WD Hard drive Blog

High performance portable storage that is light and rugged, it’s easy to carry and no external power adapter is needed. Comes with sync & encryption and Google software. Perfect for the business traveler who needs to transfer large amounts of data from laptop to clients or just daily backups in case of accidents from mishandled luggage to coffee spills. Also comes in handy if your worried about laptop theft and someone else having access to your important data, you can store it on this portable encrypted drive instead. For all those precious pictures, videos, music and data files, getting this external hard drive is a must have. WD Sync synchronization and encryption software lets you save your critical data and take it with you. Plug your drive into any PC, edit files, read e-mail, and view photos. Then sync all of your changes back to your home or office computer (Windows only) Search your drive, manage your photos, and simplify Web searches with included Google software (Windows only) Up to 480Mb/sec Bus Transfer Rate with USB 2.0 System Requirements - Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS X (10.1.5 or later), Available USB port Approximate Unit Dimensions - 0.59 (H) x 5.11 (L) x 3.14 (W) Approximate Unit Weight - 0.23lb
Customer Review: Difficulty setting it up
This thing comes with essentially no documentation: a page with three graphic images on it, one of the contents of the package, one showing how to plug in the USB cable, and one showing the a laptop screen, presumably containing instructions for use.

I plugged it in and Windows chugged away for a while and then announced that my new hardware was loaded and ready to use. I looked for it in Windows Explorer under My Computer to no avail. I went online to check the documentation,which claims that all one need to do is plug it in, wait for windows to load the driver, and look for it, you guessed it, in My Computer.

I suspect I will eventually get the drive to work because I am retired and have time to spend on such projects but, folks, it really should not be this difficult. If you are looking for quick and easy backup, I would suggest you look elsewhere. Buy Here

WD Caviar Special Edition hard drives are designed to maximize desktop computer performance for activities requiring high-performance storage such as computer gaming, digital video editing, and file server applications. Offering various capacities, the WD Caviar Special Edition family is equipped with an 8 MB buffer - the largest buffer available today in a desktop EIDE hard drive, delivering data to users faster than any hard drive in its class.Data Lifeguard is an expanded set of data protection tools that includes shock protection, an environmental protection system, and embedded error detection and repair features that automatically find, isolate, and repair problem areas that may develop over the extended use of the hard drive. With these enhanced data reliability features, the drive can perform more accurate monitoring and error repair and deliver exceptional data security. Shock Guard provides outstanding improvements in shock and vibration protection for the newest WD Caviar drives. Shock Guard allows instantaneous data protection at high shock values to achieve leading shock specifications. Buy Here

WD’s MyBook Pro Edition external hard drive with triple interface combines three leading external hard drive interfaces on one drive for maximum performance and connectivity. Designed to work on both Macintosh computers and PCs, this drive includes powerful EMC Retrospect Express Backup & Recovery Software and a unique Capacity Gauge LED. The compact elegant book design case takes up less space on your desk and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf. System Requirements - Available USB Port, Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Mac OS X 10.2.8+ Dimensions - Height 6.780 x Length 5.630 x Width 2.23 inch Weight - 2.60 Pounds
Customer Review: Good external HDD, but not really a sophisticated one
I have Seagate 750GB FreeAgent drive, but since I bought my MacBook (which has FireWire 800 port) I wanted to have same interface on my external HDD for some extra transfer speed. After reading many reviews I chose this drive - as it seemed to be designed for Mac and I was hoping that it will be done with the same attention to detail as Mac is. However as of now - after having both the WD and the Seagate on my desk I can clearly say that WD is far behind in terms of quality of materials, attention to detail and not the least - noise! Although in many reviews people say it is not a noisy disk, having it running next to Seagate it is much more noisy. Still, keep in mind that as other reviewers noted - this model of WD is quite / not noisy as majority of other external drives with bigger capacity. Still Seagate is less noisy compared to WD, so if noise is a factor for you - you might take this into account.

Another point is that the quality of the material is somehow “cheap” Everything is plastic (and not the best looking one, although it looks quite good on the net picture). Just for comparison - the Seagate drive has solid / metal casing, and the quality of materials is a state-of-the-art, compared to this one. Again - there is nothing wrong with the WD drive, it is just not as sophisticated and “state-of-the-art”-ish as you would expect, assuming it was designed to go with your Mac.

The Good:
* Interfaces - it has FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0;
* Software (?) - Comes with backup software for both Mac & Win, however I can not comment on this as I use Apple’s Time Machine. (Giving it just as comparison with Seagate, which comes with backup software only for Windows)

The Bad:
* Noisy (compared to Seagate’s competitor model)
* Feel of quality / materials being used
Customer Review: EXCELLENT DATA STORAGE!
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! Buy Here

WD RE2 hard drives are the worlds most reliable server-class SATA drives in the market. With 1.2 million hours MTBF, 3 Gb/s SATA technology, and best-in-class vibration tolerance, WD RE2 drives offer the best combination of superior reliability, high capacity, and optimum performance for enterprise applications. Buy Here

WD Caviar Black drives combine a high performance electronics architecture with a rock solid mechanical architecture to deliver the perfect storage solution for fully-loaded PC or maxed out gaming machine. Cool drive operation, no-touch head technology, and leading-edge vibration protection ensure enhanced reliability and sustained data throughput. Ideal for power computing applications such as multimedia, video and photo editing, and maxed out gaming computers. Buy Here

Superior Performance The Special Edition hard drive provides a higher percentage of cache hits and significantly faster time to data than industry-standard 2 MB versions. Within the complex operations of hard drives, the buffer is used to hold the results of recent reads from the disk and also to “pre-fetch” information that is likely to be requested in the near future. The use of an increased buffer improves the performance by reducing the number of physical accesses to the disk and allowing data to stream from the disk uninterrupted by mechanical operations. Buy Here

Pack up your office files and take them home. Carry thousands of songs or pictures. The WD Passport drive is simple to use, light and easy to carry, and require no power adapter - it is powered directly through the USB cable.
Customer Review: Compact, lightweight, convenient, and dependable.
The glossy casing is prone to scratches, but they’re not too incredibly visible (except under the right light). The drive has worked perfectly on every computer I’ve plugged it into, though some users will need to purchase a Y usb cable that can pull power from 2 USB ports if their computer doesn’t supply enough power to the drive. The product is very lightweight, compact, and convenient to transport. It can take a second or two to spin up sometimes, but nothing too tragic. The included backup software was simple and easy to use, although it is a trial version that requires you pay to upgrade to the full version.
And you already know it’s aesthetically awesome. Buy Here

WD RE 7200 RPM hard drives are engineered to thrive in a high duty cycle RAID system while still offering traditional low cost-per-capacity desktop value. Designed and manufactured to server-class standards, WD RE drives provide RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER) to significantly reduce drive fallout caused by extended drive error-recovery processes and are tested to 1 million hours MTBF. Buy Here

WD’s MyBook Pro Edition external hard drive with triple interface combines three leading external hard drive interfaces on one drive for maximum performance and connectivity. Designed to work on both Macintosh computers and PCs, this drive includes powerful EMC Retrospect Express Backup & Recovery Software and a unique Capacity Gauge LED. The compact elegant book design case takes up less space on your desk and allows two or more drives to nestle neatly together like volumes on a shelf. System Requirements - Available USB Port, Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Mac OS X 10.2.8+ Dimensions - Height 6.780 x Length 5.630 x Width 2.23 inch Weight - 2.60 Pounds
Customer Review: Good external HDD, but not really a sophisticated one
I have Seagate 750GB FreeAgent drive, but since I bought my MacBook (which has FireWire 800 port) I wanted to have same interface on my external HDD for some extra transfer speed. After reading many reviews I chose this drive - as it seemed to be designed for Mac and I was hoping that it will be done with the same attention to detail as Mac is. However as of now - after having both the WD and the Seagate on my desk I can clearly say that WD is far behind in terms of quality of materials, attention to detail and not the least - noise! Although in many reviews people say it is not a noisy disk, having it running next to Seagate it is much more noisy. Still, keep in mind that as other reviewers noted - this model of WD is quite / not noisy as majority of other external drives with bigger capacity. Still Seagate is less noisy compared to WD, so if noise is a factor for you - you might take this into account.

Another point is that the quality of the material is somehow “cheap” Everything is plastic (and not the best looking one, although it looks quite good on the net picture). Just for comparison - the Seagate drive has solid / metal casing, and the quality of materials is a state-of-the-art, compared to this one. Again - there is nothing wrong with the WD drive, it is just not as sophisticated and “state-of-the-art”-ish as you would expect, assuming it was designed to go with your Mac.

The Good:
* Interfaces - it has FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0;
* Software (?) - Comes with backup software for both Mac & Win, however I can not comment on this as I use Apple’s Time Machine. (Giving it just as comparison with Seagate, which comes with backup software only for Windows)

The Bad:
* Noisy (compared to Seagate’s competitor model)
* Feel of quality / materials being used
Customer Review: EXCELLENT DATA STORAGE!
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! Buy Here

Cool, quiet and fast. WD Caviar Blue SATA drives offer superior performance and reliability, making them ideal for business and family desktops. Buy Here