Speed not fantastic.
Summary: I just purchased my third WD MyBook 500GB drive. I have had no problems with these drives, I plug them in, reformat them for Mac (OS X) and am copying ...
Read more
Summary: I just purchased my third WD MyBook 500GB drive. I have had no problems with these drives, I plug them in, reformat them for Mac (OS X) and am copying files to them in minutes. They mount find out of the box on a Mac, I just want the Mac file system, not MS-DOS (or whatever it comes formatted as). The price on this drive is usually great when on sale, and it is so quiet (passive cooling?) that I am slowly replacing my collection of external drives with fans added. I am not using these for video streaming or high-demand use, so I have not really taxed them. They are storing a file archive that is accessed sporatically. They power on and off automatically just fine with my Mac. They are not speedsters, but are fine for the price, ease of setup, and low noise. I do think they could use some sort of base to improve airflow, but I may be paranoid on cooling.
Lastly, the green light on my oldest one (6 months old?) is significanly faded compared to newer ones, so they don't match - but that is a minor cosmetic beef.
Show less
4 out
of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
6
stars
No Vista support available yet..
by Haley13
on
February 14, 2007
Pros: Styling, capacity, price
Cons: Not compatible with MS Vista
Summary: Just purchased so I can't write a complete review however I was very disappointed to learn that WD is not providing any support for Vista as of today's ...
Read more
Summary: Just purchased so I can't write a complete review however I was very disappointed to learn that WD is not providing any support for Vista as of today's date (2/14/07), here's the note from WD Support, seems they would have at least something hacked together with such a major release:
Western Digital does not provide technical support or drivers for our products installed under Windows Vista at this time. We will be releasing updated software utilities and drivers for selective Western Digital products in the near future. However, at this time we do not have any ETA on when software or drivers maybe available."
Show less
4 out
of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
9
stars
Good value for the money
by Fordnatic
on
May 21, 2007
Pros: Both Firewire and USB connections
Cons: Comes formatted for FAT32
Summary: I bought this drive to store my digital video files on and it handles this function admirably.
The only complaint I have about this drive is that it comes formatted ...
Read more
Summary: I bought this drive to store my digital video files on and it handles this function admirably.
The only complaint I have about this drive is that it comes formatted to FAT32 in order to be compatible with older versions of Windows, such as 98SE. I'm running Windows XP Pro.
The instructions for formatting the drive to NTFS leave something to be desired, as it is DESTRUCTIVE. It is better to reformat the drive using the Windows Command Line method, as it is non-destructive. That is, if you already have some files on this drive and you forgot to format it to NTFS, using the command line method it will not erase your data already on the drive.
The drive is daisy chained via the firewire port to another generic external drive, and finally to my digital video camera. Though I was initially concerned about this, I have not experienced any reliability issues doing this. It all plays nicely together.
I highly recommend this drive to anyone looking to boost their storage capabilities.
Show less
2 out
of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
-
9
stars
Great Cheap External Hard Drive
by dangerousns
on
March 5, 2007
Pros: Cheap, fast, good build quality
Cons: Large, extra chords, some versions are loud
Summary: For what it is, the 500GB MyBook is a great product. Its cheap, fast, and provides tons of storage. The only problem I can see with it is that portable ...
Read more
Summary: For what it is, the 500GB MyBook is a great product. Its cheap, fast, and provides tons of storage. The only problem I can see with it is that portable hard drives are now up to 160gb, and they are much smaller with no need for additional power aside from usb. Unless you really need the extra space, I would avoid cluttering your desk with the extra mass and chords.
Show less
2 out
of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
Dell 15" Laptop Deals
Western Digital MyBook Premium Edition 500GB External Hard Drive
